Maybe He Just Likes You is a 2019 contemporary middle-grade novel by American author Barbara Dee. Dee is the author of 13 published novels, all written for middle-grade audiences, and her works cover topics such as bullying, friendship, activism, romantic relationships, and dealing with family dynamics. Set in the present day, Maybe He Just Likes You follows the story of 12-year-old Mila, who finds herself dealing with unwanted attention from an entire basketball team of boys who have decided to make a game out of messing with her. As Mila’s friends refuse to get involved (and even blame her for the harassment), Mila struggles to stand her ground, find her voice, and put a stop to the bullying. Maybe He Just Likes You received several recognitions, including the list for the ALA Notable Children’s Books of 2020, the Washington Post’s list of Best Children’s Books of 2019, and Edutopia’s list of 25 Essential Middle School Reads from the Last Decade. The book has been praised for its honest but age-appropriate approach to the difficult topic of sexual harassment, especially in the wake of the #MeToo movement of 2017. The version used for this guide is the ebook of the Aladdin imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division.

Content Warning: Maybe He Just Likes You depicts sexual harassment and bullying.

Plot Summary

One warm September day, seventh-grader Mila and her friends Zara and Max surprise their friend Omi with a circle of pebbles on the school blacktop, representing their “Circle of Friendship.” However, their celebration is interrupted by a group of basketball boys, who invade the circle and join in on the group hug uninvited. Mila notices that one of the boys uses the opportunity to touch her sweater, which confuses her. Still, she tries to brush off her discomfort and forget about it.

Mila lives with her younger sister and her mother. Her dad left years ago, and Mila’s mother supports their family on her meager salary. Money is always tight at Mila’s house, and she struggles to fit all her old clothes after a growth spurt over the summer. She often wears a fuzzy green sweater because it is one of the few items of clothing that still fits her. However, the basketball boys start to touch Mila’s sweater whenever they can, and after much prodding, one of the boys tells Mila that they think her sweater is lucky, which is why they all want to touch it. Eventually, Mila stops wearing the sweater, hoping the boys will stop touching her. The boys don’t stop, and their behavior starts to escalate. They trick Mila into hugging them, force hugs on her, crowd her on the bus and in the band room, and even grab her butt in the hallway when no one is watching. Mila becomes angry and fearful, and although she tells the boys several times to stop, they ignore her boundaries and continue to violate her personal space. The boys begin to gaslight Mila and try to make her think she is losing her mind, all while claiming that their behavior is “just a game” and “a joke.”

Meanwhile, Mila’s friendships start to suffer due to this harassment. Zara, who is intensely jealous of the attention Mila is getting, blames Mila for “overreacting” and making the boys out to be “monsters.” Max urges Mila to tell an adult, but Mila worries that things will only get worse if she tattles. Omi tells Mila that the basketball boys have created a scorecard, and they can “get points” for touching her, making comments about her body, and doing things to her in public. Mila watches in horror as the boys continue to mess with her in plain sight, and although they hide their actions in front of teachers, plenty of Mila’s classmates see the harassment and do nothing to help stop it.

One day, Mila goes to a karate class at her local gym. She befriends Samira, another band student from Mila’s school, who has been taking karate for a while. The karate teacher Ms. Platt teaches Mila and the other karate students about the importance of using their voice, standing their ground, and not “ceding turf” to people who try to hurt them or make them feel small. When one of the basketball boys grabs Mila in the band room, she uses her karate class knowledge to kick him and fend him off. Mila is punished by the school and scolded by her mother for fighting, and she is told that she needs to find a way to fight with her voice, not her fists. Still, Mila does not tell her mother or the adults at her school about the harassment.

On the night of the big band concert, Callum—the same boy that grabbed Mila—makes an inappropriate comment to Mila right before she walks onto the stage. Mila is humiliated and furious, and she wrecks the performance by blowing her trumpet during Callum’s big solo. When she is confronted by her band teacher Ms. Fender, the story comes out, and to Mila’s relief, Ms. Fender takes her side. At Ms. Fender’s suggestion, Mila and her bullies have a “community meeting” under adult supervision, and the boys have to listen and repeat after Mila as she explains the ways they made her feel small, ashamed, and angry over the last few weeks. One of the boys breaks down and admits that he knew it was wrong to treat Mila like this, but he was afraid of disappointing his friends, so he went along with it. The boys are disciplined, and because of what Mila went through, the school educates students about sexual harassment, boundaries, and consent. Callum comes to Mila’s karate class, and she decides that she doesn’t want to be afraid of him anymore.