Details

Length: 283
Story Build: quickly paced 
Character development: decent   
Age Recommendation: 7th grade and up                       
Reasoning: sexual harassment 

Summary and Review

My soul sister told me everyone should read this book during a book tasting with my students when this text was one of the options on the table. I mentioned that I had purchased it for my classroom thanks to a lovely gift card from a parent. I immediately went home to read it before placing it on my growing “shelf” (it’s a window sill) for my kiddos. 

After finishing the novel, I can surely agree with my fellow book buddy; this is a text that all students, no matter what gender, should read. It’s incredibly timely, relevant, and purposeful. It should be mandatory, really. 

The text is about a 7th grade student named Mila who is a bright and musically talented young lady. She has a quicky close-knit group of friends, and she loves to play the trumpet. Mila also bears a lot of responsibility at home for her mother in caring for her little sister, Hadley. Mila’s father left the family years before, and now the three women are struggling to stay afloat with money. 

But the central conflict for Mila, as if that wasn’t enough, is the unwanted attention from a group of basketball team boys. The tease and taunt her, making it a game to see what parts of her body they can both comment upon and touch without her consent. The reader can easily tell how uncomfortable Mila is with this attention and harassment, and she struggles to figure out who she can trust to tell and to provide much needed help. 

Along this journey, Mila’s friends and certain educators prove to be unhelpful and not understanding, which causes our main character to feel lost and alone. However, through some new faces and a new found love of karate, Mila may find the strength that she had all along to show the boys and, really, everyone in her community that they need to be aware of people’s feelings. 

This book is necessary for all children to read. It covers consent, respect, and harassment. It illustrates that teachers and parents can sometimes miss the obvious even though we have the best of intentions. It reminds us to dig deeper with our kiddos and to listen, really listen. Furthermore, Dee is able to teach our students the importance of speaking up and listening to ourselves when circumstances and people make us feel uncomfortable. 

Celebrations

I really liked the way the author handled the ending. It was powerful and really got the point across about how you can make someone feel, which can be the opposite of what you intended. Also, it provides a concrete example of the type of bullying that can occur in a school setting that can go unnoticed and be endured by our students. Dee gives us a hero that is strong but also relatable. She is someone who struggles but ultimately portrays the right things to do.

Hesitations

I thought the story was amazing, but I think the style of writing was okay. I thought it illustrated the theme well, but the sentences could have been more descriptive or poetic at times. With that being said, it was a quick and easy read that makes it accessible for a large audience.