Cornelia and the Audacious Escapades of the Somerset Sisters by Lesly M. M. Blume.
This book is a charmer of a story.  It is the story of lonely, 11-year-old Cornelia, who finds it hard to make friends, hides behind her large vocabulary, and has an impossible relationship with her famous pianist mother.  As Cornelia grows lonelier and lonelier, she meets her new next-door neighbor who happens to be Virginia Somerset, one of the four famous Somerset sisters who traveled the world together.  In Virginia Cornelia finds a kindred spirit who listens to her, understands her and tells incredible stories.  Cornelia begins spending lots of time in Virginia’s apartment where each room has been redone to reflect a country she traveled to and with each visit, Cornelia hears a wonderful story or two.  By the end of the book, Cornelia has found herself changed and her mother as well. 
I often don’t like framed stories, because they are a little too neatly done and the stories mesh too well.  In this book though, the stories Virginia tells are wonderfully fresh and fun.  Readers will feel their own spirits rise along with Cornelia’s.  Cornelia is a shy, lonely child whom readers will also respond to.  She makes a great foil through which to see the gusto and verve that the Somerset sisters had in their lives. 
This would be a good readaloud for classes interested in women’s history or history in general.  Recommend it to any reader who enjoys history or girls having adventures.