Maybe He Just Likes You by Barbara Dee

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Justification

I feel this is something that should be included in every middle and high school library, as it remains timely and is an excellent text to accompany SEL curriculum.

Response

(a) On a personal level, I have been Mila time and time again. On the bus in middle school when a boy grabbed my butt. In high school when we moved to a small town and a boy thought it appropriate to greet girls by smacking them on the butt. At my first job where I answered the phones at a car dealership and grown men made suggestive remarks. Just last week when I was walking my dog in my neighborhood and got honked at.

(d) Maybe He Just Likes You is an excellent read for young people who are quickly entering the realm of teenage flirtation and friendship. Hitting and pulling hair has been the age-old way of indicating affection for someone, according to my mom back in the day. As a teacher and a librarian, I genuinely question what that kind of thinking set me up for. Without delving into a lot of personal history, it suffices to say that I have never been a stand-up-for-myself kind of person. Mila isn't either, which makes her so infinitely relatable. In a time where her body is growing and changing, and boobs and butts become something to look at... She feels awkward and self-conscious. 

(g) I am eager to read more of Dee's work. I did not enjoy realistic fiction as a child or teenager but love it now. This is an excellent middle-grade read that should be included in school libraries, including high schools. I would recommend this to any parent with a son, and to girls who may not know what sexual harassment actually is. Mila, her mother, and her friends are so relatable--friendships in grade school are often tenuous while young people learn how to navigate relationships, other people, learning, and all the changes they go through.

Conclusion

Overall, Maybe He Just Likes You is an excellent read. Reading it made me so glad that I had an advocate for my body and personal space in my mother as a young girl. I think that it is absolutely a must for any secondary level library in order to help students empathize with the situation.

Citation

Dee, B. (2019). Maybe he just likes you. Simon & Schuster. 

Genre: Middle-Grade realistic fiction