Barbara Dee has 4 audiobooks on Listento.it, narrated by 4 narrators, with an average listener rating of 5★ across 3 ratings. The most-rated is Maybe He Just Likes You.
Maybe He Just Likes You
Summary
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.
©2019 Barbara Dee (P)2020 Listening Library
Halfway Normal
Summary
"A lovely, heartbreaking, warm, funny, and ultimately hopeful map of the way back home." (Jordan Sonnenblick, author of Drums, Girls and Dangerous Pie) A cancer survivor must readjust to "normal" middle school life in this "[P]owerful story about surviving and thriving" (School Library Journal, starred review) from the author of Everything I Know About You, Star-Crossed, and Maybe He Just Likes You. Norah Levy has just completed two years of treatment for leukemia and is ready to go back to the "real world" of middle school. She knows it'll be tricky - but like the Greek mythological characters she read about while she was sick, Norah's up for any challenge. But seventh grade turns out to be harder than she thought. Norah's classmates don't know what to make of her. Her best friend, Harper, tries to be there for her, but she doesn't get it, really - and is hanging out with a new group of girls. Norah's other good friend, Silas, is avoiding her. What's that about, anyway? When Norah is placed with the eighth graders for math and science, she meets Griffin, a cute boy who encourages her love of Greek mythology and art. And Norah decides not to tell him her secret - that she was "that girl" who had cancer. But when something happens to make secret-keeping impossible, Norah must figure out a way to share her story. But how do you explain something to others that you can't explain to yourself? Can Nora take her cue from her favorite Greek myth? And then, once she finds the words, can she move forward with a whole new "normal"?
©2017 Barbara Dee (P)2020 Listening Library
Everything I Know About You
Summary
"A poignant and often hilarious slice of middle-grade life." (Kirkus Reviews) "Readers will root for big-hearted Tally." (Publishers Weekly) Thirteen-year-old Tally discovers several surprising things about her roommate - including the possibility of an eating disorder - during a seventh-grade class trip in this timely novel from the author of Maybe He Just Likes You, Star-Crossed, and Halfway Normal. During a class trip to DC, 13-year-old Tally and her best friends, Sonnet and Caleb (aka Spider) are less than thrilled when they are assigned roommates and are paired with kids who are essentially their sworn enemies. For Tally, rooming with "clonegirl" Ava Seely feels like punishment, rather than potential for fun. But the trip is full of surprises. Despite a pact to stick together as much as they can, Sonnet pulls away, and Spider befriends Marco, the boy who tormented him last year. And Marco just might "like" Tally - what's that about? But the uneasy peace in Ava and Tally's room is quickly upended when Tally begins to suspect something is off about Ava. She has a weird notebook full of random numbers and doesn't seem to eat anything during meals. When Tally confronts Ava, Ava threatens to share an embarrassing picture of Tally with the class if Tally says anything to anyone about her suspicions. But will Tally endanger more than her pride by keeping her secret? This is one class trip full of lessons Tally will never forget: how to stay true to yourself, how to love yourself and embrace your flaws, and how being a good friend can actually mean telling a secret you promised to keep....
©2018 Barbara Dee (P)2020 Listening Library
Star-Crossed
Summary
Twelve-year-old Mattie wrestles with her crush on Gemma as they participate in their school production of Romeo and Juliet in this Goodreads Choice Finalist that made the 2018 ALA Rainbow List Top 10. Twelve-year-old Mattie is thrilled when she learns the eighth-grade play will be Romeo and Juliet. In particular, she can't wait to share the stage with Gemma Braithwaite, who has been cast as Juliet. Gemma is brilliant, pretty - and British! - and Mattie starts to see her as more than just a friend. But Mattie has also had an on/off crush on her classmate Elijah since, well, forever. Is it possible to have a crush on both boys and girls? If that wasn't enough to deal with, things offstage are beginning to resemble their own Shakespearean drama: The cast is fighting, and the boy playing Romeo may not be up to the challenge of the role. And due to a last-minute emergency, Mattie is asked to step up and take over the leading role - opposite Gemma's Juliet - just as Mattie's secret crush starts to become not-so-secret in her group of friends. In this funny, sweet, and clever look at the complicated nature of middle school romance, Mattie learns how to become a lead player in her own life.
©2017 Barbara Dee (P)2020 Listening Library