Maybe He Just Likes You

2019 The Washington Post Best Children's Book of the Year (Erin Entrada Kelly Pick)
A 2020 ALA Notable Children's Book

';The novel's all-too-familiar scenario offers a springboard for discussion among middle schoolersEasily grasped scenarios and short chapters help make this timely #MeToo story accessible to a wide audience.' Publishers Weekly (starred review)
';Realistic and heartbreaking.' BCCB

Barbara Dee explores the subject of #MeToo for the middle grade audience in this heart-wrenchingand ultimately upliftingnovel 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 feelsweird. 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 practicethe one place Mila could always escape.

It doesn't feel like flirtingso 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 othersand 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.