cover image Girls Like Me

Girls Like Me

Lola StVil. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $17.99 (320p) ISBN 978-0-544-70674-3

Using verse and a series of text messages, StVil, author of the self-published Guardians and Noru series, tells the saga of a tormented teen who unexpectedly finds romance. High school junior Shay uses food to fill the hole left by her father’s death (“Finally alone, I call on my friends:/ Breakfast burrito. Banana cream pie. Butter”). She also uses it to absorb the painful taunts she receives at school for being fat and the constant nagging from her stepmother to eat more healthfully. Luckily, Shay has two terrific friends and fellow outcasts who make school almost bearable. Then Shay finds another source of comfort: chat-room conversations with an anonymous boy, who gets her sense of humor and thinks she’s pretty special. When Shay finds out her confidante is popular Blake Harrison from school, who is dating her nemesis, she panics. This funny, heart-wrenching novel celebrates those who don’t fit into society’s mold and the people who love them as they are. Even if the popular crowd at Shay’s school doesn’t appreciate her wit, compassion, and courage, readers will. Ages 12–up. [em]Agent: Adrienne Rosado, Nancy Yost Literary. (Oct.) [/em]