Rationale

“I don’t understand why a smart girl like you goes around booby-trapping herself. You could have stayed here indefinitely, you know. They’re both crazy about you.” (Paterson, 1978, p. 121).

Summary
The Great Gilly Hopkins, by Katherine Patterson, tells the story of a lonely foster child, who covers the pain of moving from home to home with a mean exterior. She makes every effort to shut out those who try to befriend her. Gilly is a tough kid. She beats boys up; she terrorizes teachers; she is now on her fourth foster family because she has made life unbearable for her previous foster families. Being shuffled from home to home has made Gilly a cynical, resentful, eleven year old girl who only wants to find her biological mother. Gilly is certain that once her mother learns of her plight with the foster care system, she will rescue her immediately and live a life of love and luxury.
Gilly meets her match in her new foster mother, Maime Trotter. Mrs. Trotter has deep faith and a great capacity to love others while maintaining her humor. All of the Trotters are excited to have Gilly join their poor but loving family. Gilly, however, is determined to make Mrs. Trotter so miserable that they will want to send her back. Mrs. Trotter desperately wants to reach out to Gilly, despite her racism, rudeness, and lying. Although Gilly ridicules Mrs. Trotter’s religious faith and refuses her unconditional love, Mrs. Trotter never gives up hope.
Will Gilly’s feelings stay intact when she is finally given the opportunity to live the life she has been hoping and dreaming about? Or will she realize that family is really about those who are there for you and never give up on you, even when the times are rough?

Audience
The Great Gilly Hopkins would most likely cater to the reader who is just beginning to transition into the young adult stage. According to Tomlinson & Lynch-Brown (2007), young adult literature is “written for young people age eleven to eighteen” (p. 4), and because the main character of the story is eleven, the novel would be most appropriate for the early young adult reader. In addition, the story would appeal to females who are struggling to find their place in this world, whether it is in school, at home, or in their community. Finally, because of its complicated and emotionally heartbreaking plot, this would be a fantastic novel to utilize as part of a curriculum centered on empathy or presenting alternative social perspectives of difficult upbringings to a young adult audience.

Curriculum Ties-
The relationship of the text to Montana’s reading curriculum can be found in the Montana Content Standards and Performance Descriptors document, which is issued by the Montana Office of Public Instruction (2009, http://www.opi.state.mt.us/Accred/cstandards.html).
Montana Standards for Reading-
Content Standard 1- Students construct meaning as they comprehend, interpret,
and respond to what they read.
Rationale- Readers actively engage with text to build their own understanding. Thus,
readers understand what they read as it relates to what they know. In this process, readers use prior knowledge and related experiences to:
• predict what a text might say and confirm or revise their understanding,
• integrate new information into their existing knowledge base;
• reflect upon what has been read in order to respond and create personal meaning through discussion and writing, as well as through artistic expression, formal presentation, media, etc.
As readers construct meaning they interpret what they read, selecting important ideas and details.
Content Standard 5- Students gather, analyze, synthesize, and evaluate information
from a variety of sources, and communicate their findings in ways appropriate for their purposes and audiences.
Rationale- Readers depend on their ability to critically investigate text and analyze
information in order to elaborate their understanding from various sources.
They evaluate the author’s use of language, style, purpose, and perspective.
Readers then select and synthesize important information.

Impact on Readers
Because Gilly is such a strong-minded, feisty character with a tremendous amount of anger, readers will be impacted as they watch her transform from a resentful young girl, to one who accepts and appreciates the path she has been given. Gilly’s transformation gives readers hope; with love and stability, anything can happen. Many of these transformations occur because of her foster mother, Maime Trotter. Students would benefit from selecting specific novel passages that reflect this transformation.
In addition, students would be impacted by the deep moral that unfolds as the story comes to an end. Students will be left with the understanding for the importance of giving all beings a chance, regardless of their looks, interests, behaviors, or socioeconomic status. What really matters is what is inside.

