Blog Tour and Giveaway for Maybe He Just Likes You by Barbara Dee

Welcome to the Maybe He Just Likes You Blog Tour!

To celebrate the release of Maybe He Just Likes You by Barbara Dee on October 1st, blogs across the web are featuring exclusive original content from Barbara, as well as 5 chances to win a copy of Maybe He Just Likes You, a Maybe bookmark and pin!

Two "MAYBE" Moments From my Middle School Years
by Barbara Dee

When I think about being twelve, I have two vivid memories.

The first: Starting in sixth grade, our class "traveled"--that is, we switched classrooms  for every period. If you didn't want to be late to the next class, you had to use the building's central stairwell.  But as I quickly discovered, a group of boys--ones I didn't know, seventh or eighth graders-- would hang out on the steps of that stairwell, blocking your way, groping you as you went past. To avoid these boys I would race across the hall to use the smaller side stairwells, then race to my class. I was never late for the next period, but I always arrived a little breathless.

The second memory: That same year, a friend and I explored surrounding neighborhoods on our bicycles.  One summer day we were riding our bikes near the shore and noticed a man who was naked. Just standing there with his back to us, looking at the ocean. It was weird, but the area was deserted, so we figured this guy was innocently communing with nature. But suddenly he turned around and started chasing us, shouting obscenities.  Of course we were terrified; we rode off in a panic, not stopping until we found a cop. 

When we told the cop exactly what happened--where the man was, what he did, what he said--the cop grinned at us. "You wish," he said.

The difference between those two memories? In the first, I didn't ask for help; I dealt with the harassment by avoiding, running away, keeping quiet . Not a solution I'm proud of, and one I can't imagine advising anyone to follow. 

In the second, I did ask for help--from someone whose job is precisely that, to help. But think about the message that cop gave to two frightened girls: Tell your story, ask for help, and you won't be believed. In fact, you'll be mocked.

That's a memory that stays with you.

I'm hoping that a book like MAYBE HE JUST LIKES YOU shows girls that times have changed, that it's possible now to stand up and speak out--and that when they do, we'll all listen.

*****

Blog Tour Schedule:

September 30th — Randomly Reading
October 1st — Novel Novice
October 2nd — The Librarian Who Doesn't Say Shh
October 3rd — Feed Your Fiction Addiction
October 4th — BookhoundsYA

Buy: Amazon | Indiebound

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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.” 

About the Author: Barbara Dee is the author of several middle grade novels including Maybe He Just Likes You, Everything I Know About You, Halfway Normal, and Star-Crossed. Her books have received several starred reviews and been included on many best-of lists, including the ALA Rainbow List Top Ten, the Chicago Public Library Best of the Best, and the NCSS-CBC Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People. Star-Crossed was also a Goodreads Choice Awards finalist. Barbara is one of the founders of the Chappaqua Children’s Book Festival. She lives with her family, including a naughty cat named Luna and a sweet rescue hound dog named Ripley, in Westchester County, New York.

GIVEAWAY

• One (1) winner will receive a copy of Maybe He Just Likes You, bookmark, and pin
• US/Canada only
• Ends October 11th at midnight ET

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Maybe He Just Likes You by Barbara Dee

In the age of #MeToo, as more and more girls and women are speaking out about their personal sexual harassment experiences, author Barbara Dee takes on this issue and shows how easily it can happen and how girls and women are pushed into keeping silent.

For seventh-grader Mila Brennan, all starts with a green fuzzy sweater and the lingering hand of Callum Burley during a birthday hug for her friend Omi, much to the delight of his friends Dante, Tobias, and Leo, a/k/a the basketball boys, and much to Mila's discomfort. When it happens again later that day in band practice where Mila and Callum, both trumpeters, sit next to each other, her discomfort increases and begins to become suspicion.       
The next day, there are smirks from the basketball boys as Leo convinces Mila, who is wearing her fuzzy green sweater again, that it's his birthday and harasses her into giving him a hug. Soon, it's comments, smirks, and more unwanted touching, even when Mila switches to wearing a painted spattered plaid flannel shirt of her mother's instead of the green sweater. But when she tries to tell her friend what's happening, outgoing, flirty Zara, who has a crush on Leo, tells her she's overreacting, so Mila decides to keep things to herself. She doesn't want to bother her mom, either, Mrs. Brennan is divorced, and struggling to make ends meet, plus she works for a boss who keeps her in a constant stressful state, despite working long hours. Then, stress in the house increases when her mother finally quits her job, so Mila really doesn't want to add to that by telling her mother about the harassment at school.

And as luck would have it, Mila's guidance counselor is out on maternity leave. Her friend Max thinks Milas is being bullied by the basketball boys and that she should speak to Mr. McCabe, the vice-principal. He reminds her that when he was bullied the year before, Mila had encouraged him to speak with Mr. McCabe and the bullying stopped.

As Mila's anxiety, discomfort, and isolation grows, she begins to act out, but her actions only get her in trouble and the real problem continues to go noticed by any of the adults at school. But when her mother says that they have two weeks of free classes at the newly opens E Motions, a local gym, Mila determines that if friends don't understand what happening to her, she will "need to take care of myself. By myself." (pg 139) and signs on for karate classes. There, she begins to feel confident and empowered in the karate class, even making a new friend from band who understands what's happening at school. But it all comes tumbling down when Callum makes a cruel comment just before they go on stage for the school's Fall Concert. Desperate, Mila makes one last cry for help - on stage with her trumpet.

Maybe He Just Likes You is a well-written but difficult book to read, filled with exactly the kind of real confusion and honest emotions you would expect of a seventh grader who isn't sure she's the victim of sexual harassment or the subject of a cruel prank. Either way, it's tricky terrain for Mila.

In this well-crafted novel, Dee has captured all the ways in which harassment not only starts, but is allowed to continue. She deftly shows how it begins with Mila's own self-doubt about the boys' motives, reinforced by her friends doubt about it. Maybe Callum just likes you, they tell her, causing Mila to retreat into silence. But while her voice was silenced, her actions weren't.

Why, I asked myself, didn't her mother question Mila's sudden decision to wear her baggy old flannel shirt with paint splotches it, even after a big deal was made about it? An why didn't Ms. Fender, the music teacher, not pull Mila aside and try to talk to her the first time she acted out instead of punishing her? Dee show that there are so many missed opportunities to stop what is happening. But they just didn't notice it and that's what happens, isn't it?

My heart really went out to Mila and I wonder how many middle grade girls are in the same situation. Hopefully, Maybe He Just Likes You will give give them courage to speak out. It can be very empowering, as Mila discovers.

Maybe He Just Likes You will be available October 1, 2019

 This book is recommended for readers age 9+
This book was an EARC received from Media Masters Publicity

Be sure to check out the other Marvelous Middle Grade Monday offerings, now being carried on by Greg at Always in the Middle.