Quincy and Biddy are “speddies”—that is, special education kids—who have made it through the school system and who now need to be put somewhere by the state; their families sure don’t want to take them back. The two very different girls wind up in a tidy garage apartment, trading work for rent from the elderly, insightful Elizabeth. Quincy doesn’t trust her, but then, Quincy doesn’t trust anyone, not since her mother tricked her grandmother into taking her in and then ran off. Biddy is an open book, gullible and slow, but she hides secrets under the huge trenchcoat she sports all hours of the day. As the girls navigate their new lives and each other, an unexpected resilience and even wisdom begins to shine through. A supremely well written and surprising tale that will upset your preconceptions while sucking you in from the first few lines. Grades 10 & up.
— TeraA 2015 Schneider Family Book Award Winner
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.
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.