Does My Body Offend You?

This story is messy, but in the way a good story can be. Two girls, from completely different backgrounds come together when one is shamed by the school administration. Malena is living in Florida with her mom, separated from her beloved dad who stayed behind in Puerto Rico to help deal with the aftermath of hurricane damage. When her back becomes so sunburned she can't wear a bra to school, she's subjected to the humiliation of having to tape pantyliners over her nipples. Ruby, dealing with her own insecurities thanks to a move from Seattle to care for her grandmother, and an overachieving older sister, finds Malena in the bathroom trying to figure out how to get the liners in place. What ensues involves civil disobedience, a national uproar over the inequitable way the school handles the dress code, melt downs, Ruby getting groped and going into her shell as a result, sparks between her and Malena's baseball star cousin, and a very satisfying finale. The events and confrontations in the story will really resonate with a lot of teens, not just girls. Well worth having in any library where good reads for teens are valued.

For once I find myself having a lot in common with both of the main characters, even though they come from diametrically different backgrounds.Malena is a curvy young Puerto Rican woman who has been endowed with a very large chest. This is what actually gets her into trouble at school one day when she decides to go braless because of a bad sunburn. I was likewise blessed and know what it is like to receive unwanted attention for my body, no matter how "well-meaning" it is.Ruby is the liberal and privileged white girl who wants to strike out injustice when she sees it. But sometimes her good intentions backfire because she doesn't understand how the consequences will impact others. And she often forgets to listen. That's something I have been working on in myself. Ruby holds up a mirror for us well-meaning white people.Their overall crusade to fight unfair dress codes is a familiar battle that has been raging for a long time. The body shaiming that Malena endures is reprehensible and yet happens more than we would like to admit. I applaud this younger generation for working even harder to rise up against all of this. This book shows a right way and a wrong way to go about productively fighting the system.It's a story of feminism, fighting against old-fashioned ideas about how women should dress and behave. It's about finding your power as a woman and embracing who you are. Malena and Ruby are both on this journey as young women in high school. I wouldn't say that they have it all figured out by the end, but they do learn a lot about themselves and are well on their way.It's a story of friendships and what it really means to be a friend. I think the key takeaway is really LISTENING to and not just hearing someone or what you want to hear. I still think the key to finding peace and harmony is really listening to each other and having open conversations.This may be a book listed for young adults, but I think even adults need to read it to give themselves a clue about some of their own behaviors. Some older middle grade children will also enjoy it. And I think this one provokes a lot of important conversation topics that we should be having.I received a requested review copy via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This is an interesting way to approach a hot button issue that is plaguing our children today. The double standard of the way boys & girls are treated hasn't improved a whole lot through the years because sometimes it's hard to face that we are going about things in the wrong way. I thought this book offered a thoughtful look into how girls from different cultures approach the problem of being "dress coded." If you are looking for a book that might test some of your ingrained biases, this one is for you.

Oh this was good and so freaking nuanced.At first, I was like “omg Ruby!! Leave Malena alone! You don’t understand anything she’s going through.” But then Ruby is groped at school during their protest against the dress code and her whole personality changes. At first, she was all girl power and fighting for what you believe in but that moment sucked the life out of her. It’s incredibly sad but also very understandable.(there is also a moment before the assault where Ruby shows up to school without a bra, as a way to protest the dress code, and no one notices. I FEEL YOUR PAIN, RUBY)Malena, on the other hand, starts the book as quiet and dealing with the loss of her home due to Hurricane Maria. She just wants to get through the day and not make trouble. But that changes once she becomes friends with Ruby and starts to become more involved in fighting the school dress code (she went to school without a bra and the administration had her stick menstrual pads to her skin to cover her nipples. It will make you rage!).But Malena doesn’t understand what happened to Ruby. Her new friend is going out with her cousin and telling Malena to be a certain way. What happened to the girl she met in the bathroom??The two girls have to deal with their own struggles and their own trauma and they don’t necessarily understand what each other are going through. And they aren’t the best at communicating their needs.But eventually, Ruby’s truth comes out and Malena explains how hurt she was when Ruby became someone she didn’t recognize. It’s such an important and sweet moment. Especially when you remember how close they were at the beginning of the book.This book does such a good job of going into the nuances of feminism. Like feminism isn’t not having a boyfriend or having a boyfriend. It’s not having sex or not having sex. It’s not wearing clothes that cover you up or clothes that show lots of skin. It isn’t always being front and center (especially when you’re a white girl).It’s all those things and more. And the two authors show the different aspects of it really well.Beyond Ruby and Malena, the supporting characters were also really fun and vital to the story. Ruby lives with her grandmother and OMG I LOVE HER! I also really like Malena’s mom and her cousins. Her mom is iffy about Malena being the center of this protest but once she understands what her daughter is trying to do, she is ALL IN.I’m giving Does My Body Offend You? 4 out of 5 stars. If you like a story with a message, especially a message about feminism and teen girls, this is definitely a book you want to check out.Does My Body Offend You? by Mayra Cuevas and Marie Marquardt is available now.Thank you to NetGalley and Knopf for the free eARC in exchange for my honest review!

DOES MY BODY OFFEND YOU is an important YA story that focuses on the social activism efforts of two teen girls in a public school in FL after one of the girls, a Puerto Rican hurricane Maria refugee, faces disciplinary action for not wearing a bra to school. Told in very effective alternating points of view, the reader learns how Malena, a sophomore new to the school who feels like a fish out of water separated from her papi and her storm-devastated home of PR, faces even more challenges once school administers target her for not following the school dress code. Malena doesn't wear a bra because of a severe sunburn, not because she wants to be sexy. But that doesn't matter. Malena is punished and becomes even more self conscious and ashamed of her own body. Ruby, a senior, is outraged to learn what happened and in solidarity, chooses to come to school bra-less. When her skinny, white body does not draw attention, she points out how the dress code treats girls with different bodies differently, earning herself a detention as well. Stuck in the same library after school, the girls develop a friendship that ends up extending beyond their shared disappointment in the school administration. Ruby leads the charge to get a meeting with the school education board to discuss the dress code, but Malena is the one who truly grows, gaining back her confidence little by little and learning how to take back her voice and fight her own fights. This is great story about friendship, being an ally and fighting for what you believe is right. I particularly enjoyed how nuanced the characters all - each protagonist has their flaws and the reader learns that even the teachers and administrators had their reasons for intervening when Malena wasn't wearing a bra. Highly recommend this for any socially conscious teen or preteen. Perfect for an upper middle school or high school book club as there is a lot to discuss. I can also see this landing on summer recommended reading lists.