suzylibrarian 's review for:

Girls Like Us by Gail Giles

4.0

---

Told in alternating first-person accounts, this short, taut novel packs an emotional punch. Biddy and Quincy have recently graduated from their high school’s special education program. At eighteen, these girls now need to learn how to hold a job, pay rent and begin to make a life for themselves. Through the intervention of their guidance counselor, Biddy and Quincy, never friendly at school, are paired to live together in a small apartment on the grounds of an elderly woman who needs help around the house and kitchen. Biddy is sweet and likable while Quincy is hard and suspicious of everyone. Each girl has her own learning issues but together they balance out each other…not that Quincy will soon admit. The story offers very brief narrations of the two girls, giving the listener unique perspectives into the same situation seen through two very different sets of eyes. While the surface of the story is about change and adaptation, the core is about overcoming horrific odds. Both girls were constantly made fun of as children and never given the love they needed from the adults in their lives. Additionally, Biddy was gang-raped in middle school and the subsequent pregnancy ended in adoption. When Quincy survives her own rape, Biddy is the unquestioning supporter that Quincy has never had. Narrators Lauren Ezzo and Brittany Pressley give contrasting voices to their characters, reminding the listener with each word just how different a journey these girls have faced.

Recommended grades 10 and up.