Name: blythe richardson's review of Maybe He Just Likes You by Barbara Dee
Item: Maybe He Just Likes You
Rating: 4
Author: blythe richardson

Barbara Dee

Barbara Dee explores the subject of #MeToo for the middle grade audience in this heart-wrenching—and ultimately uplifting—novel about experiencing harassment and unwanted attention from classmates. For seventh-grader Mila, it starts with some boys giving her an unwanted hug on the school blacktop. A few days later, at recess, one of the boys (and fellow trumpet player) Callum tells Mila it’s his birthday, and asks her for a “birthday hug.” He’s just being friendly, isn’t he? And how can she say no? But Callum’s hug lasts a few seconds too long, and feels…weird. According to her friend, Zara, Mila is being immature and overreacting. Doesn’t she know what flirting looks like? But the boys don’t leave Mila alone. On the bus. In the halls. During band practice—the one place Mila could always escape. It doesn’t feel like flirting—so what is it? Thanks to a chance meeting, Mila begins to find solace in a new place: karate class. Slowly, with the help of a fellow classmate, Mila learns how to stand her ground and how to respect others—and herself. From the author of Everything I Know About You, Halfway Normal, and Star-Crossed comes this timely story of a middle school girl standing up and finding her voice.”

Maybe He Just Likes You

blythe richardson

peyton 

Nadine 

This book packs a big punch in an extremely well written way. Barbara Dee completely "gets" 7th graders and the nuances of friendships and alliances, the ability and inability to talk to adults and parents and how HUGE disruptions in the status quo can be as everything physical, emotional and relationship -wise shifts and reshift. 
A timely reminder of just when and how sexual (micro)-aggressions begin and continue and are misinterpreted as "fun" "flirting" or "teasing". And how they can continue if there is no timely intervention. 
I particularly liked the fact that the author could make the distinction between actions that are reprehensible and the children, out of ignorance, lack of appropriate role models or understanding who perpetrate these actions. 
It is a hopeful book above all else - for the students in these situations and for the adults around them to do something and say something and bring the discussions into the open. 
I wish books like this had been around when I was in middle school.

Lynn Braden

As Mila is just starting to get used to 7th grade, she notices that several of the boys have been finding excuses to touch her in ways that she believes are inappropriate. They have also been making comments that give her a strange feeling in her stomach. Mila is afraid to tell her mom because she is having her own troubles at work. Her friends try to be supportive, but they either blame her for what is happening or believe that she needs to tell someone and get help. However, every time Mila tries to tell one of the staff at her school, she is misunderstood, leading to more problems. Mila has tried walking away or ignoring the boys, but they just won't leave her alone.
Maybe He Just Likes You is a book that should be read by every middle school teacher and student. The emotions that Mila feels are extremely familiar and easily identifiable to anyone who has been through middle school. Bullying and sexual harassment are woven into the plot of the story so that any young person who is experiencing the same thing can learn strategies to make it stop. My only complaint about the book is that the resolution is a little too easily achieved, but overall, a very timely story with an important message delivered in a way that young and old can understand.

blythe richardson &
Maybe He Just Likes You by Barbara Dee

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blythe richardson &Maybe He Just Likes You by Barbara Dee

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blythe richardson &
Maybe He Just Likes You by Barbara Dee