Letter Essay #3                  11-16-17

 

I recently finished reading Girls Like Me a 310 page poetry novel and by Lola StVil, published in 2014. Lola StVil is a New York Times best-selling author and is most well known for her fantasy series, The Guardians and The Noru. Also, Lola was seven years old when she first came to America from Port-au-Prince. I read this book because I started to see many people reading it. When I finished the book I was reading I asked my friend what I should read next; that is when she recommended Girls Like Me.

In the novel Girls Like Me, Shay summers father died one year ago, after marrying her new stepmother. As usual, Shay had a rough relationship with her stepmother. Shay wanted her stepmother to go away but she is now her legal guardian, so she had to deal with it and go to school. Shay also wanted to have her worst enemy Kelly Canyon stop bullying her, so she decides to avoid her. One day when her two friends persuaded her to make a Facebook account,. When she did, she met a friend online and is still waiting to figure out who is on the other side.

I was surprised when the person that Shay was texting got high and started saying mean things to her. This surprised me because when they texted he didn’t seem like the type of person to say anything bad to her. Later in the book we figure out he said those things because he said things like “I wrote you a poem to show how much I care.”

I like the way the author formatted this book because it emphasizes what the character is feeling and how they are doing things in the book. For example, she bolds certain letters or uses all caps if something is important. I also like that the author included everything they texted back and forth while they were texting. I liked this because we knew everything they said not just a debriefing.

The resolution of the main character’s problem with Kelly is when she stopped caring about what other people thought of her. Also, when the author wrote, ‘fearlessly, I stare into the void that is Kelly (pg.308).” This is when I think she realizes that she is worth it. She never gives up after that and she and her friends all make up. I a;so think the resolution is when she fixes her relationship with Blake and her friends.

One of my favorite passages is when one of the last passages: “Some still whisper about us Blake and I too in love to care. Slowly shock wears off the crowd. Dance music comes on, Dave Cutter smiles at boots from across the room. Boots whispers, ‘Tonight Dave is where no man has gone before.’ We laugh while she heads for Dave. Dash eyes Sam dressed as Human ‘bedazzle’ machine. They exchange smiles. Blake and I go back to dancing and just for a moment the pig and the frog blend in (pgs.307-308).” I liked this part of the story because her and Blake finally feel like they can be together because  Shay stood up to Kelly and Blake made up with his friends so they are not being bullied anymore, well, Shay is not being bullied anymore. Blake was never bullied. Girls Like Me is a 6 out of 10.

Sincerely,

                                       Nicole T.