Maybe He Just Likes You - Barbara Dee

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"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, one of the boys, Leo, tells Mila it's his birthday and and asks for a birthday hug. He's just being friendly, isn't he? And how can she say no? But Leo's hug lasts a few seconds too long and feels...weird. According to her friend, 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."

I put this ebook on hold as soon as I heard about it, and WHEW am I glad I did. My difficulty focusing on reading material is well-documented at this point, but let me tell you, I sat down to read this and ended up finishing the entire thing in one sitting. The description from the cover ends by calling this a timely story, but I have to say, whenever this book had come out, it would have been timely. Books about women, especially young women, dealing with sexual harassment are always timely. Maybe that will change in the future (I fucking HOPE that will change in the future!), but my god, I wish there had been a book like this to read when I was in seventh grade. Really, truly, this should be required reading - for middle school students, for teachers, for librarians, for any adult who interacts with young people, for any men who interact with people who are not men...basically for everyone on the face of the earth. Books like this are so important.

"Why is that, Dewey? What makes this book so special?"

I'm glad you asked!

Firstly, and probably most importantly, because it gives young people the language to not only recognize harassment but also to label it. While all this weird stuff is happening to Mila, she knows it makes her uncomfortable, and even when some of her friends downplay its seriousness, she understands that it's wrong because it makes her feel wrong. But she doesn't know how to name it, and that causes a lot of problems for her, both in communicating with her friends and in knowing if or how she should talk to an adult about it. As much as we might want to believe that seventh grade (or sixth grade...or fifth grade...or fourth grade...) is too young to talk about this stuff, shit happens, and kids need to be empowered with the vocabulary to speak out and stand up for themselves or their friends when they experience things like this. It's also super important that they know that something doesn't have to be HUGE to be sexual harassment...if it's unwanted and makes you uncomfortable, it qualifies. There is no metric it is required to meet.

Mila's experience also highlights the importance of being an ally. This can happen in all different ways - encouraging your friend to talk to someone, like Mila did with Max the year before and Max does for Mila now, speaking up when you see something happening that you disagree with, or making sure that you are there to offer support when you know a friend needs it - but whatever your allyship looks like, it's necessary, and it helps. Believe people when they say they are being harassed.

Another thing we see throughout Mila's story is the importance of young people having trusted adults that they can talk to. Mila's mom obviously loves and cares about her, but she has a lot going on, and even if she didn't, I think we all know that kids don't always feel comfortable going to their parents when they have things going on. Unfortunately, she's still pretty new to the seventh grade, the guidance counselor she felt comfortable talking to has just gone on maternity leave, and there isn't anyone else that she trusts to listen and understand what she is dealing with. That's why I think it's so important for adults who work with kids to read this book...to remind us that we need to do our best to be that person for the kids we work with, so they don't have to keep shit like this to themselves. I know it meant the world to me when I was in junior high and had teachers I could rely on, and I also felt that absence when I didn't. Having a trusted adult in their lives has a measurable positive impact on young people.

Finally, (be warned, here there be spoilers) something the book touches on that is very close to my heart is restorative justice. I read a few different reviews that talk about the too-perfect ending because in the *real world* the boys wouldn't have just stopped being jerks after one conversation. And in fairness, maybe they wouldn't have. We never know. But for anyone who feels it was too Disney-esque an ending, I'd like to invite them to consider that perhaps what the boys said was true, and they really didn't realize that what they were doing was so wrong. After all, how often do we hear "boys will be boys" or, as our title suggests, "maybe he just likes you" in reference to shitty behavior from young men? If someone is constantly getting a pass and having their behavior excused, when do they learn that behavior is wrong?

