The Great Gilly Hopkins

The Great Gilly Hopkins Name ______by Katherine Paterson Date ______

Dear Reader, These are the thoughts and questions that I had as I read this book. Answer the questions the best you can. You don’t have to answer my thoughts and wonderings, though. They’re in italics. Have fun reading! Mrs. Preece

Welcome to Thompson Park Who is Gilly Hopkins?

Fill out this character traits table. Character Traits Gilly Miss Ellis Mrs. Trotter William Ernest

The Man Who Comes to Supper Gilly really misses her mom. How do we know?

It seems like Gilly is treating her life like a game. When she's rude, she scores herself a point. Do you think it's a fun game or sick?

I'm wondering how she got to this point in her life. Wow. Gilly is so rude. She seems to be prejudiced against African Americans, overweight people, and people with special needs. I'm sure you know that calling someone "retarded" is terrible. She also refers to Mr. Randoph as "colored" which is also extremely hurtful.

More Unpleasant Surprises imbecile ignorant condemned

Gilly was trying so hard to get Mrs. Trotter to notice her messy hair. What was Mrs. Trotter's reaction?

Do you know what Tolkien wrote? Try to find out on your own.

The Great Gilly Hopkins 1 Sarsaparilla to Sorcery I'm wondering if her mother is in prison so she can't come get her OR if she's just plain mean sending her postcards from beautiful California saying how she misses her. Mrs. Trotter is really patient with Gilly. I'd want to yell at her. What would you do?

Warning! Gilly swears a lot. I hope you can handle it. I think the author is just trying to help us get to know her better. I love it that Gilly read a poem by the famous poet, William Wordsworth. I want you to find a poem by Wordsworth to share with the group. (By the way, isn't his name appropriate for a poet?)

Gilly did a good thing by reading to Mr. Randolph. She did several bad things in this chapter, though. What do you think was the worst?

William Ernest and Other Mean Flowers Is Gilly starting to change or is she just fooling us? I think she's trying to get W.E. to trust her so he'll help her steal Mr. Randoph's money. What do you think?

Harassing Miss Harris I wondered if Gilly would stoop this low. She used the really bad n-word to hurt Miss Harris. How did Miss Harris react?

Dust and Desperation All together, how much money did Gilly steal from Mr. Randolph?

What did Gilly find while cleaning at Mr. Randolph's house?

She makes one last, desperate attempt to get the money to buy a bus ticket to California. What did she do? Do you think it will work? Will she get a response?

The Great Gilly Hopkins 2 The One Way Ticket Wow. That was really brave and stupid of Gilly. Did you think she was going to get away with it? What do you think will happen to her now?

Pow I laughed at the end of this chapter and had just a hint of tears in my eyes. Things are changing for Gilly. What did Gilly teach W.E.?

Why did she teach it to W.E.?

The Visitor Well this is a surprise. Who was the visitor and why did she come?

Never and Other Canceled Promises Sad. Gilly got another visit from her social worker. What's it about this time?

During the visit, Miss Ellis says, "God help the children of flower children." In the 1970s, flower children were known as people who believed in peace in love; however, quite a few of them also believed in doing illegal drugs. You can see how this has messed up poor Gilly.

The Going Okay, I cried. It seems like Gilly was recently trying to get away from Trotter, W.E. and Mr. Randolph. What's making her want to stay?

The Great Gilly Hopkins 3 Jackson, Virginia Do you know about Vietnam? It's a country in Asia in which the U.S. had a war in the 1960s and 1970s. Check out the copyright year of this book. (You know where it is...on the back of the title page.) When you think about the setting of this book (time and place), when do you think the story takes place (as in what year)?

She'll Be Riding Six White Horses (When She Comes) I have my doubts about whether Courtney is really coming home. This was a cool chapter. I like how the characters communicate through letters. What other book(s) does this book remind you of?

Why do you think Gilly lied to W.E. about having horses and lots of money?

Homecoming At the beginning of this chapter, I had to read fast because I SO wanted to know what Courney was going to be like...if she was even coming.

Wow. Good book. Where do you think Gilly should have stayed at the end?

The Great Gilly Hopkins 4