The Great Gilly Hopkins

Imagine that you're a foster kid who feels like no one wants, even the one person you want to be with the most, your mom. Gilly Hopkins feels that way when she once again moves in with a new foster mom, Maime Trotter, and foster brother, William Ernest.

Gilly does her best to be mean, rude, and angry, but she doesn't phase Trotter. Gilly isn't happy with her new living situation who does  her best to make the other little boy who lives with Totter be afraid of her. She is surprised when she meets the blind African-American, Mr. Randolph, who lives next door, and she isn't a fan of her new teacher who is also African-American. Gilly is mean to the only girl who tries to talk to her, Agnes, and only uses her to help her steal money from Mr. Randolph so she can get a train ticket to see her mother in San Francisco. When her plan backfires in her attempt to steal more money, she sends a letter to her mom asking her to come and get her. She does everything she can to go to San Francisco, even stealing money from Trotter to get a ticket to go, but she gets stopped by police. After that happened, Gilly started to care more about the people she was living with, such as helping William Ernest not only read but learn how to defend himself when others tease him. She even comes to a point where she is taking care of Mr. Randolph, Trotter, and William Ernest who all have the flu.

Just as she is learning to love the family she is living with, her grandmother comes, sent by Gilly's mom to take Gilly to leave with her. It is when Gilly's plan backfires and she comes to learn that she has to live with her grandmother does she really learn and realize just how much she loved Trotter, William Ernest and Mr. Randolph.

This story surprised me at first because it was written in 1978 and some of the things that Gilly says are kind of offensive or would be considered politically incorrect. A lot of it has to do with how she views African-Americans as blacks, but worse how she is almost disgusted or turned off by it. When I was reading it definitely shocked by it even though it is said in her head as anger about her situation. But when she is describing how she is almost intimidated by her new teacher, Gilly thinks to herself, "God, on top of everything else, the teacher was black." At that point, I searched if there was any controversy about the book, and sure enough the book has been in the spotlight of controversy and on some banned books lists.

Yet, despite the controversy it has also won many awards including:
1979 National Book Award in Children's Literature
1979 Christoper Award
1979 Jane Adams Award
1979 Newbery Honor

This book is an interesting, unique book that I'm sure many kids who grow up in the foster care system can relate to because a lot of foster kids have attitudes similar to Gilly's

The Year of the Dog

There are a lot of books available that talk about the every day life of Native Americans, and African-Americans, and then other Caucasian families, but what if there isn't a book about Chinese/Taiwanese-Americans? Then the book The Year of the Dog written by Grace Lin is written!

This story starts off with Grace and her family celebrating the Chinese New Year. The new year is the Year of the Dog, and because she was born in the Year of the Tiger, this year is supposed to be her lucky year. Grace wants to become rich and figure out her talent in the upcoming year, but she doesn't know how. As she progresses through the year of the dog, she slowly learns more about herself as a Chinese/Taiwanese-American.

There are different times that she comes to realize that she isn't like all the other kids in her school where she and her sister are the only Chinese-American students in her school, until a new girl named Melody starts at her school and she and Grace become fast friends. They together deal with the trials of being Chinese-American whether it is  realizing that Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz wasn't Chinese, or that Grace doesn't know Chinese or Taiwanese to be able to speak with other Chinese/Taiwanese kids at a camp.

Through each trial though, Grace learns more about herself and soon learns to accept that she isn't fully Chinese/Taiwanese, and that she isn't fully American, but that she is Chinese/Taiwanese-American. Once she can accept this about herself she comes to realize what her talent is and what she wants to do with her life. Write books.

What I didn't realize until almost the end of the book is that the author is writing about herself, but it isn't autobiographical. She used her own life as inspiration for her story. She wrote this story because it was a book she wished she had when she was growing up. This is such a fun book and I would definitely recommend it as a book that a Chinese/Taiwanese-American girl should read because there aren't many of these type of books out there that Chinese/Taiwanese-American girls. 

