My 6-year-old daughter and I found this to be an exceptional book. We listened to it on a road trip along with my mother who thought it was horrible because Gilly isn't the perfect little girl and has a mild potty mouth. But what makes the book so wonderful is that Gilly is realistic. The author has created a very true-to-life picture of a pre-teen girl who has become guarded and hardened by the foster care system. Because this is her 4th family in 4 years (by no fault of her own), she's decided that it's easier to stay detached and be surly and unlikeable. I've encountered children (and even adults) like this who put up defense mechanisms for various reasons. In both Gilly's and cases I've seen in real life, kindness can go a long way toward softening hearts. Gilly starts out hating her caretaker, foster brother, and blind next door neighbor. Her mind (and sometimes her mouth) is full of insults for them. But through their extreme patience and kindness, they become like a family to her. The book teaches that not all people who act bad are bad people, how far kindness can go, the negative consequences of lying, that people cannot always be judged from what you see on the outside, and that what you think you need is not necessarily what you really need.

It's been a while since I've read a children's book with such depth. I even got a little teary-eyed toward the end. I think it helped my daughter to understand one of her classmates a little more and why it worked to be kind to him when he was mean to her. Gilly changes for the better as the book progresses. She's still rough around the edges at the end and still has a habit of lying (which she will tell you outright), but her heart softens toward all the people around her and she learns that helping them and caring for them makes her feel good. I think that it's important for children to learn to understand others through books like this. Life isn't just roses and not all people start out smelling like one. There's a reason this has become a classic of children's literature.

Two words, soul. Crushing.

Захоплююсь, як Кетрін Петерсон вміє не відпускати читача. Прочитавши перший розділ, подумала: "здається, то якась фігн.. нудьга":) але після другого розділу я отямилась в 2 ночі, перегортаючи останню сторінку і витираючи мокрі щоки:)
Сподобались дуже усі персонажі, настільки різні. Їх можна чітко уявити. Емоції. Враження, що читач сам стає Гіллі на момент читання.
Але не дуже сподобалось закінчення. Я не про сюжет, а про телефонну розмову головної героїні. Чомусь вона мені прозвучала, як промова на врученні Оскара. Трішки пафосно. Мені хотілось, щоб закінчення теж було таке легке і водночас складне, як характер і уся історія головної героїні, а кінцівка чомусь трохи здулась, ніби всі знають що це кінець фільму і треба завершувати.
Це мої враження. Загалом книжка дуже варта уваги і дуже майстерно написана.

Цікавий момент: авторка досить релігійна особистість. І мені дуууже подобається, що головна героїня зовсім не "хороша дівчинка", на перший погляд. Вона лається, б'ється, ігнорує (з певних причин) любов і це дуже круто, що це все описано, як є. Як в житті.
Словом, 4+

This book was so completely depressing. At first I couldn't stand this little girl. She was so mean and horrible. Then I realized hurting people hurt people so I felt sorry for her and hoped someone would love her. It showed a glimmer of hope that she would be Happy then it all went downhill. I read this for a Y A book club. I would Never recommend this book to any child. It's just a waste of time.

Eleven-year-old Gilly Hopkins has been bounced back and forth between foster homes ever since she can remember. She knows how to get under people's skin, to cause trouble, and to get what she thinks she wants.

This is a children's book that I'm glad I read as an adult. I don't think the story of the difficult foster child and the humble, capable foster mother would have touched me much as a child. I probably would have been shocked and distracted by all the profanity—which is what our main character Gilly is trying to do when she speaks that way anyway.

I was so touched by foster mother Maime Trotter's fierce, gentle, nonchalant love. There are many kinds of intelligence, and Trotter has the knowhow to help Gilly. As a mother, there is a lot I can learn from her.

Content: Running away. Stealing. Racism. Lots of profanity. I personally felt it was justified in this book and not gratuitous, but I would recommend this book for older children or teens (10+).

This is one of the 'classic' children's books that was first published when I was young, yet I don't remember ever reading it. I'm always looking for classic books for the children's book club I facilitate at our local library, as I often include a couple of them on our reading list.

I first tried reading a paperback edition of this book back in 2014, but I never got around to finishing it. So as I was trying to go back and finish some of my 'currently reading' books, I rediscovered this book. (I should really get around to creating a 'never finished' or 'put aside' folder and put most of the books from my 'currently reading' folder in that, since I'm really only currently reading a couple of books at any given time.)

In any case, I finally borrowed the audiobook version from our local library's OverDrive website and finished it in the span of an afternoon. I love that I can listen to the audiobooks at a faster speed than the recording calls for, so a 4-hour audiobook can take as little as two hours to finish.

The audiobook was adeptly narrated by Alyssa Bresnahan and I really enjoyed listening to the story. It's a fast read and certainly helps to convey the myriad emotions experienced by foster children and some of the realities of life in the foster system.

interesting quotes (page numbers from the paperback edition with ISBN13 9780064402019):

"It seemed to Gilly that everything in this world that you can’t stand to wait one extra minute for is always late." (p. 144)

"Gilly was crying now. She couldn't help herself. 'Trotter, it's all wrong. Nothing turned out the way it's supposed to.'
'How you mean supposed to? Life ain't supposed to be nothing, 'cept maybe tough.'
'But I always thought that when my mother came...'
'My sweet baby, ain't no one ever told you yet? I reckon I thought you had that all figured out.'
'What?'
'That all that stuff about happy endings is lies. The only ending in this world is death. Now that might or might not be happy, but either way you ain't ready to die, are you?'" (p. 147)

"'If life is so bad, how come you're so happy?'
'Did I say bad? I said it was tough. Nothing to make you happy like doing good on a tough job, now is there?'" (p. 148)

Every bit as good as I remember it being when I last read it about 35 years ago! The bonus is that now I can now totally understand the ending from the perspective of a mom - so it wasn't nearly as disappointing.