That is why I love that Barbara Dee resolved the conflict by having Mila's band teacher and two of the guidance counselors hold a version of a restorative justice circle with the involved students, rather than just doling out punitive justice like suspension or expulsion. After all, what would have happened if they had been suspended? They might have spent their time out of school thinking about Mila and realizing that what they had been doing was wrong...or they might have just been pissed that they got in trouble, blamed Mila, and been even worse to her when they came back. Punitive justice is great for telling people they did something wrong and they need to pay a penance for it, but it doesn't do much to improve behavior or allow for growth. By giving the boys involved an opportunity to talk things out, not only were they able to confront how their actions affect other people and learn from what had been happening, but Mila was also given an opportunity to begin to heal from what she had experienced. I'm not saying there aren't instances where punitive justice needs to take place, but I wish more organizations defaulted to restorative justice first. And for that matter, imagine how different this story might have been if the Vice Principal had taken a restorative approach when Mila kicked what's-his name. Restorative Justice forever!

Alright, alright, this is getting super long, and I know I already said "finally" but one last thing I have to bring up is how much I love that part of what helps Mila is karate. HELL YES to strong girls and women! Hell yes to Mila falling in love with karate!

Love & Luck - Jenna Evans Welch

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"Addie is visiting Ireland for her aunt’s over-the-top destination wedding, and hoping she can stop thinking about the one horrible thing she did that left her miserable and heartbroken—and threatens her future. But her brother, Ian, isn’t about to let her forget, and his constant needling leads to arguments and even a fistfight between the two once inseparable siblings. Miserable, Addie can’t wait to visit her friend in Italy and leave her brother—and her problems—behind.

So when Addie discovers an unusual guidebook, Ireland for the Heartbroken, hidden in the dusty shelves of the hotel library, she’s able to finally escape her anxious mind and Ian’s criticism.

And then their travel plans change. Suddenly Addie finds herself on a whirlwind tour of the Emerald Isle, trapped in the world’s smallest vehicle with Ian and his admittedly cute, Irish-accented friend Rowan. As the trio journeys over breathtaking green hills, past countless castles, and through a number of fairy-tale forests, Addie hopes her guidebook will heal not only her broken heart, but also her shattered relationship with her brother.

That is if they don’t get completely lost along the way."

Addie and her brother have basically been at each other's throats since a mysterious incident over the summer. The two of them are supposed to fly to Italy together after their aunt's wedding in Ireland, but Ian has other plans...a road trip across Ireland with his friend Rowan, following in the footsteps of their favorite band. When Addie finds out, she's livid--just the day before, their mom had threatened to make both of them quit sports if they didn't get along on their trip to Italy, and she needs a soccer scholarship to pay for college. Rowan suggests she come along to their first stop so she can see what the trip is all about, and she agrees, hoping she can talk some sense into Ian and get their travel plans back on course.  Spoiler alert: Their travel plans do not get back on course. Instead, Addie is swept along on a stumbling block-riddled trip across Ireland, all three of them trying to repair the broken parts of themselves along the way.

This isn't a bad story, but it was a little all over the place. Lots of starts at plot and character developments that never seemed to go anywhere and things that should have been giant plot points but ultimately fell flat. Overall, I enjoyed it. However, it's incredibly frustrating to have an entire story developed around an oft-reference occurrence over the summer and then, when this big secret is finally revealed (and it was a big deal), have it relegated to a minor plot point and casually wrapped up in an epilogue. Also, real talk? If you're going to create this whole narrative around a teenage girl being pressured into sending a naked picture of herself and then have the guy she sent it to pass it around to basically the whole school, you need to deal with that shit responsibly. How did that possibly become a minor detail, wrapped up in a few pages? It's a Big Fucking Deal.

Moxie - Jennifer Mathieu

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"Moxie girls fight back!

Vivian Carter is fed up. Fed up with her small-town Texas high school that thinks the football team can do no wrong. Fed up with sexist dress codes and hallway harassment. But most of all, Viv Carter is fed up with always following the rules.

