The Great Gilly Hopkins

Grade:

Transfiguring Adoption awarded this book 3 Hoots out of 5 based on how useful it will be for a foster/adoptive family.
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From the Cover of The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson:

“Eleven-year-old Gilly has been stuck in more foster families than she can remember, and she’s hated them all. She has a reputation for being brash, brilliant, and completely unmanageable, and that’s the way she likes it.

So when she’s sent to live with the Trotters—by far the strangest family yet—she knows it’s only a temporary problem. Gilly decides to put her sharp mind to work and get out of there fast. She’s determined to no longer be a foster kid.

Before long she’s devised an elaborate scheme to get her real mother to come rescue her. Unfortunately, the plan doesn’t work out quite as she hoped it would…”

The Great Gilly Hopkins is intended for pre-teen audiences. Eleven-year-old Galadriel “Gilly” Hopkins is a child who has been in the foster system for most of her life, and has moved around to different placements. At the start of the book, Gilly is placed with a new family after her last placement didn’t work out. Gilly is angry and determined not to like her new foster parent, Mrs. Trotter, or Mrs. Trotter’s other foster child, William Ernest, but there are surprises in store for her!

The Great Gilly Hopkins received the Newbury Honor in 1979, and its popularity has continued through the decades. Overall, it is a very good book about a child in the foster system who feels abandoned and is just trying to make it through. Though there are some problematic areas, and some language that is offensive by today’s standards, there is still much to be gained from…

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** Spoilers Could Be Ahead **

About the Reviewer:

Julie is a Central Virginia native who currently resides in Rochester, New York. She received her Masters of Arts Degree in Psychology from the College of William and Mary in 2012 and is currently a PhD candidate in Epidemiology at the University of Rochester. Julie has worked in various mental health research positions since 2012 and is passionate about researching how physical health, mental health, and trauma experiences interact. When not working, Julie enjoys reading, cooking, spending time with her cats, and watching videos about otters (her favorite animal).

**Transfiguring Adoption is a nonprofit organization seeking to nurture growth in foster and adoptive families by giving a HOOT about their families. Transfiguring Adoption does not intend for its reviewers nor its review to be professional, medical or legal advice. These reviews and discussion guides are intended to help parents to better be able to connect and understand their children who come from traumatic backgrounds.