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The Great Gilly Hopkins
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The Great Gilly Hopkins (1978) (edit title/settings)

by Katherine Paterson (Author) (edit contributors)

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Description edit see section history

One tough cookie Eleven-year-old Gilly has been stuck in more foster families than she can remember, and she's disliked them all intensely. She has a county-wide reputation for being brash, brilliant, and completely unmangable. So when she's sent to live with the Trotters--by far the strangest... read more

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Summary edit see section history

Galadriel Gilly Hopkins is en route to yet another foster home in Thompson Park, Maryland, with her social worker, Miss Ellis. At 11 years of age, she has spent the better part of her life being bounced from one set of foster parents to the next. While Gilly is extremely bright and... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)

Galadriel Gilly Hopkins is en route to yet another foster home in Thompson Park, Maryland, with her social worker, Miss Ellis. At 11 years of age, she has spent the better part of her life being bounced from one set of foster parents to the next. While Gilly is extremely bright and self-reliant, she is also bitter, angry and cynical from years of repeated abandonment and rejection. She fiercely clings to the idea that her birth mother, Courtney Rutherford Hopkins, a flower child, loves her and will return to care for her someday.

At first, Gilly loathes her new foster mother, Mamie Trotter, as much as the previous. Trotter refuses to bow to Gilly's manipulative tactics, forcing her to become a functioning member of the household. Gilly's only pleasure is in bullying the other foster child in the home, a skittish seven year old boy named William Ernest Teauge. While learning to live with Trotter and William Ernest, Gilly must also confront her own issues with racism: she dislikes being around African-American people, but both her teacher, Miss Harris, and Trotter's closest friend, a blind man named Mr. Randolph, are black.

While living at the Trotter home, Gilly initially gets into trouble as usual, scuffling with other students at school and leaving a racist and rude homemade card for her teacher. The only student at school who tries to strike up a friendship with her is a loathsome girl named Agnes Stokes, who follows Gilly around in spite of her constant insults.

Gilly quickly hatches two plans to escape. She learns that her mother is in San Francisco after Courtney sends her a postcard with a return address, and writes her a scathing letter about the foster home, pleading to be rescued. While visiting Mr. Randolph's personal library, she discovers that the old man has a cache of money hidden in his bookshelf. She manages to pilfer a significant amount of money and tries to use it to purchase a bus ticket to San Francisco, but is picked up by the police. She only decides to return to Trotter's house when William Ernest pleads with her to come home. In spite of her desire to leave, Gilly eventually discovers she actually likes her new foster family and teacher. She begins teaching William Ernest to read and defend himself against bullies; she also reads Mr. Randolph books from his large library. In school, Gilly comes to an understanding with Miss Harris and begins to excel in her school studies.

Just as Gilly settles into her new life, she is uprooted once again. Courtney has received Gilly's letter, and has requested that the state relinquish custody of Gilly to her biological grandmother. Gilly requests to stay with Trotter, but the matter is out of her hands, and she is taken to Virginia to live with her grandmother, who wishes to be called Nonnie.

Gilly bonds with Nonnie and tries to adapt to her new environment. When she learns that her mother is coming to Virginia for Christmas, she is excited because she believes that her longtime dream of a reunion is coming true. Courtney arrives, but Gilly is shattered because she immediately learns that her mother isn't going to stay in Virginia or take her back to San Francisco, she didn't even want to come for the holidays, and she only consented to visit because Nonnie paid for her ticket. After calling Trotter one last time and begging to go back, Gilly finally accepts her new home. Gilly is heartbroken, but decides she will cope with the situation, just to make Trotter proud.

Characters/People edit see section history

  • Galadriel (Gilly) Hopkins: Gilly" Hopkins is the title character of the story. She is described as being 11 years old, with blonde hair and an unkempt appearance. She does not care for her given name, Galadriel, and prefers to be called "Gilly." Gilly has spent most of her life in foster care, being sent from one home to another. She is extremely bright and creative, but is also very bitter and angry after years of rejection at the hands of her various foster parents.
  • Maime M. Trotter (Trotter): Maime M. Trotter, called "Trotter," is Gilly's new foster mother. She is a large woman who wears glasses and lives in a messy, albeit large, house. Trotter is said to be one of the foster care system's most respected caregivers.
  • Mr. Randolph: Mr. Randolph is the African-American, blind elderly neighbor of Mrs. Trotter.
  • William Ernest: very shy and needs to fight battles alone with out trotter
  • Agnes Stokes: very gross and needs to know when to stop
  • Courtney: didn't look like how Gilly wanted her to and now we know where Gilly gets her rudness
  • Miss Harris: very nice, can't hold in anger, and is just like Gilly
  • Mrs. Nevins: very clean
  • linda: Brash, bold, and angry that is Gilly
  • Galadriel Hopkins: mean,rude,neat,evil and know how to make plans
  • Nonnie: short,nice,when she inrolled Gily in __________ she demanded it
  • Mr. Evans: Add a description of this character.
  • Miss Ellis: the foster control person
  • Maime Trotter: nice to Mr.Randolph , foster parent
  • Chadwell: died in an airplane accident
Show all 15 characters
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First Sentence edit see section history

"GILLY" said Miss Ellis with a shake of her long blonde hair toward the passenger in the back seat.

Series & Lists edit see section history

This is book 52 of 98 in ALA's Top 100 Banned/Challenged Books: 2000-2009. (authoritative list)

Preceded by Daughters of Eve, and followed by You Hear Me?.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

  1. Katherine Paterson (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Original Language: English
Publisher: HarperCollins
Country: Add the country of publication.
Publication Date: 1978
ISBN: 0690038372
Page Count: 160

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