Great Gilly Hopkins (Cassette)
Editorial Reviews
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Gilly Hopkins is a determined-to-be-unpleasant 11-year-old foster kid who the reader can't help but like by the end. Gilly has been in the foster system all her life, and she dreams of getting back to her (as she imagines) wonderful mother. (The mother makes these longings worse by writing the occasional letter.) Gilly is all the more determined to leave after she's placed in a new foster home with a "gross guardian and a freaky kid." But she soon learns about illusions--the hard way. This Newbery Honor Book manages to treat a somewhat grim, and definitely grown-up theme with love and humor, making it a terrific read for a young reader who's ready to learn that "happy" and "ending" don't always go together. (Ages 9 to 12) --Richard Farr
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
Book Description
At eleven, Gilly is nobody's real kid. If only she could find her beautiful mother, Courtney, and live with her instead of in the ugly foster home where she has just been placed! How could she, the great Gilly Hopkins, known throughout the county for her brilliance and unmanageability, be expected to tolerate Maime Trotter, the fat, nearly illiterate widow who is now her guardian? Or for that matter, the freaky seven-year-old boy and the shrunken blind black man who are also considered part of the bizarre "family"? Even cool Miss Harris, her teacher, is a shock to her.
Gutsy Gilly is both poignant and comic as, behind her best barracuda smile, she schemes against them and everyone else who tries to be friendly. The reader will cheer for her as she copes with the longings and terrors of always being a foster child.
Katherine Paterson, winner of the 1978 Newbery Medal for Bridge to Terabithia and of the 197 7 National Book Award for The Master Puppeteer, again reaches across boundaries with her wit, compassion, and love, and here creates an immensely engaging story about a child's desperate search for a place to call home.
Winner, 1979 National Book Award for Children's Literature
Notable Children's Books of 1978 (ALA)
1979 Fanfare Honor List (The Horn Book)
"Best of the Best" Children's Books 1966-1978 (SLJ)
1979 Christopher Award
1979 Jane Addams Award Honor Book
1980-81 Children's Choice Award (Iowa)
1981 Georgia Children's Book Award
1981 Garden State Children's Book Award (New Jersey Library Association)
1980-81 Children's Book Award (Massachusetts)
1981 William Allen White Children's Book Award
NY Public Library Books and Recordings 1978
Great Gilly Hopkins (Cassette)
Great Gilly Hopkins (Cassette),Katherine Paterson,Amer School Pub,0394783719,Audio: Juvenile,Family - Orphans & Foster Homes,Juvenile Fiction,Literary,Unassigned Title
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