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The Great Gilly Hopkins cover art

The Great Gilly Hopkins

Written by: Katherine Paterson
Narrated by: Alyssa Bresnahan
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Publisher's Summary

At age 11, 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 1977 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.

©1978 Katherine Paterson (P)1996 Recorded Books

What the critics say

  • Newbery Honor Book, 1979

"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." (Amazon.com review)
"Not to be missed, Bresnahan’s reading of this Newbery Honor book and National Book Award winner adds a rich dimension to Gilly’s story." ( AudioFile)

What listeners say about The Great Gilly Hopkins

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