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Jan 21, 2012

Josiah rated it:

Katherine Paterson, a year after writing her classic, "Bridge to Terabithia", once again blew my mind and amazed me with this book.
The feeling in The Great Gilly Hopkins is just so stark and so easy to identify with, and the sharp mind of Gilly herself brings her situations into clear and germane focus.
Her situation may be somewhat unique, but the feelings that Gilly has can be understood by anyone, and these feelings are available in both abundance and quality to the re More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 11, 2011

Lisa added it

Gilly has moved from one foster home to another for years and is tough and angry. She hides her mother's picture in her suitcase and longs to be with her. She uses a lot of bad language (no f-bombs; this is a kid's book), but by the end of the book, the ugliness isn't Gilly's vocabulary or the blind old man next door or her hugely obese, sloppy, and loving foster mother. What is truly ugly is Courtney, over whose beautiful picture Gilly has been yearning all her life. We get so little inform More...

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Feb 18, 2009

Jennifer rated it:

Good middle grade novel--its character driven, so for reluctant readers, you might have a struggle getting them into it. Boys may not find the female protagonist appealing (though she's a pretty tough & streetwise character for the time period it was written in.) We did it books on tape. My fourth grader loved it (the one that reads a Harry Potter novel in 6 hours); my six grader couldn't stand it (she's a tough one to get to read--it takes her three weeks to get through a Harry Potter novel and More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jan 07, 2009

K8 rated it:

What I really like: Paterson never takes the easy way out and it doesn't have a traditional 'happy ending.' There are things to be happy about in the end - Gilly has grown up and she learns to accept some emotional attachments. And she is smart.

I can see where some stuffy readers wouldn't like Gilly's behavior. She's a foul-mouthed brat at the beginning of the book. She's damaged; she's been passed around several foster homes and, after an early disappointment, tries to sabotage each More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 05, 2012

Callie rated it:

The Great Gilly Hopkins was published in 1978, which means I first read it when I was 9 or 10 years old and approximately the same age as Gilly. I recall I liked the book, and I liked Gilly. I felt it was a great injustice that Gilly could not stay with Trotter, William Ernest, and Mr. Randolph in Thompson Park.

Reading the book as an adult has been a different experience and it is worthwhile. Gilly--like many of us--aspires to live in a fantasy where she is wanted and beautiful. Gilly More...

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Feb 01, 2012

Roger rated it:

Paterson exposes the tough life of foster children through the character of Gilly Hopkins, a young girl of great depth and complexity. Gilly pushes people away before they get too close. She’s afraid to open-up and be loved because she doesn’t want to deal with the possibility of rejection all over again. She’s extremely intelligent, but full of anger. She wants someone to love her so she won’t be a foster child anymore. But instead of letting those like Trotter in, she dreams of an ideal love f More...

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Oct 18, 2011

Linda rated it:

The author has the unique honor of receiving two Newbery Medals, one for The Bridge to Terabithia and another for Jacob I have Loved. The Great Gilly Hopkins is a 1979 Newbery honor book.

It is obvious that Paterson knows the heart and soul of young adults. Her writings provide clear insights into children facing troubled situations.

Galadriel (Gilly) Hopkins is an angry, manipulative 11 year old. Shuffled from many foster homes, she flips a cold, nasty attitude to anyone w More...

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Oct 04, 2011

Allison rated it:

This is realistic fiction with a vengence! Any writer who feels pressured to end their book with a happy ending needs to read Gilly Hopkins first. I started out this book rather ambivalently. Gilly is one angry little girl (though, really, who can blame her), and reading her thoughts and moods in the first-person omnicient narrative voice was at first a little intense. It just wasn't what I was expecting, I guess. (Also, because this book was written in 1978 there is some pretty serious discuss More...

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Sep 24, 2011

Leeann rated it:

This book was published in 1978, so when I used it in my 7th grade class I found there were a few disconnects with the kids.

First of all, there is some sensitivity training when teaching this book....Gilly is a foster child who has been moved around a lot, so she has a lot of anger and mistrust...

She also has some issues with being racist. She uses the term "colored" and tells about 1/2 her class being black, and her teacher is black as well. It isn't until the More...

