The Great Gilly Hopkins Chapter Summary & Analysis | Chapter 1 "Welcome to Thompson Park"

Chapter 1 "Welcome to Thompson Park" Summary

The Great Gilly Hopkins tells the story of a lonely foster child, who covers the pain of moving around from home to home with a tough, mean exterior. Despite her best efforts to block out anyone who tries to reach out to her, Gilly soon comes to love her unusual family, composed of an obese, illiterate woman, a skittish child, and a blind old man. The book was banned in some schools because of its rough language, but was acclaimed by critics and earned its author many awards.

The book opens with the brilliant and tough eleven-year-old Gilly Hopkins being driven to a new foster home by her social worker Miss Ellis. Snapping her gum and smugly satisfied with her uncombed hair, Gilly thinks back to the three families she previously lived with, and how each one did not work out. She thinks disgustedly back to one foster mother in...
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