Gertrude Kloppenberg (Private)

by Ruth Hooker

Book Overview

A lonely little girl keeps a diary in which she records her search for a true blue friend. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0687140943
• ISBN13: 9780687140947
• Release Date: January 1970
• Publisher: Abingdon Press
• Length: 96 Pages
• Weight: 0.85 lbs.

Customer Reviews

A heroine who little girls can relate to!

This book was written in 1970, just a year after I was born. Although I never read it growing up, I happened to stumble upon an old copy at a used book sale the other day. Something about the character of the heroine, Gertrude (or Trudy as she would like to be called) struck a chord with me and I brought the book home. I have enjoyed reading it with my own little girl. Although some aspects of the book are dated (my child can't get over how short the skirts are in the pictures!), the premise of a lonely, shy little girl gradually blooming, just like the flowers in the garden she admires, is timeless. With short, diary entries instead of chapters, even the most reluctant of readers could enjoy this. Gertude is a wonderful heroine. A little gem of a book. We can't wait to find the sequel, "Gertrude Kloppenburg II".

A charming diary written from a young girl's perspective

Ruth Hooker's first novel is a diary written by an introspective and lonely little girl with an unusual name. Gertrude, who prefers to be called Trudy, is a latchkey child whose mother works as a bookkeeper for a department store. (Trudy's father is never mentioned, and it is unclear whether her mother is divorced, widowed, or a single parent.) Trudy and her mother live on the top story of a two family house that they share with the five Murphy boys and their parents. On Monday, March 25th, Trudy purchases a black and white speckled notebook and begins to fill it with diary entries. She wishes to find a "true blue friend" and records her attempts to connect with others every day except Saturday and Sunday "because those days aren't private enough." She marks each entry with a symbol---a star for a good day, a circle for a medium day, and a square for a bad day. On March 28th, Trudy admires a beautifully kept garden through a knothole in a board fence while walking home from school. Trudy finally meets Mrs. Blonski, the owner of the garden, on April 11th, and her adult son, Carl, on April 23rd. Thanks to the kind and generous Mrs. Blonski, the shy and unsure Trudy learns to jump rope, befriends the children at her school, gains the favorable attention of her teacher, stands up to the rambunctious Murphy boys, and becomes best friends with Sandra, the most popular girl at school. At the end of the book, Trudy nearly succumbs to undiagnosed pneumonia, but is saved by Carl (who is studying medicine) and Mrs. Blonski, who take her to the hospital where she is placed in an oxygen tent. The book concludes with the entry for Friday, May 24th. At the time this book was written, Ms. Hooker was a former children's librarian and the mother of four (three daughters and one son). Gertrude was "a composite of many thoughtful, shy unsure girls with great potential" whom the author had met throughout her life. This short novel was followed by a sequel in 1974, Gertrude Kloppenberg II, which starts on Monday, May 28th, four days after the first book ends.