Viv’s mom was a punk rock Riot Grrrl in the ’90s, so now Viv takes a page from her mother’s past and creates a feminist zine that she distributes anonymously to her classmates. She’s just blowing off steam, but other girls respond. Pretty soon Viv is forging friendships with other young women across the divides of cliques and popularity rankings, and she realizes that what she has started is nothing short of a girl revolution."

I mostly loved this, so let's start with the good stuff. It was beautiful to read a book about young women pushing back against negative behavior, and it was particularly awesome to see them courageously do so even with the fear that no one else would be standing next to them when they did. Awesome. It's hard to do that, and women of all ages need to see more examples of badass women taking a stand. Additionally, I greatly appreciated that the tension between Viv and her BFF after Viv started spending more time with the new girl was resolved in such a sweet way (although I do wish it hadn't come at the hands of sexual assault. Grrrrr.). Just as we need more examples of fantastic, courageous, vocal women, the world could do with fewer catty, pointless fights between friends. Kudos to Jennifer Mathieu for writing characters with the maturity to resolve their issues through communication and trust. Finally, it was refreshing to see romance included that supplemented, but did not supersede, the main narrative. Feminists need love too, so I'm not opposed to romantic elements in stories like this, but so often the romance becomes the focal point. Mathieu did a great job of weaving Viv's young love into the story in a balanced way.

Now...a couple of things that really got under my skin. One, there's no superintendent or school district administration to go to? I get that douchebag #1's dad was the principal, so no one at the school could be gone to for assistance, but for fuck's sake go over his head! How did it get to the point where this crazy-ass principal was trying to suspend/expel a third of the school before something happened? Bonkers. Second, Viv's clashes with her boyfriend when he said stupid things. I have a husband, and said husband is not a lady, so on occasion it can be hard for him to fully grasp the difficulties of womanhood. Consequently, he says dumb shit sometimes. When he does, I have two options. Option A: Get mad at him because he just couldn't understand. Option B: HELP HIM BE AN ALLY. Why is what he is saying frustrating? How could he reframe his thinking to be supportive instead? There were soooooooo many chances for Viv to be like, "look, bud, I get that not all guys are bad. It's awesome that you have cool, super into baseball stats, bros to eat lunch with. Would said cool bros be interested in joining the cause?" Open up a dialogue, yo. Help him understand.

Anyhoo...overall, fantastic read. I highly recommend it.

Freshmen - Tom Ellen & Lucy Ivison

My rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"Getting in is just the beginning. 

Phoebe can't wait to get to college. On her own, discovering new things, no curfew . . . she'll be free. And she'll be totally different: cooler, prettier, smarter . . . the perfect potential girlfriend. Convenient: the only person from her high school also going to York is her longtime crush, Luke. 

Luke didn't set out to redefine himself, but as soon as he arrives on campus, he finds himself dumping his long-term long-distance girlfriend. And the changes don't stop there. In fact, being on a soccer team is the only thing that stays the same. 

Just when things start looking up (and Phoebe and Luke start hooking up), drama looms on the horizon. Rumors swirl about the Wall of Shame, a secret text chain run by Luke's soccer team, filled with compromising photos of girls. As the women on campus determine to expose the team and shut down the account, Luke and Phoebe find themselves grappling with confusing feelings and wondering how they'll ever make it through freshman year."

This book had its highs and lows, but I read it in less than a day so overall, I'd say it's a win. A book about college for young adults? Awesome. We need more post-high school books. And while I didn't drink or party in college because I was a Mormon nerd, so much of this book still managed to hit me in the college feels. It's such a weird time, going from basically having everything structured and controlled for you to.....I make my own choices? What? How? When did this happen? Which, hello, circles back to we need more post-high school books! Finally, I loved the character development and the relationships that developed between everyone. And the humor--I laughed out loud more than once, which I'm sure my husband really enjoyed listening to.  My only real complaint is that the story felt choppy at times. It wasn't terrible by any means, but some of the major moments ended up a little jarring because there wasn't much build up or development toward them. Smoothing out the flow of the story would have made it  five-star read, for sure.