The Likes of Me

Cordelia Lu Hankins is half Caucasian, half Chinese - and all albino. She has grown up isolated from the world, with her distant father and a giant stepmother names Babe (after Paul Bunyan's blue ox), in a remote lumber town in the Pacific Northwest. She is convinced she is ugly and that her father has deliberately hidden her away. Then in the summer of 1918, when she is fourteen, she meets the dashing Squirl. Squirl is charming and handsome, and Cordy falls desperately in love with him. But her father forbids her to go near Squirl. One day they meet on the mountain and Cordy receives her first kiss, as well as a wild ride down the log flume that gets Squirl fired.

Determined to follow Squirl, Cordy runs away. She begins an exciting adventure that takes her to the sideshows of Seattle's Luna Park, where her unusual looks bring her fame. But her journey also brings tragedy in this thought-provoking coming-of-age novel. Platt has created an original, resourceful teenage heroine which a strong voice and a gutsy determination to make her way in the world.