Gertie lives in a small town in Alabama with her father's Aunt Rae and, much like Ramona, has big plans for establishing herself as the star of the class when fifth grade begins. Also like Ramona, however, she finds herself outshined by a new girl who draws the attention of every child in her classroom.
Gertie's new rival is the daughter of a famous Hollywood director who is filming a movie with a famous child star "nearby," although we never see either the father or the young actress who has everyone starstruck. Mary Sue quickly becomes the most popular girl in fifth grade and turns everyone else against Gertie, most notably in a cruel maneuver whereby the native Californian leads the children to denounce oil drilling as evil when she discovers that Gertie's father works on an offshore oil rig.
Frankly, given that this is a small coastal town, I find it tremendously hard to believe that no one else's family works for the oil company; I guess it's a one-man operation with Gertie's father all alone out there on the rig. Rather than temper Mary Sue's radical environmentalism, the teacher showers her with praise for starting a Clean Earth Club to which everyone is invited but Gertie. Stymied at being the most popular, Gertie decides to become the best student in the class, which makes one of her two friends turn against her because she is the smartest kid in class and -- thinks Gertie trying to get good grades is a personal attack, I guess? Honestly, I'm reaching here for her motivation, and the author seems to feel that Jean, the smart friend, is justified in her anger.
Ultimately Gertie wins the starring role in the class play, her last chance at distinguishing herself, and Mary Sue throws a hissy fit, refuses to play any other part, and insults the teacher to her face for not making her the star. However, when Gertie steals a bowl of candy from the principal's office, she is punished by having her part in the play taken away and given to Mary Sue, despite Mary Sue's own previous reprehensible behavior which saw her not punished at all. Only then, on the night of the rehearsal, Mary Sue gets stage fright and, rather than take her part back, Gertie encourages Mary Sue enough to give her the courage to go on stage.
I'm sorry I just spoiled the ending, but ... I don't get what we're supposed to take from this story. Mary Sue is appalling, but she secretly feels unloved by her workaholic father just like Gertie has been desperate to impress the mother who walked away from her family (and yet still lives in the same town without ever seeing Gertie), so Gertie's titular leap to greatness is her unselfish encouragement of Mary Sue, I guess. All Gertie's dreams get dumped on, she ends up still an outcast, and I don't believe for a second that Mary Sue is going to amend her ways after the play; she's much more likely to exclude Gertie all the more because she saw Mary Sue vulnerable, which would be fatal to her image. In my opinion, Gertie's sixth-grade year is going to be even worse than fifth.
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