The Great Gilly Hopkins Summary

Annotated Bibliography of The Great Gilly Hopkins The annotations that follow are based off of other books which are realist fiction for middle readers. The main character Gilly is a difficult and full of troubles foster child who just wants to live with her biological mother, Courtney. Throughout the story readers watch her grow from a tough, stubborn, hard protective shell she created and slowly transform into a helpful, caring, and loving girl who respects her foster family in her own unique way. After Gilly’s foster mother Mrs. Trotter refuses to give up on Gilly when she plotted to run away to her birth mother Courtney, Gilly began to accept her new family and change for the better when she realized how much they cared about her. The …show more content…
Because of the loss of his mother, his father is barely supporting his family so paying for tutoring isn’t an option. Vernon runs into the crazy lady, Maxine, who then introduces him to a retired teacher Miss Annie who agrees to tutor Vernon if he promises to help out Maxine, who is a drunk, and her special needs son named Robert. Vernon and Robert build a strong relationship throughout the book and Vernon even helps Robert by organizing a block party to help raise money for Robert to go to the Special Olympics. In the end, Vernon does pass the seventh grade, but he has to say goodbye to Robert who is going back to live with his family. This book would be a great book to study in class and for young readers because it shows similar aspects as The Great Gilly Hopkins with a troubled boy, Vernon, who becomes a better person because of the influence of Robert. Vernon stepped out of his confront zone and helped a kid he normally would have made fun of and developed a friendship with …show more content…
This is Aaron’s third foster family and he comes into the family untrusting them when he realizes they only brought him in to try bring in more numbers to keep their school open. When Aaron threatens to run away to find his birth mother, Tess agrees to have his mother come to the talent show to listen to Aaron play the trumpet. When Aaron’s mother comes to the talent show, Aaron expresses his anger to her by saying that she loves alcohol more than him and she knows nothing about him. In the end, Aaron seems happy to be with a loving family who genially cares for him. Touch Blue is intended for young readers and it gives them a different perspective on foster care. Instead of the story being based around the foster child as the main character, it is instead based around the family in which the foster child is welcomed into and shows the struggles of bringing a foster child into one’s home. During the story, readers see how much Tess cares about Aaron and how badly she wants him to feel accepted into her