Hazel Hill is Gonna Win This One

the easiest five stars i have ever given and the easiest recommendation i will ever give.

this is a book for young girls. for girls to feel empowered, for girls to feel understood, for girls to be believed, for girls to feel safe. it is also a book for women. for women who as girls were not believed, for girls who were, and for girls that were silenced.

<i> hazel hill is gonna win this one </i> focuses on three 12-year-olds - hazel, ella and riley as they team up to take down a fellow student who is a sexual harasser; the golden boy of the school. it is not easy, as opening up about sexual harassment as a girl or woman is not. but these three girls, who have not even reached teenage-hood yet, do not give up on fighting the good fight. they believe each other, they believe the other girls around them, and they fight like hell.

as a girl who was too afraid to say anything to cat callers and to boys in corridors at school who thought they could say and touch whatever they liked, this book had an element of healing attached to it. whilst the trauma that comes with being a girl and a woman in a world where men feel entitled to take whatever they want from us and to say whatever they like to us, this book quietened all of that during the three hours i devoured it in.

the world should not work like this. girls and women of any age should be able to speak out and be believed immediately. we should not have to fight the good fight so that an adult, who is responsible for keeping us safe, will listen to us and take action to protect us. unfortunately, it is the case. knowing that young girls like hazel, ella and riley exist, knowing that they know themselves and that they are fighting for change makes me hopeful for the future. it is a fight that i was unanimously behind them in, and in real life join in.

maggie horne has created something so very special here. i cannot stop thinking about it, or what a story like this one would have done for and to me as a young girl with big feelings about the things said and done to me that i felt ashamed of. with that being said, i sincerely will be recommending this to everyone in my life regardless of age. it will be something my future children will grow up with and something friends' children will be gifted by me. and i truly hope that this is not the first and last time we join hazel and co.

finally, thank you to netgalley and firefly press for the arc. one of my favourite reads of the year so far.

I received an ARC from NetGalley in return for an honest review.

It's a bit of a cliche to call a book "important," but that's the first word that comes to mind to describe this book. Horne tackles the thorny subject of sexual harassment with such grace, care and empathy. Without talking condescendingly to her readers, or minimizing how awful it can be to deal with, the book remains appropriate reading for its target audience, but never becomes a miserable reading experience, thanks to plenty of fun and touching moments as the girls become friends. Horne struck a fantastic balance in demonstrating that adults won't always listen or be sympathetic, and will often even victim-blame, but reinforcing that it is their responsibility to do something about harassment and that the girls were in the right by continuing to speak until someone heard them out. That Horne did this without condemning or assigning guilt or blame to those too afraid to speak out was incredibly impressive. Reflecting on this book, it's obvious how much careful thinking went into every aspect, but the book itself is so full of heart that the scaffolding vanishes when you dive in, and even divorced from all that, it's a really successful story.

One of the huge strengths of this novel is the characters- all so memorable and true to life that I found a wealth of memories from my own experiences at this age rushing back to me. Hazel in particular was such a fantastic protagonist, with some really witty narration but also realistic flaws and insecurities. I also really appreciated that Hazel's being gay was something that contributed to those worries, but by no means her whole struggle, and that this book didn't also try to be a love story (the beginnings of romantic development between Hazel and a friend was adorable and perfect, as far as I was concerned) or a coming-out narrative. Hazel's own confidence in her identity will no doubt be comforting to young queer readers, yet her (not unfounded) worries about being outed or treated differently by her peers as a result, make this a realistic, relatable depiction of what it's like to know you're queer at such a young age. Horne also really grasps the nuances of how tweens interact with one another- some of the bullying is really insidiously subtle, and some of is more overt, but at no point did this feel like the "bad health class videos," this book (rightly) mocks.

This is probably going to end up being one of my favourite books of the year: it was so compelling, and I raced through it. I will absolutely be rushing to grab a copy for my little cousin who's Hazel's age, the moment that this book is out, and couldn't recommend it enough. I want this book in every school and local library.

Okay, so. Initially I thought that this would be a book for 'girls', but the more I think about it, the more I think it is a book for everyone.

For girls - to empower them, to guide them, to show them that they don't have to put up with the kind of behaviour exhibited in this book.

For boys - this is how not to be a decent person. This is exactly how you shouldn't behave. I think boys could learn a lot from this book.

For adults - believe people when they tell you this behaviour is happening, my gosh.

I laughed, I cried, I cheered out loud, and I got very angry. I adored the friendship dynamics. I adored the queer rep.

What Maggie has managed to do here is create something exceptional.

Someone put this book on the curriculum!

Wow. I feel privileged to have read this beautifully crafted, feminist story. I laughed, cried and fell in love whilst reading this book. I can only imagine the empowerment this would provide to women and girls everywhere.

It deals with difficult issues really way, and highlights the importance of sharing stories. A book that should be read in schools everywhere.

Hazel Hill keeps her head down and her eyes on the ball. This year’s goal? Win this year’s speech contest, and nothing can bring her down, not even last year’s mistake where she accidentally mispronounced hyperbole. And not even Tyler Harris, who made it his life’s mission to talk Hazel’s ear off about every crush he’s ever had, can distract her. Until he says, Ella Quinn has a crush on her. And suddenly, she’s all that she can focus on, and Hazel discovers that the girls in her school are being harassed, and she finds herself amid a plan to take the harasser down.

This was a surprisingly fun read. I never thought to pick up Middle-Grade books nowadays. Still, after being enticed by the adorable cover, I did not expect to find myself reading a powerful story about three girls standing up against sexual harassment. There is so much to say about this story that it is hard to put my thoughts into words. After reading this, I felt a sense of happiness, knowing that a book like this will be going into the hands of young kids. When the New York Magazine can publish an article defending a seventeen-year-old boy who was ostracised for showing nudes of his girlfriend at a party as a childish mistake, stories like Hazel Hill will be crucial for the younger audience. Inspired by the author’s own experience as a child, she has perfectly captured the spirit of a young girl navigating school life alone who suddenly finds herself defenceless when her classmate Tyler Harris is revealed to be terrorising most of the girls in the school. All the adults she was told to trust brush off his remarks and begin to pin the blame on the girls for acting in such a way. Hazel Hill discusses sexual harassment in a way that I can see be a great tool for younger audiences to understand the topic without going into too much detail.

Hazel Hill is Gonna Win This One is a story of empowerment and standing proud. An incredible tale with great bouts of humour that was a pleasure to read. Tackling an experience most girls will sadly face in their lives, this book will, in no doubt, foster discussion in a healthy way.

This could be seen as 'Moxie' for younger readers - which is a compliment in itself.

Put this book in the hands of all middle grade aged children right now!

Gosh, this was not the fun queer-first-crush middle grade book I was expecting, but it was the feminist middle grade book we all deserve!

I am struggling to put into words how brilliant this book was and "how important" (yeah I know...but it is!) - it was full of heartbreaking and sadly relatable content, and still provided a number of laughs.

I found myself whispering encouragement and words of celebration when reading this on my train home.

This needs to in every school in the country, and discussed in classes. A+