The Higher Power of Lucky

The Higher Power of Lucky written by Susan Patron is a book about a girl named Lucky. Her mother died when she was eight-years-old when she accidently stepped on a power line that had fallen during a storm. Through complicated circumstances her father's first wife comes to take care of Lucky  in the little town of Hard Pan, California, population 43.

Lucky regularly cleans where the different AA groups meet, and she listens to their stories secretly. What really draws her in is that they say they hit rock bottom before they found their Higher Power. Lucky really wants to know how she can reach her Higher Power but she doesn't know how. But what she worries about most is that her Guardian, Brigitte, wants to return to France and leave Lucky. When Lucky sees papers and that Brigitte is getting a liscence to open a restuarant, Lucky thinks that Brigitte is going to return to France. Feeling that his is her rock bottom, Lucky decides to run away to make Brigitte realize how much she loves Lucky. 

This story is one that many kids who are in the system and have foster families can relate to. It tells the story of a girl who lost her mother, and whose father doesn't want anything to do with her. She gets a new foster mother, but she is afraid that Brigitte doesn't love her enough or maybe she misses France more. A lot of foster kids question if they'll ever get adopted and if their foster parents really do love them. 

The illustrations in this story are simple, black and white, but they are perfectly placed and expressive. They give just enough detail to help the reader truly envision the characters and the different parts and details of the story. 

I would recommend this book to probably 3rd or 4th graders. It is a good book to discuss vocabluary, as well as looking into child-parent relations. 

Pippi Longstocking

Have you ever met the strongest girl in the world? Or met a girl who lived without any parents but with a horse and a monkey? Well if you never had, you can if you meet Pippi Longstocking!

Pippi Longstocking is a spunky girl who has bright red pigtails, and has a crazy sense of style. She is fun and energetic and she does what she wants. She traveled with her father on his ship until he was blown overboard. When that happened, Pippi took a trunk of gold and her monkey, Mr. Nillson, and went to live in the house her dad had bought for when he had retired. There Pippi lived by herself doing as she pleased.

When her next door neighbors, Tommy and Annika, met Pippi, they immediately found the most interesting and funny playmate. Pippi did everything her own way, and she really doesn't follow any social norms. When police officers came to take her away to a children's home, she played tag with them, and when they finally tried to carry her away, she picked them up instead and carried them away. Being the strongest girl in the world has its perks, of course!

This book is such a fun read! It is a perfect read-aloud story because every chapter tells a different adventure that Pippi has with Tommy and Annika, and she is sure to make you laugh! I would definitely recommend this book to be read to all grade levels.

Otherwise Known as Shelia the Great

Otherwise Known as Sheila the Great written by Judy Blume is story about a girl named Sheila Tubman. From the beginning of the book, the reader can tell some important facts about Shelia, even though it's never explicitly stated. First, Sheila hates dogs. She does everything she can to avoid them and refuses to be around any dog. Another thing the reader discovers she can't stand is getting her face wet, so she has never learned how to swim.

During their summer break, the Tubman family stays in a professor's home that has gone away for the summer in Tarrytown. The family had a dog named Jennifer and, of course, Shelia stays as far away from the dog as possible. Yet, Sheila never admits that she's scared of dogs, or is incapable of doing anything. She is too proud to admit that type of thing. The friend Sheila makes in Tarrytown, Mouse, isn't afraid to admit that she can't do something or is afraid of something. She is opposite of Sheila, and she often encourages Sheila to admit her problems by admitting one of her own problems first. In the end, Sheila learns how to overcome her fears and problems, and learns to admit that she can't do it all and that she is afraid of things.

This novel is a good discussion book for students to understand that it is better to admit that they can't do something than to act like you can handle it. Once you can admit these fears or problems, you can then take the steps to overcome your fears and fix your problems. That can't happen until you do though.

The Hundred Dresses

Back in elementary and middle school, was there a boy or girl who used to hang out with your friends even if they weren't necessarily your friend? Did they do something weird or say something outlandish to get the group's attention? How did the group react to that? 

