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.