I loved this book. Malena is a newcomer in Florida after Hurricane Maria has destroyed her Puerto Rican home. One day she has a bad sunburn and her mother advises her to go braless to school wearing a loose surgical top. She is "dress-coded" at school and forced to wear panty liners and tape to cover up her offending boobs. Oh, can I relate. TMI here, but I have prominent nipples and was once pulled aside in high school to be "bra-checked" and even though I was wearing a bra, was told it wasn't thick enough and for a month afterward until school ended for the year year I wore two bras to school! So I can completely understand the shame and confusion Malena felt.

While she is upset in the girls bathroom, Malena encounters Ruby. Ruby has moved from Seattle where her sister is an outspoken activist. Ruby has found a cause to embrace and whether Malena is on board or not, they are going to protest the school dress code and the unequal application of it.

Both characters undergo their own personal development in believable ways. Malena learns to be more confident and speak up for herself, while Ruby learns to check her white privilege and not always speak over people of color she is supposedly trying to help.

This is a great YA book on a topic that hasn't been done to death already. Bravo.

This book would have been perfect if it weren't for Ruby I found her absolutely insufferable from beginning to end. She doesn't care to actually listen to Malena's problems and constantly speaks over her. Apart from that, this is an excellent book about how harmful dress codes are and why they need to be abolished.

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.
Thank you to the publisher & NetGalley for advanced copy in exchange for my honest review

Thank you, NetGalley, for the ARC in return for review

Dress code. Every female knows the dress code. Mainly because she has been called on it for something. But some more than others. In Does My Body Offend You, the rule of wearing a bra is only applicable to some...and the rule isn't even recorded.

I love the protagonists in the story, different personalities but wanting the same thing. Being loud is easier for some. But finding your voice is important for all.

An important book for all middle school and up - both students and teachers.

This book follows the story of two girls, both in friendship and as they grow and change. It deals with sexism, racism and just the struggles of girls trying to find themselves and grow up. Malena, a Latina, has been displaced due to the hurricane and is in a new state and a new school. Ruby is a white girl, coming to terms with her older sister who is a star. worth the read

Does My Body Offend You? By Mayra Cuevas & Marie Marquardt......
Is outta this world!

This story is told in two voices, Malena and Ruby. Malena is stuck in Florida away from her beautiful home in Puerto Rico. Ruby is the schools feminist revolutionist. And isn't afraid to shine a light on topics. Who is also new at school and she has been trying to write her own way out of the shadow of her sister. 

This story it's told beautifully. I loved our main characters. They.grow together throughout the story and this friendship really blooms into something special.
Each are endearing characters in their own way; they're warm and real.

This stunning collaboration between Cuevas and Marquardt really hits true in our world today. Sadly enough. But every once in awhile two authors storm through with a realistic YA novel and tell a story. A story that needs to be told and heard.

I loved reading this one and found it truly hard to stop once I started.
Others will love it also. Talks about sexism and shame within their school's dress code policy.

This is a strong story. This is a story that needs to be read.
Absolutely gorgeous!
A touching love story, beautifully written, which sheds a light on the many difficulties faced by girls today.
The characters are those you will fall in love with, root for and relate to. I think that this is an important read that both adults and young adults will love.

“I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.”

Random House Children's & Knopf Books for Young Readers,
Thank You for your generosity and gifting me a copy of this amazing eARC!
I will post my review to my platforms, blog, B&N and Waterstone closer to pub date.

This story is told in two voices, Malena Rosario and Ruby McAllister. Malena is a Puerto Rico resident who has relocated with her mother to Florida after Hurricane Maria destroyed their home. Although they have extended family in Florida, Malena feels displaced and homesick. Normally an outspoken, confident student, she feels diminished in spirit. After getting a horrible sunburn, her mother advises her to go to braless to school, but wearing one of her mom’s loose-fitting surgical tops. The school administration humiliates her and forces her to cover her breasts with sanitary napkins and tape because she has broken “dress code.” Ruby McAllister is also a recent transplant to Florida, via Seattle. She is a fierce feminist, but has lived under the shadow of an outspoken, activist sister. Ruby wants to forge her own path, and when she learns of Malena’s treatment, she is horrified and determined to make a statement. Malena is angry, but not sure she really wants to bring this kind of attention to herself, but Ruby insists and the incident becomes a movement. Will the girl's fledgling friendship survive the stresses of becoming the face of the anti dress code, pro-feminism protests?
I really loved this book as the two voices allowed us to hear each of the girl’s voices clearly. The reader is given intimate insight into each girl’s insecurities and self-doubt, while simultaneously seeing how they are viewed by their peer. This book also deals with huge issues – body image, body shaming, feminism, biases, privilege, white saviorism, “partying,” the power of social media, sexuality, and female friendship. Yet, despite all these issues, the reader also understands that these are just two teen girls discovering who they want to be as women, understanding the stumbles they take on the path to finding their own voices and the strength to use them. I was given an advance copy for an honest review.

