Chad Alan Gibbs lives in Auburn, Alabama with his wife, two sons, two dogs, and an embarrassingly large collection of Star Wars action figures. Two Like Me and You is his first novel.
Reviewed by Jack Magnus for Readers' Favorite
Two Like Me and You is a young adult coming of age/adventure novel written by Chad Alan Gibbs. Edwin Green’s junior year at J.P. Hornby High School did not hold any special promise or allure for the somewhat nerdy young man. He was still reeling from Black Saturday, that momentous day a year earlier when his girlfriend, Sadie Evans, now a superstar, unceremoniously cut him off from her life. Little did he know that his junior year would be extraordinary, and in ways no one might have envisioned, except perhaps a retired World War II veteran living in the dementia ward of a nursing home .
It all started with Mr. Graham’s history class. Mr. Graham had this quirk about seating students in alphabetical order. While it helped him begin to associate the names of his students with their corporeal presences, the arrangement meant that Edwin was sandwiched between the unkempt and frankly disgusting Tyler Godfrey and the formidable Parker Haddaway, the new girl who had made it quite clear that she didn’t suffer fools gladly, or for that matter at all. Then why did she suddenly decide that Edwin should be her partner in Mr. Graham’s history project? Edwin had no idea, but from that moment on his life had started changing dramatically.
Two Like Me and You is one of those all-too-rare reading experiences that make you smile as you begin reading and then hold you blissfully entranced all the way through to the last page. I’ve long had an interest in the Second World War, and I loved seeing that conflict and its aftermath through Garland Lenox’s eyes. Books such as this make the reader remember, or realize, that WWII heroes and heroines can still be found in retirement villages and assisted living facilities, their stories still clear in their memories, waiting to be told. Gibbs’ plot is ingenious, skirting on the realm of the possible and skating into absurdity in some delicious and unpredictable ways. His characters are complex and quite real, and his smooth and assured style of writing makes this romp of a coming of age adventure work quite well. Two Like Me and You is most highly recommended.