Books like The Great Gilly Hopkins
12 books with a reading profile close to The Great Gilly Hopkins by Katherine Paterson. Inward-looking, contemplative and thought-provoking; an easy read.
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1
The Thing About Jellyfish
by Ali Benjamin
Also inward-looking and contemplative · narrative, accessible
After her best friend Franny drowns, twelve-year-old Suzy Swanson stops talking.
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2
Mockingbird
Also inward-looking and contemplative · narrative, accessible
Ten-year-old Caitlin Ann Smith lives with Asperger’s syndrome in a world of black-and-white rules and literal interpretations.
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3
The Black Flamingo
by Dean Atta
Also inward-looking and thought-provoking · narrative, accessible
Michael, a mixed-race teenager of Jamaican and Greek-Cypriot heritage, grows up in London feeling he is never enough of any single identity.
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4
Love Letters to the Dead
by Ava Dellaira
Also inward-looking and thought-provoking · narrative, accessible
When Laurel’s English teacher assigns a letter to a deceased person, the high school freshman begins a secret journal addressed to figures like Kurt Cobain, Janis Joplin, and Amy Winehouse.
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5
The Tiger Rising
Also inward-looking and contemplative · narrative, accessible
Twelve-year-old Rob Horton lives in a Florida motel with his father, mourning his mother’s death while repressing his grief through a skin rash on his legs.
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6
Clap When You Land
Also inward-looking and thought-provoking · narrative, accessible
Twin sisters Camino and Yahaira Rios live separate lives in the Dominican Republic and New York City, unaware of each other’s existence.
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7
Bridge to Terabithia
Also inward-looking and contemplative · narrative, accessible
Jess Aarons, a fifth-grader living in rural Virginia, spends his summer training to be the fastest runner in his school.
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8
The Hate U Give
Also inward-looking and thought-provoking · narrative, accessible
Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter lives a split existence between her impoverished neighborhood, Garden Heights, and her wealthy suburban prep school.
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9
Ghost Boys
Also inward-looking and thought-provoking · narrative, accessible
Jerome is a twelve-year-old boy killed by a police officer who thinks his toy gun is real.
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10
The Beekeeper of Aleppo
Also inward-looking and contemplative · narrative, accessible
Nuri is a beekeeper who tends to hives in the Syrian city of Aleppo alongside his wife, Afra, an artist who loses her sight after a bomb kills their young son.
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11
Tom Lake
by Ann Patchett
Also inward-looking and contemplative · narrative, accessible
During the 2020 pandemic, Lara gathers with her three adult daughters on their family cherry orchard in Michigan.
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12
Jacob Have I Loved
Also inward-looking and thought-provoking · narrative, accessible
Set on the isolated island of Rass in the Chesapeake Bay during the 1940s, the story follows Louise Bradshaw’s struggle to find an identity separate from her twin sister, Caroline.
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