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Jun 25, 2011

Rebecca rated it:

I don't have any children of my own, but every once in a while I get on a YA reading kick. This summer, it's been a combination of recent Newbery Medal and Honor books and ones I remember reading when I was around eight or nine. Carl Hiaasen's Scat and The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate were a delight; Jane-Emily was a disappointment.

So I was around eight or nine when I read The Great Gilly Hopkins. I remember being horrified at the life of a foster child in a filthy household. Thi More...

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Dec 01, 2010

Rosibel rated it:

Have you ever wonder how does it feel being in foster care? Or even being a foster child? Have you ever felt destroyed being apart from your family? Well In the book “THE GREAT GILLY HOPKINS “ BY: Katherine Paterson the main character knows how it feels.

In “The Great Gilly Hopkings “by: Katherine Paterson starts with an eleven years old foster child Gilly Hopkins who wish she could get out of foster care and go back having a real family, but Gilly doesn’t know were her moth More...

2 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 27, 2010

Joann rated it:

I really did not like this book. I have a difficult time seeing its purpose or value. It was to me a glorification of a bully. The main character was rude, disrespectful, and often down right mean. I understand that the character had a hard life but why do authors feel that creating heroic figures out of characters with terrible attitudes is appropriate? Gilly never faces any direct consequences for her bad behavior and there never comes a point of personal improvement or change.

More...

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Jun 12, 2010

Willie rated it:

Although this novel is comical at times when I look below the surface of this novel and look a little dipper I believe that the author is bringing to light a problem that we have in our foster care system, children are being passed along from one family to another never having a sense of security, comfort or happiness, left to their own devices as they attempt to survive in a world that do not love or care for them.
The setting for this novel seems to represent how Gilly feel’s about life. More...

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Apr 17, 2010

Margaret rated it:

This book is about Gilly Hopkins who has been getting passed around from foster home to foster home because of all of the trouble she causes. She acts out like this because she longs to be with her mother who has never wanted her. She moves in with Trotter(a very large religious fanatic) and W.E. (William Ernest, a mentally slow little boy). They have a next door neighbor who is a black blind man. Gilly hates living there and tries everything to get away and go find her mom. But something h More...

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Jun 23, 2011

Nakyzha rated it:

This book is about an 11yr.old girl named Gilly who's been put into a foster home and has been adopted by many families because her mother left her. None of her foster families have been able to tame her but when she moves in with the trotters she puts her brilliant mind to work. Gilly makes a plan to go see her birth mother . Before she starts her plan she gets to know her new family Gilly starts to write her mother (Courtney) about her plan to come see her . Then Gilly starts to steal money fr More...

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May 13, 2011

Rain rated it:

The pain! Oh, the pain! I cannot begin to tell you how much this book hurts me. I just... can't even begin to understand why such a book was written in the first place. It's so depressing... and not in a good way! The message in the book is just so horrible to be given to children that I don't think any child should read this! This can literally break a child's spirit! That's how bad the message of this book is! I didn't enjoy this book at all!

Paterson's books, and I do mean all of t More...

10 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jun 13, 2010

Jared rated it:

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Mar 05, 2009

Nmck rated it:

I am a fifth grade teacher, and read this book while teaching from it to one of my reading groups. I have used it every year since, and it gets better with each reading.

Katherine Paterson's storytelling and descriptive qualities are top-notch. Her characters become so real to the readers, and the storyline unfolds to a greater depth on each page. This book will not disappoint, whether read by a child or an adult!

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Oct 22, 2010

Sandie rated it:

This is one of those books I read way back when I was a kid that stuck with me. I enjoyed it very much when I was younger, about 4th or 5th grade. I thought just recently I would like to read it again and see if I still liked it so much.

Now that I have re-read it and am able to understand it on another level, I still like it very much. Its a very good book. I thought the beginning was a bit of a slow start but not real bad. I can see now that the behaviour I probably found ver More...

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Oct 28, 2010

Anthony rated it:

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May 30, 2009

Dawn Michelle rated it:

Newbery Honor Book~1978

This was a really good YA book.

What I like about this author is, how she writes stories that are real and full of emotion. Ever character seems to remind you of someone who know of have known and every situation is either one you have been in or you someone who has been in it. And that makes it so much more real. Which in turn, I believe, makes a really great story.

