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Title details for Just Like Us by Helen Thorpe - Available

Just Like Us

The True Story of Four Mexican Girls Coming of Age in America

by Helen Thorpe
Paula Christensen
Audiobook
1 of 1 copy available
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1 of 1 copy available
Just Like Us tells the story of four high school students whose parents entered this country illegally from Mexico. All four of the girls have grown up in the United States, and all four want to live the American dream, but only two have documents. As the girls attempt to make it into college, they discover that only the legal pair see a clear path forward. A coming-of-age story about girlhood and friendship, as well as the resilience required to transcend poverty, Just Like Us is also a book about identity. The girls, their families, and the critics who object to their presence allow the reader to watch one of the most complicated social issues of our times unfurl in a major American city.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    January 11, 2011

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781666595123
      • File size: 440854 KB
      • Duration: 15:18:26

  • Languages

    • English

  • Levels

    • Lexile® Measure: 1100
    • Text Difficulty: 7-9

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Journalist Helen Thorpe follows four girls of Mexican descent, two who have legal status in the United States and two who do not. After completing high school in Denver, Colorado, the girls struggle to figure out what directions their lives will take at the same time that the issue of illegal immigration is becoming a contentious national conversation. Narrator Paula Christensen provides a believable set of accents and rhythms for the Mexicans and Mexican-Americans featured, as well as for the outspoken politicians who join in the political debate. Christensen's delivery enhances the characters' personalities and Thorpe's depiction of the heated political climate of that period. S.G. (c) AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      May 25, 2009
      Two new books follow the fates of young Latinos in the U.S. and examine how many are marginalized by education, immigration and incarceration policies.
      Just Like Us: The True Story of Four Mexican Girls Coming of Age in America
      Helen Thorpe
      . Scribner
      , $26.99 (384p) ISBN 978-1-4165-3893-6

      By the time Marisela, Yadira, Clara and Elissa—four girls of Mexican descent from the suburbs of Denver—entered their freshman year in high school, they were inseparable, but four years later, their fundamental difference threatened to divide them: Clara and Elissa were legal residents, but Marisela and Yadira had begun to suffer the repercussions of their parents' choice to illegally enter the U.S. Journalist Thorpe, married to Denver mayor John Hickenlooper, met them as the girls without legal status were finding their friends' liberties—big and small—to attend college, drive or even rent a movie unbearable. “It was hard for Marisela and Yadira to see why they should labor over their homework if they were just going to end up working at McDonald's,” Thorpe writes. “Marisela slid into trouble with ease, but Yadira found the experience profoundly disorienting.” With striking candor, Thorpe chronicles the girls' lives over four years, delineating the small but arresting differences that will separate them and shape their futures. She personalizes the ongoing debate over immigration and frames it so compassionately and sensibly that even the staunchest opponents of immigration liberalization might find themselves rethinking their positions.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

Levels

  • Lexile® Measure:1100
  • Text Difficulty:7-9

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