I have so many feelings about this book, but overall I think this is a powerful book about female empowerment, how teens can create positive change in our world, and how to be a good friend and ally. I loved watched Malena blossom and find her voice, strength, and self-love. Ruby was born to be the character you struggle to love. So many things that she did wrong you could see coming from a mile away, and this book really made me want to stand up and scream. But the great part was that she learns from her mistakes. She shows a lot of great character growth, especially when she has to check her privilege, and even though she struggles through, she does make it. This book made me feel proud. I definitely think this is one to keep in the classroom.

This realistic YA about dress coding, friendship, & intersectionality holds nothing back! Mayra Cuevas and Marie Marquardt crafted the essential novel about feminist activism in youth. Told in alternating perspectives, Does My Body Offend You? follows the lives of Malena Rosario and Ruby McAllister as they challenge the cultural of shame and sexism in their school's dress code policy.

Puerto Rican Malena is new at school, and she's already struggling to adjust after moving to Florida following Hurricane Maria. Due to a bad sunburn, Malena doesn't wear a bra to school, and she's forced by administration to tape pantyliners to her nipples and bind her breasts with surgical tape. Ruby, an outspoken white girl originally from Seattle, witnesses Malena's distress and tries to help.

This incident and what follows leads Malena and Ruby on a path to friendship, school activism, and personal growth. Through their journeys, Malena must learn to speak up for herself and feel confident in her unique voice and experience. On the other side, Ruby has to learn how to lead through platforming others and recognizing how privilege impacts her life and others'. Both women come to learn that everyone has a story, and those stories are always impacted by trauma, privilege, and society. We can't deny our stories, but we can use them to create better stories for ourselves and those around us.

So excited to read a book by a fellow Puerto Rican author that tackles life after Hurricane Maria and the pain of living in the diaspora during that time. Of course, the book is about more than that, but I did want to mention it as I resonated with Malena's pain. I loved the discussion about how we advocate for yourself and others while not placing oneself at the center of that advocacy. Also felt seen in the conversations between Malena's family - as I am that child who will correct the older tias when they continue to perpetuate slut shaming and patriarchal BS.

Young girls have to navigate the onslaught of sexual harassment that comes in the form of a school dress code. Tragically, this sexual harassment is foundational to young girls’ lives no matter where in America they go to school. Does My Body Offend You delivers a nuanced examination of public schools and reveals a frightening reality. Some of the cruellest sexual harassers are women. Sadly, female leadership in public schools has internalized the patriarchy. But pat and simplistic sentences to summarize this novel don’t suffice. What does it mean to internalize misogyny and how does that internalization manifest itself? Does it come in the form of a female vice principal who examines girls’ bodies, in this case Malena’s, and in a desire “to protect”, she asks Malena to cover her nipples with panty liners? Is it a school nurse who unapologetically appraises Malena’s body and shames her? The revelation that Cuevas and Marquardt boldly present in this novel is that in the public school arena, it is not just men who sexually harass young girls.

But Malena’s dangerous navigation of a feminist awakening doesn’t get her a reprieve in her own home, the place that is supposed to be safe. Her abuela and her tia besmirch her character. Malena’s every act of liberation is cast as flirting with the devil, una cualquiera, and exhibiting loose morals. Cuevas does not shy away from this difficult intersection. How do the Malena’s of the world keep peace with their families and not surrender their feminism? This fraught path forward is the struggle for so many young girls who come from traditional families, and Malena’s journey exemplifies that .

