[2] In 2012 it was ranked number 63 among all-time children's novels in a survey published by School Library Journal – the third of three books by Paterson in the top 100.

[4] The novel has been translated into Catalan, Chinese, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Lithuanian, Norwegian, Polish, Russian, Slovak, Spanish, and Swedish.

She hates living with different people all the time and just wants to settle in with her birth mother, Courtney Rutherford Hopkins, whose photograph Gilly secretly treasures.

[14] On February 8, 2013, it was announced that Stephen Herek would direct a film adaptation of the book, with Kathy Bates as Trotter and Danny Glover in major roles.

[15] On February 6, 2014, Sophie Nélisse as Gilly Hopkins, Glenn Close and Octavia Spencer joined the cast of the film.

[21] The novel was adapted as a made-for-TV movie produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions was televised January 19, 1981, directed by Jeffrey Hayden and teleplay by Charles Pratt Jr. during CBS Afternoon Playhouse.