Kate Messner (Author)

Kate Messner is an award-winning author whose books for kids have been New York Times Notable, Junior Library Guild, IndieBound, and Bank Street College of Education Best Books selections.

She believes in nature, art, magic, lake monsters, science, and the power of literacy to change the world. She writes books for people who also believe in those things.

Messner's book The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z. was the winner of the 2010 E.B. White Read Aloud Award for Older Readers.

Messner also spent fifteen years teaching middle school and earned National Board Certification in 2006.

In this clip, she talks about the importance of "revising" one's writing.

Messner lives on Lake Champlain with her family and loves spending time outside, whether it’s kayaking in the summer or skating on the frozen lake when the temperatures drop.

Here are the book descriptions of The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z. and Marty McGuire: 

Gianna Z. has less than one week to collect twenty-five leaves for a science project, or else she might lose her spot at cross-country sectionals.

Finishing her project will be enough of a hurdle, but with a grandmother who keeps losing her teeth, a father who drives her to school in the family hearse, and an arch-nemesis intent on stealing her spot on the team, Gianna will need a stroke of brilliance to make everything fall into place.

What will she do...? How will it all turn out...? A delightful read.

Marty McGuire would rather spend recess catching frogs in the pond than playing dress-up with the other girls in third grade. So when her teacher casts Marty as the princess in the class play, Marty's absolutely, positively sure that there's been a huge mistake.

But after a special lesson in the art of improvisation, Marty comes up with her OWN plan to IMPROVE the play: Why use stuffed-animal frog onstage when a live one would be so much better? In the end, Marty's one-of-a-kind performance makes for an unforgettable show. Maybe Marty CAN live happily ever after, after all!

@KateMessner

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