Just Like Us- Blog Post 1

Thorpe, Helen. Just Like Us. New York: Scribner, 2009. Print.

After reading the first part of the book, Just Like Us,  I realized how serious the issue of how the rising cost of higher education is. The book is about four best friends, Marisela, Yadira, Clara and Elissa,  from outside the Denver, Colorado area who are dealing with the college admissions process. The main issue is the cost of the schools, but also that Marisela and Yadira do not have green cards or social security cards but Elissa and Clara do have green cards. The first couple chapters talk about how this issue has caused a lot of tension between the girls because they all see the admissions process as a competition and feel as if they should be better than the other girl. One particular thing is all four girls all applied for the same scholarship, but since two of them do not have green cards they were eliminated from the selection process. When they found out that Elissa and Clara got to the final round of interviews they were very upset. In the book it says, "Marisela had done a seamless job of acting. She had been funny; she had been gracious. Inside, however, the familiar sensation of watching Clara and Elissa move forward with their lives as she remained stuck in the place left her feeling terribly alone" (45). With the competition between the two sets of girls, it can affect their friendships and the relationships with their families because Yadira and Marisela are so upset about the situation. The book is really interesting so far and I cannot wait to see where it takes me in the next chapters because learning about this issue is really important.