Girls Like Us

Gr 8 Up—Biddy and Quincy have recently graduated from their high school's special education program and now need to learn how to hold a job, pay rent, and make a life for themselves. Through the intervention of their guidance counselor, the girls, though never friendly at school, are paired to live together in a small apartment. Biddy is sweet and likable, while Quincy is hard and suspicious of everyone. Written in alternating first-person perspectives, the story gives listeners unique perspectives into the same situation seen through two very different sets of eyes. While the surface of the story is about adapting to change, 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 provides the unquestioning support that Quincy has never had. Narrators Lauren Ezzo and Brittany Pressley ably voice the characters.