Teen Pick of the Week: Girls Like Us

With gentle humor and unflinching realism, Gail Giles tells the gritty, ultimately hopeful story of two special ed teenagers entering the adult world. 

We understand stuff. We just learn it slow. And most of what we understand is that people what ain’t Speddies think we too stupid to get out our own way. And that makes me mad. 

Girls Like Us
by Gail Giles

Quincy and Biddy are both graduates of their high school’s special ed program, but they couldn’t be more different: suspicious Quincy faces the world with her fists up, while gentle Biddy is frightened to step outside her front door. When they’re thrown together as roommates in their first "real world" apartment, it initially seems to be an uneasy fit. But as Biddy’s past resurfaces and Quincy faces a harrowing experience that no one should have to go through alone, the two of them realize that they might have more in common than they thought — and more important, that they might be able to help each other move forward.

Hard-hitting and compassionate, Girls Like Us is a story about growing up in a world that can be cruel, and finding the strength — and the support — to carry on. 

"This story is as beautiful as it is dark, walloping readers in the face with the grim realities of the lives of girls like Quincy and Biddy. It’s a monumental statement that not only does medicine need to reform how it treats people with mental disabilities, but society as a whole needs a serious change of heart, outlook and attitude on how we treat people like these girls... Girls Like Us will break your heart, but you will be glad for it, because you will learn an invaluable lesson, and ultimately, the breaking will feel more like an uplifting breath of air" (Corrine Fox for Teenreads.com). 

Click on the title to place it on hold at the Ventress Memorial Library.

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