Hmm. Well. I didn’t really like this. Gilly was downright awful, and while I thought it would be kind of a charming reverse-Pollyanna situation, the ratio of horrible Gilly to redeemed Gilly was way, way off. She was a product of her circumstances, sure, but I felt like that might not be apparent to younger readers, AND no character ever stepped in to say, “Hey, let’s not use the n-word and the r-word,” etc. The other characters mostly just shrug, which I found super bizarre for a kids book. Lots of subtle irony that’s too easy to miss if you’re just getting used to your double digits, I reckon. In conclusion, I wouldn’t give this to a kid unless it was stapled to an adult who could tease out the critical thinking it takes for this to not be a book largely about glamorizing being a total shit.

Simpatiška knyga apie meilę, atsakomybę ir sudėtingus pasirinkimus. Verta skaitymo sąrašų.

This review also appears on my blog, Read-at-Home Mom.

Galadriel “Gilly” Hopkins is eleven years old, and has been bounced from foster home to foster home. When she comes to Mrs. Trotter’s house, she decides right away to dislike Trotter, as well as her new foster brother William Ernest, Mr. Randolph, the elderly blind gentleman who lives next door, and her teacher, a black woman named Miss Harris. Instead of trying to make things work, Gilly plans to take advantage of any kindness shown to her and use it to find a way to be with her mother, Courtney, who sends occasional postcards but has not been around in eight years. As Gilly’s time with Trotter wears on, however, she becomes accustomed to the collection of people who make up her new family, and she begins to regret the letter she sent begging her mother to rescue her. Unfortunately, just when Gilly truly begins to feel at home, another change comes that prompts her to grow up quickly and realize her love for the people who have cared for her.

The Great Gilly Hopkins is a book I owned throughout childhood, but never read. It was recommended to me frequently, as I was a self-proclaimed realistic fiction reader, but Gilly, who is a mouthy, nervy, dishonest, and sometimes racist foster kid, was just a little bit too real for sheltered little old me. Lately, though, I have become curious about some of these so-called great books I outright refused to read as a kid, so I decided to give this one another chance. I can’t say that it’s my favorite, nor is it something I would have liked as a child, but I can now appreciate its value and understand why it received Newbery Honor recognition.

I think the great thing about this book is that it never becomes maudlin or sugary-sweet. Gilly is suitably rough around the edges for what she has been through, and her negative attitude is both appropriate to her situation and part of her charm, even when the reader doesn’t agree with everything she believes or claims to believe. Though Gilly obviously changes and overcomes some of her issues as the book progresses, the reader is never beaten over the head with Very Important Lessons or asked to swallow a cheesy message. Instead, Gilly’s life proceeds in a realistic, organic fashion, and the reader is left to piece together what she has learned on his or her own. The ending is satisfying, but not too tightly tied together, and the reader is left feeling hints of both hope and sadness.

I have reviewed quite a few books about foster families on this blog, and along with The Pinballs and The Story of Tracy Beaker, this one is one of the best. Each character is fully-realized and displays unique flaws. The story touches on some of the flaws in the foster care system as well as the disappointments kids face, but ultimately, it is not a story about foster care, or foster parents, but about one specific child and how her experience in a particular foster home shapes her personality, her attitude, and her future.

Though I’m not sure how I feel about it, I am curious about the upcoming 2014 film based on this book, which will star Kathy Bates as Trotter. While I think that is excellent casting, I wonder whether the film will be able to maintain the book’s subtleties, or if it will instead become a saccharine Hollywood drama about how a very special foster mom helps a very special girl. (I sincerely hope this can be avoided, as I think we are in desperate need of more well-made film adaptations of children’s books.)

Recommended to me by Liz and her daughter Katie, I truly knew absolutely nothing about this book. They recommended it one day and on a whim I immediately checked it out from the library.

As this is a YA book, I'd say it's around the same reading level as the Lemony Snicket series. It was a very quick read but dang was it heart wrenching. Truthfully, I cried like a baby at the end of it. And then I tried to compose myself to explain the story to Bryce, and bawled all over again. Bryce gave me a hug and laughed at me.

Oof. This one hit me deep. Adoption? Foster Care? Check. Check. I'm basically handing my heart on a platter and saying "do your worst." And she did. It wasn't all rainbows and butterflies and I appreciate that. However, I wasn't prepared for that. I'm not sure how a younger reader would digest this story. It's a lot of emotions with a very unexpected ending, for a YA book.

Would I recommend it? Yep. With a box of tissues.

I purposely went into this popular children's story blind. I'm glad because I didn't have any preconceived ideas going into it. Gilly was not a likeable main character but as all educators know, children who need the most love ask for it in the most unloving ways. I loved Gilly's makeshift family. They weren't what she envisioned but they give her the love and support she was desperately craving. I was let down by the ending. I understand why Paterson chose it, it's just not the ending most readers, especially children, would wish for. This story was much deeper than I had expected and I know several students who could relate to the themes explored in this book.