Gloria Rising

by Ann Cameron, Lis Toft (Illustrator)

If you loved The Stories Julian Tells , wait until you hear about the adventures of his best friend, Gloria! The Julian's World chapter book series is all about friendship, family, and imagination! 

What if your dream came true . . . and nobody believed you?
 
When Gloria goes to the store to buy an onion, she can’t believe who she meets! A real astronaut named Dr. Grace Street. Dr. Street explains to Gloria that problems aren’t always as big as they seem. And that’s good news! Because Gloria’s problem feels gigantic. She can’t seem to do anything to please her teacher, Mrs. Yardley. When Gloria writes a report about meeting Dr. Street, Mrs. Yardley doesn’t believe her. How can Gloria prove she’s telling the truth?

"Kids will be thrilled by the possibility of running into an astronaut in the checkout line." — The Bulletin , Recommended

Genres: Childrens, Fiction, Realistic Fiction, School

98 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Ann Cameron grew up in Wisconsin. Today, she and her husband live in Guatemala. From her house she can see a waterfall and three volcanoes. Ann Cameron has been a teacher and an editor as well as a writer.

She says that writing is hardest for her at the beginning of a book. To get started, she follows this important rule for writing: "Apply seat of pants to bottom of chair."

Reviews

[Meg · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was sweet and very "follow your dreams"-y, about a young girl who meets a famous astronaut in the grocery store and is inspired to keep going with her dream of becoming an astronaut. I liked the characters. It interested me that there was a suggestion of racism in the mean (white) teacher's dismissal of Gloria and the class as not being "high-performing" (while the (African-American) astronaut sees the potential in them) - but not overtly addressed.

[Courtney Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is perfect for fourth-grade readers who need a story structured for the reading level. Gloria is a fourth grader who is afraid of starting fourth grade. Her new teacher, Mrs. Yardley, whom Gloria calls the Dragon of Doom, has a reputation for being strict and Gloria isn’t doing well in her class. When Gloria goes to the store to buy onions, she meets Dr. Grace Street, an astronaut. Gloria has an inspiring conversation with Dr. Street about having confidence in oneself and realize that big problems aren’t always as big as they seem. I found the book’s message of “believe in yourself” to be rather simplistic and flat. It’s a rather black and white message for fourth graders, but this may be due to the non-challenging vocabulary and sentence structure it uses. The main character is also African American, which helps bring some diversity to our book selection.

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story about Gloria meeting an astronaut in the grocery store may be familiar to young readers from the McGraw/Hill Treasures reading series, Fourth grade level. That episode, a chapter from Gloria Rising, introduces an intelligent, dreamy girl. The novel expands on her experiences as a Fourth grade student who struggles with the problems related to having a new teacher, and one with a scary reputation, at that. The book includes hunorous episodes that many 9 year old readers will enjoy and identify with, and the reading difficulty is low enough to make reading an entire (short) chapter book an achievable goal. For these reasons, I have used this book successfully as my first-of-fourth-grade novels with my dormant/reluctant readers, boys and girls alike. It looks, feels, and reads like a Fourth grade level book, but the challenges are not so great as to be daunting. The classmates reading at a more advanced level don't look at them reading this and identify it as remedial, or a "low group" selection. As a reader and as a teacher, I find a lot to like about Gloria Rising.

[Ulysses · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book sparked my curiosity about aviation and space travel. Since I was so young, my knowledge about such things, including life lessons were very limited. Reading this book later on reminded me of the things I learned while growing up.

[Alfredo · Rating 5 out of 5]

when I read the book I thought it was a happy book because she always belives in her self.My favorite part was when she put the bottes on the tree to make a sound.

[Candace · Rating 2 out of 5]

not super funny but a gppd beginner read and story line had a good message.

[Brooklynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yhh

[Julier · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy Chapter book. After meeting one Gloria wants to become an astronaut. Character-building insights; goal setting; note: drawings show us Gloria is Black.

[Koqua · Rating 4 out of 5]

i liked it. it was very good. she is very determined.