Anticipated Problems and Possible Solutions
• Language- The main character, Gilly, frequently degrades her foster mother, Mrs. Trotter, and brother, William Ernest. She calls Mrs. Trotter, “a huge hippopotamus of a woman” and a “gross guardian”, and William Ernest, “a freaky kid” and “stupid”. In addition, she uses words like hell, devil and dammit. These types of behaviors and attitudes are discouraged and looked down upon in society, especially in a classroom setting where respect for one another is crucial.
• Racism- Gilly makes several racist comments throughout the novel. Both her teacher, Miss Harris, and her foster neighbor, Mr. Randolph, are African American, and Gilly is quick to note her feelings regarding this matter. In one chapter in particular, “Harassing Miss Harris”, Gilly writes a so-called “funny” card where she insinuates an extremely derogatory slang word directed towards Miss Harris.
• Stealing- Gilly steals money from her blind, foster neighbor, Mr. Randolph. She does so on two different occasions and even tricks her friend and foster brother into being her accomplices.
• Lying- Gilly lies on numerous occasions throughout the book. It is very clear to the reader she is doing so, but those affected by her lying are oblivious. Gilly’s lies are a constant; she even lies at the end of the book when her outlook regarding her situation starts to come around. It is clear lying and exaggerating the truth are part of Gilly’s persona, no matter what the circumstances are.
• Running Away- After stealing the money from Mr. Randolph, Gilly runs away in hopes of finding her real mother, Courtney. Because of her actions, Mrs. Trotter’s reputation as a dependable and honest foster mother is damaged, not only in the eyes of the police, but the social worker, Ms. Ellis.
Although the above topics are problematic and present plausible concern among students,
families and the community, they provide material for valuable conversations that enrich students’ aesthetic reading experiences. “It is here that the students are free to consider the connections of the literature under study to their own situations, inner lives, or imaginations. Students are able to create personal meaning around a text” (Hadaway & McKenna, 2007, p. 170). Without a doubt, these are situations and concerns that exist in our world. With the classroom setting being an influential venue, educators can make it a point to openly discuss these difficult topics and provide valuable solutions and empathetic thoughts for their students to reflect upon. In addition, bringing in outside resources, like a school counselor or psychologist, would further support educators in the classroom and provide alternative ways to address these challenging and problematic issues presented throughout the novel.

Katherine Paterson
Katherine Paterson is one of the most prized young adult authors of our time. She has written over thirty books in her writing career, many of which are novels catered to the adolescence beginning to encounter change. She mainly writes realistic fiction and focuses on story lines that tackle difficult, young adult issues. Paterson comments on the emotional challenges and rewards that her difficult plots explore; “I think the books I’ve loved the most are the books that make me experience the entire spectrum of life. They make me laugh and cry and worry. They frighten me. Everything that a person would normally experience in a lifetime is encapsulated between the covers of such a book. That’s the type of book you love” (Scholastic, 2006).
Paterson has earned numerous prestigious writing awards throughout her career, some of which include: Newberry Honor and Medal, National Book Award for Children’s Literature, School Library Journal Best Book, American Library Association Notable Children’s Books, Parent’s Choice Award, Phoenix Award Children’s Literature Association, and Edgar Allen Poe Special Award- Mystery Writers of America. Her most prized novels are Jacob Have I Loved, The Great Gilly Hopkins, Bridge to Terabithia, and The Master Puppeteer.
One quote in particular stuck out regarding Paterson’s outlook on the profession that has given her so much, which truly says a lot about her character, commitment, and influence (Paterson, 2009).
"Eventually a character or characters will walk into my imagination and begin to take over my life. I’ll spend the next couple of years getting to know them and telling their story. Then the joy of writing far outweighs the struggle, and I know beyond any doubt that I am the most fortunate person in the world to have been given such work to do."
With such a positive outlook on writing and a successful career that spans numerous decades, Paterson would be an excellent role model for young adults who are not only facing difficult issues in their lives, but possibly have the desire to one day become a writer. The drive and determination to carry out her life’s dreams makes her a positive influence for young adults today.

Related Works in Literature
The following novels suggest works of literature that focus on young adolescence, adoption or foster care, or young female experiences and are similar to themes and concepts explored throughout The Great Gilly Hopkins:
• A Girl Named Disaster, by Nancy Farmer
• Anne of Green Gables, by Lucy Maud Montgomery
• Small Steps, by Louis Sachar
• The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, by E. Lockhart
• Drums, Girls & Dangerous Pie, by Jordan Sonnenblick
• Hope Was Here, by Joan Bauer
Each of the above novels would provide students with opportunities to compare and contrast obstacles, perspectives and triumphs with those explored throughout The Great Gilly Hopkins.

Reference and Support Material
Hadaway, N. L. & McKenna, M. J. (2007). Breaking boundaries with global literature:
Celebrating diversity in K-12 classrooms. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

Montana Office of Public Instruction. (2009). Montana content standards and performance
descriptors. Retrieved July 6, 2009, from http://www.opi.state.mt.us/Accred/cstandards.html.

Patterson, K. (2009). About katherine. Retrieved on July 7, 2009, from
http://www.terabithia.com/index.html.

Patterson, K. (1978). The great gilly hopkins. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company.

Scholastic, Inc. (2006). Helping children around the world to read and learn. Retrieved July
6, 2009, from http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/index.jsp?c=y.

Tomlinson, C. T. & Lynch-Brown, C. (2007) Essentials of young adult literature. Boston:
Pearson Education, Inc.