The University of Denver played a large role in a non-fiction book that received national accolades in 2009.
Just like Us: The True Story of Four Mexican Girls Coming of Age in America, was named an Oprah Book Club pick and one of the Washington Post’s top books of 2009.
Local author Helen Thorpe based the book on her personal relationships and experiences with four young women originally from Mexico and living in Colorado. The story follows the girls from high school through college.
The girls had varying degrees of legal status, from illegal immigrant to full citizenship. Three of them attended and graduated from DU.
Thorpe, wife of Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, explores their lives and their desire to achieve and be accepted.
Thorpe was on the DU campus earlier this fall to discuss the book as part of DU’s Latino Heritage Month events.
Just Like Us is her first book.