The Great Gilly Hopkins

Gilly Hopkins has been in one foster home after another. The only thing she has learned is that you have to be tough to survive. Make life difficult for everyone else, is Gilly's philosophy. But then she is housed with Bible-bashing Maime Trotter, and Maime is a large lady in every way. How can the great Gilly Hopkins be expected to tolerate an ignorant foster mother, a freaky foster brother, or the poetry-loving black man next door? At first Gilly despises them all, but finds herself slowly drawn into their circle of love. By fits and starts a change starts to happen in Gilly. Winner of the 1979 National Book Award for Children's Literature and many other distinguished awards, this 1979 Newbery Honor Book is filled with love and compassion as it tells the story of an 11-year-old girl who yearns for a real family.