Paterson,
Katherine. The Great Gilly Hopkins.
Harper & Row, Publishers. 1978. 1978. (148 pages)
This book chronicles the
life of Galadriel (Gilly for short) who has been through several foster homes
before ending up in the home of Maime Trotter. At first Gilly is very angry and
judgmental toward Maime, her foster brother W.E., her new neighbor Mr.
Randolph, and her new teacher Miss Harris. But as her schemes result in
unexpected changes, she is surprised to learn how much she grew to love all
those people she was pushing away.
The language in this
book was somewhat gritty and even racist at times – which is why it was on the
banned book list. However, while some of those things may be jarring at first
it’s pretty clear that this is the portrait of someone who is hurting. I think
there is an opportunity for educators to use Gilly as a universal example to
illustrate what it means to be disappointed, self-protective, and someone in
pain who lashes out at others. Life is disappointing sometimes. However, this
book also illustrates the positive side of life as we see that caring for
others makes life better.
The characters in this
book are very round and complex. The main character, Gilly, experiences a lot
of character change. We see many facets in her true-to-life personality. For
anyone who has known a hurting child, this characterization hits home
realistically. The themes of disappointment, self-protection, and belonging are
all universal to the human experience and would provide great educational
value. On a side note, I love that she references Tolkein several times! All in
all, I really enjoyed the book and the reminder that hatefulness can mean hurt,
and that this is a feature which can change as a result of kindness.
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