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Nancy Keane's | Booktalks -- Quick and Simple | |
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Dee, Barbara. MAYBE HE JUST LIKES YOU New York, NY : Aladdin, [2019] IL 5-8 ISBN 9781534432376 3 booktalks |
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Booktalk #1 A hug is harmless – right? Mila, a seventh-grader, isn’t so sure, not when boys in her class start touching her in ways that make her feel uncomfortable. Is she overreacting, like her friend Zara thinks? Or should Mila use the confidence she gains from karate class to stand up for herself and declare that no means no? Realistic Fiction. (Rhode Island Middle School Book Award 2021) Booktalk #2 It starts with a too-long birthday hug from one of the popular basketball boys, then becomes comments, smirks, and more unwanted touching. Seventh-grader Mila’s friends tell her she's overreacting, her mom is too stressed at work lately to listen, and her guidance counselor is out on maternity leave. With no one to turn to, Mila experiences humiliation, confusion, and self-doubt. When Mila is finally pushed too far, she realizes she can’t battle this on her own–and finds help in some unexpected places. This is a #MeToo movement story for the middle-grade audience - a novel about experiencing harassment and unwanted attention from classmates. Middle schoolers will relate to the discomfort over clothing and changing bodies, and short chapters keep the action moving briskly. (Vermont Middle Grade Book Award, 2021) Booktalk #3 What do you do when you are the recipient of unwanted attention and touching? What if you don’t know what to call the discomfort you are feeling? Seventh grader Mila is angry and confused and can’t figure out who can help her. Not her mom, who has recently lost her job and is struggling with her own problems of supporting the family; not her school counselor, who thinks she’s overreacting; and certainly not her friends who are either weirdly jealous of the attention she’s getting, prefer to avoid conflict, or push her to report the behavior she can’t define. Mila follows the guidelines she’s been taught--to say “no,” to reach out for help--but the touching and comments escalate. Resolution can only come when both Mila and the boys involved see the behavior for what it really is: sexual harassment. (Elizabeth Metcalf, Redmond Middle School Evergreen Teen Book Award, 2022) |
| SUBJECTS: Sexual harassment in education -- Fiction. Middle school students -- Fiction. |
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