By: Katherine Paterson
Copyright 1978
HarperCollins Children's Books
Fiction
5th grade to Middle School
178 Pages
Gilly is an 11 year old girl who refers to herslef and "The Great Gilly". She is a foster child who has been passed around a lot, three times in the last year as the book starts taking place. She likes to make trouble everywhere she goes. This new house that she is going into, she didn't know, but would change her. The book never comes out and says it but Gilly is pretty predjudus and this makes for trouble when Mrs. Trotter (who foster mother) is black, Mr. Randolph (the blind next door neighbor who is over at Trotter's house for dinner all the time) is black, and her teacher at her new school is also black. Gilly wants more then anything for Courtney (her birth mother) to come and get her. Gilly has made trouble everywhere she has been. She would do amazing in school, borderline genious and then just stop all together and do nothing. She can beat up six boys all by herself (and she knows it!), she could be called and evil genious. Gilly used to be loved, even had someone she could call mama, but when they moved to FL, they left Gilly behind. So Gilly doesnt trust or love or anything, she is The Great Gilly Hopkins and nobody gets the better or her.
So in this new foster house Gilly treated everyone badly, even her teacher at school, and even stole from Trotter and Mr. Randolph to set out her plan for running away to CA after getting a letter from her mother, she knew where she was. Gilly wrote her mother a letter telling her about such a horrible place she was living in and she was gunna run away to CA. Well when Gilly's plan fails, she got busted at the bus station and the cops were called, things changed for Gilly. She started doing work for pay (to pay back for the money she stole and gave some to a partner in crime as payment for help) and was to clean things and also help William Ernest with his reading. W.E. is another one of Trotters foster kids that is slow. Gilly helped him and they started to grow closer, no longer was W.E. afraid of Gilly, but you could tell that he loved her. She also started teaching him how to fight and stand up for himself. There was a time that Gilly was the only healthy person out of the four of them and she had to take care of everyone. She was never told she had to do all she did, but she did it, this is where you see the change in Gilly. It is at this time that Gilly's grandmother shows up. Cortney had called her, after 13 years of not talking, and told her about the letter. After seeing the place Gilly was living in she decied that she was going to take claim of Gilly. Well the office let her grandmother take Gilly. Gilly did not want to go. After everything she was gunna fight to stay after fighting to leave. Gilly wrote that letter, it is Gillys own fault. So Gilly went to live with her grandma, and wrote to W.E. and lied so everyone would think she was happy. For Christmas Courtney was coming to visit. Gilly was excited, she would come and take her home with her. Courtney was paid to come, she didn't want to be there and she didn't love Gilly like her post card had said. Gilly was gunna run away and she called Trotter to tell her. Trotter told her she couldn't. They had a converstaion that kind of raps up the book, and you can see the change in Gilly more then ever there. "I love you" Gilly told Trotter before she hung up the phone. She went back to Courtney and her grandma and they left. It wasnt anything that Gilly had thought or dreamed it would like but, Trotter would be proud.
I would NOT recomend this book to kids who aren't ready for this kind of book, with the language and the predjudus it just not be right for some students. I think middle school age kids would be right for this book.
There really wasn't anything WRONG with this book, but in some peoples eyes there could of be. So who ever reads this will just have to be careful and read with an open mind till they get to the end and see how much Gilly comes to love those that she hated at the start.
I had mixed feelings while reading this book, but it got to the point where I could not set the book down. I really do like this book and hope that everyone else who reads it will grow along with Gilly as I did. You really have to get into her head, and start to feel with her. I cried at the end of the book. Not only is Trotter proud of her, but I am too.
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