In The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes, and illustrated by Louis Slobodkin is a novel about a girl who doesn't quite fit in the group of friends she tries to fit in with. Wanda Petronski doesn't quite fit with anyone at her school, and no one really notices when she isn't in class for several days. 

It isn't until the third day that Wanda doesn't come to class that Peggy and Maddie notice that she isn't at school. They realize because she isn't there to play their game with her. Their game consists of asking her how many dresses Wanda said she had, which Wanda would consitently reply "A hundred, all lined up in my closet." All the girls would laugh and then ask her more questions. Maddie hated watching this happen, she felt bad for Wanda, but she she never said anything to stop it. 

The day of the drawing contest at school, Wanda still wasn't there but a hundred drawings of dresses filled the classroom walls. They then found out at the Wanda and her brother were no longer coming to school there and that her family was moving. 

Immediately Maddie began to think about how she treated wanted and she felt bad. She thought about the way that the game first started. She thought about how she would have felt if the girls started doing the same thing to her. She also thought about what she should have done to stop the girls from making fun of Wanda. 

In the end, both Peggy and Maddie learn about they way their actions affect others and make resolutions for how they will treat others in the future. 

This novel is a great book to begin a discussion about the way students treat others. A lot of times students watch someone else pick and make fun of another student and they don't say anything because they don't want to be pick on themselves. Yet it can reach a point where a student leaves the school to escape the bullying. If a student sees someone is being picked on and doesn't agree, they should speak up and tell whoever is bullying them to stop. 

One think I really liked about this book was that the illustrations were unique. They are only in black and pink and although they aren't very detailed, they give a visual understanding to the novel in a unique way. 

I would reccommend this book for third graders or 4th graders, which is a good age to discuss the topics of this book and it is at a reading level for these grades.  

Island of the Blue Dolphins

Have you ever imagined being stranded on a deserted island? How would you survive? What would you do?  How would you handle it? Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell tells the story of a young girl who becomes left on her island after the village leaves, and how she survives and lives. 

Karana's village experiences heartache when hunters from the north of their island, the Aleuts, come to hunt otters on their island. When the Aleuts leave, a confrontation happens, and in the end, many of the men of the village are killed. The new chief leaves to find a better place for his people, and soon a boat arrives to take the people of the village away. Karana is on the boat when she discovers that her younger brother did not make it on the ship in time, and she dives into the water to go back for him. 

They begin to live on the island hoping that the boat will soon return for them, but not long after the boat leaves, her younger brother is killed by the pack of wild dogs that lives on the island. Karana is left by herself, and she begins to create a life for herself, alone on the island. She survives a canoe trip in a canoe that sprung a leak, as well as made a new home for herself, and even created her own weapons. She defied many of the customs of her culture as she chooses which is more important, her safety or the culture that she came from. The story tells the important memories or parts of her life as she lives on her island alone, and she grows up. She goes from hoping everyday to be rescued to never thinking about it happening again. Eventually she is rescued and discovers that her people never came back for her because they ship had sunk and no one knew that she was on the island alone. 

This book has won the John Newbery Medal for good reason. It was a well written book that tells the life of Karana with beauty and eloquence without romanticizing her life. It is told in the first person and it tells it as if she was telling the story to you. 

I first read this book when I was in 5th grade, and this would be the grade that I would recommend the book for. One thing I would do as a teacher is go over some of the vocabulary that is used in the book that is particular to Native American cultures. I remember when I read it I didn't understand that "moons" meant "months" and "suns" meant "days." Even as I was reading it again, it took me a while to understand that when she was talking about a "devil fish" that she was talking about an octopus. So it would be good to discuss these vocabulary words with your students.

This story is inspired by a true story, so this is also another aspect that you can discuss with your students, among many other projects that students can do along with this book. 

When looking for a definition of what the devil fish was in the book, I found this video and think it's a great lesson plan idea to have students do to connect with book more.