Authors: Barbara Dee and Julie Murphy
LGBTQ+ Representation: In both books, the main character has a good friend who is implied to be gay. In Dear Sweet Pea, the main character's father comes out of the closet after divorce, and a female teacher is married to another woman.
Content Warning: Sexual harassment, bullying, and gas lighting in Maybe He Just Likes You.
What they're about (in 75 words each or fewer):
Maybe He Just Likes You--The updated "Bully plot" from my childhood favorite 1980's books. Mila isn't sure how it started, but she knows that she is very uncomfortable with how the boys keep touching her without her consent. Are they flirting? Why won't they stop? Mila gains some self-confidence through her karate classes, but will she ever get an adult to take her concerns about the boys' behavior seriously?
Dear Sweet Pea--The updated "Advice column plot" from my childhood favorite 1980's books. Patricia "Sweet Pea's" parents are divorcing, and her dad only moved one house away. In between the two houses lives Miss Flora Mae, the newspaper advice columnist. When Flora goes on a trip, she asks Sweet Pea to forward her mail to her, but then, Sweet Pea recognizes the handwriting on an advice letter, and thinks, hey, I could write a reply! Hijinks ensue.
Why I'm writing about these books: Ladies and gentlemen: these are the updated Bully and Advice Column plots found in so many of my childhood faves and after-school specials! Neither are *technically* LGBTQ+-enough for me to immediately want to write about them. Even combining them both in one post--that would be cheating and still not *quite* enough LGBTQ+ content.
So why am I reviewing them? Because in spite of the nostalgia-factor of the plots, neither of these books would have been the same if they had been written thirty years ago.