Gilly is a complex character. And her story is VERY re More...

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Mar 07, 2011

Nancy rated it:

Published: 1978, Harper Trophy
Age: 10 and up
11 year old Galadriel (Gilly) is a tough and brilliant little girl who has been passed around in foster homes all her life. Her new foster home is with the Trotter’s, the strangest family of all; “a fat lady, a retarded 7 year old boy, and a blind old black man.” She dreams of her tall and beautiful mother coming to rescue her. Gilly is a very angry, brash, mean girl who does a lot of bad things. But, through the kindness of the people arou More...

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Apr 28, 2011

Katrina rated it:

This is an award-winning book. And true, I should probably judge writing on its own merit and not in comparison to an author's other works...but nevertheless, I felt like the writing in this one was underdeveloped, especially in relation to her (bigger) award-winning Bridge to Terabithia and Jacob Have I Loved. Too much tell, not enough show in this one. I also wanted to see some more of Gilly's childlike qualities: her vulnerability, in particular. Her vulnerabilty peeks through at times, More...

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Jun 06, 2011

Donna rated it:

This was another tutoring read, and it sparked quite a lot of interesting discussion between me and my student. She enjoyed reading it a lot, and I hardly had to push her to read at all, which was a pleasant surprise.

The main character, Galadriel "Gilly" Hopkins is tough, angry, and brilliant. She's a foster child who's been shuffled around too many homes before she ends up at Maime Trotter's. Gilly is a fascinating character, a girl who is at once so jaded and yet so full More...

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Aug 10, 2011

♥Xeni♥ rated it:

I had seen this book sitting around my older sister's bookshelf for a few years before I had actually picked it up and read it. During my younger years I was really in a mode of "judging a book by it's cover" and I really did not like the cover of this book. Gilly Hopkins seemed rude and annoying and just plain mean, and that I got just by looking at her!

But when I finally read the book I really enjoyed it. I stepped into the shoes of her foster life and while I always thou More...

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Dec 11, 2010

Jill rated it:

I really liked this book! I was able to get through it in less than twelve hours! Oh the joys of working with nice people at the banco.

I've heard about this book all over the place, but most recently in Touch Blue. Both books were about foster kids and the families that take them in. I thought this book seemed very realistic. Gilly, the main character, is a little douchebag for much of the book - but can you blame her? She's been abandoned again and again. I can definitely understand More...

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Jun 19, 2010

Stefanie rated it:

According to Literature for Children a Short Introduction by David Russell this novel is a new realism book. This novel evokes real emotions in Gilly, the main character. In new realism it is “sought to bring more honest emotions, franker language and bolder ideas to the literature for children” (Russell 2001, p.213). The language is evident in Gilly’s use of cussing throughout the novel. It is also evident in the thoughts in between the dialogue between characters. This novel also works through More...

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Feb 23, 2009

Rian rated it:

Summary: Gilly Hopkins, who has lived in several foster homes, finds herself moving in with yet another foster family. She doesn't feel at all that this is the right home for her, and she harbors dreams of going back to live with her mother.

Response: I had a very mixed response to the book. On the one hand, it is a very well-told, hard-edged story that respectfully explores the feelings of a girl who has had a difficult time. Gilly has grown so distrustful of forming attachmen More...

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Nov 17, 2009

Vicki rated it:

Gilly Hopkins has been shuffled around from one foster home to the next. She is a a foul-mouthed eleven year old who is really rough around the edges. She does not trust anyone (especially adults) because of the many broken promises she has experienced. As a result of her difficult life she has a hard time attaching herself to people, which includes making friends at school.

I liked Gilly because although she is rough and tough, she is still an eleven year old kid. Her life has no More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 16, 2009

Abby rated it:

Gilly Hopkins has been shuttled around to several different foster homes since her mother left, and Gilly's perfected the art of not caring about anyone. When she arrives at the house of a new foster mother Mrs. Trotter, Gilly's certain she can drive Trotter crazy and break free to join her mother in California. But things don't turn out the way she planned.

I read this book when I was in grade school and loved it, so I wanted to see how it would hold up. Parts of it felt dated (refe More...

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