The beauty of this collaboration between Cuevas and Marquardt lives in those uncomfortable and enraging intersections. The novel answers why Ruby, also braless, does not get “protection” or a detention, yet Malena does. How much does size have to do with the difference in the treatment of the two braless teens? How much is Malena’s social class and racial identity inform Nurse Ratched’s need to punish and humiliate? Why is Ruby able to get away with cursing at board members in a school board meeting? Why is Ruby escorted out of that same meeting when she makes a nuissance, rather than handcuffed and arrested? The laser focus on white privilege will make you both pity Ruby and root for her. Ruby has the guts to look at herself and acknowledge her privilege. It is the Ruby’s of the world that this novel both exposes and then celebrates.

Malena, a Boricua fleeing Hurricane Maria, finds herself in Florida with a terrible sunburn. Unable to wear a bra, she's forced to cover up in the most humiliating of ways.

Ruby, a Seattle transplant, is tired of living in her organizer sister's shadow. When she finds Malena crying in the girls bathroom, Ruby latches on to Malena's situation and finally finds a cause that she can get behind--challenging the school's sexist dress code.

To make changes, Malena will have to find her voice and Ruby will have to learn when it's time to remain silent.

This book took me on several journeys. There were times that Ruby especially grated on me, but I think that she's supposed to be a character that you have to struggle to like at times. The white savior of it all comes to a head when Ruby finally has her privilege checked and comes to the realization that allyship doesn't mean speaking over the voices of the black and brown people that are more affected by the issue than she is is just *chef's kiss*.

Malena's attempts to reclaim her body and her power are also beautifully handled. You could feel the tension between her and her traditional immigrant family when she begins to consider speaking out and up for herself.

Rather than just creating one dimensional adult characters to be party poopers and to serve as the "MAN" that the students are all fighting to stand up against, many of the adults in the story are multi-dimensional and will surprise the reader with their stories and their parts that they play as the story comes to it's end.

#netgalleyarc Did you like Moxie, Watch Us Rise, or The Big Reveal? Then you have to add this title to your TBR pile. A great story, based on actual events, that teenagers all over the world can relate too. Definitely worth reading!

Cuevas and Marquardt worked masterfully together to tell a complex feminist coming of age journey for a white girl whose never faced her privilege and a Puerto Rican girl finding strength with her own definition. The love between these two friends is precious and rare, even as Ruby steamrolls right by Malena again and again, which speaks to Malena's character to protect her own boundaries and stay open to Ruby's growth. This is the book I wish I had in high school to have faced my privileges much sooner than I did. Thanks to NetGalley and Knopf for an early read.

Malena has not been having an easy time of it lately. First, Hurricane Maria destroys her home, and now she finds herself living in Florida with her mother while her father remains in Puerto Rico helping with the recovery process. When she goes to school one day braless due to a terrible sunburn, she finds herself at the center of a dress code storm. Ruby is also relatively new at school and has been trying to find her own way out of the shadow of her over-achieving sister. When Malena and Ruby meet in the girls' restroom where Malena is crying due to the "solution" she was give to deal with her bralessness, Ruby decides it is time to speak out. The two girls form an alliance to change the dress code and along the way, discover friendship, love, terror, and forgiveness. Such a fantastic book dealing with timely issues.

After Hurricane Maria devastates Puerto Rico, Malena and her family move to Florida to be close to her cousins and start over. She's uncomfortable in her new school, where she doesn't know anyone, and even more uncomfortable when a bad sunburn causes a run in with the the schools' dress code policy. She meets up with outspoken Ruby, whose efforts to help end up causing more problems.

What I enjoyed about this book was that it could have been much simpler - girls fight the patriarchy! - but Cuevas made it much more than that. The book does have the girl power story, and enjoyably so. But Malena and Ruby are both full personalities, with human weaknesses and flaws to go along with their strengths. They don't always make the right choices, or say the right thing, and that actually made them much more relatable and felt true. Even some of the adults in the novel get to be full people, not just evil straw figures who are only there to create conflict. Well done.

A much-needed book about the politicization of young women's bodies, told with a deft hand and romcom touches. As a bonus, a great portrayal of North Florida. Invaluable for teen girl readers.

This was a solid read. I was intrigued by the title and found the writing strong enough to keep me invested in the characters. The diverse realms of representation make this a powerful story that should find its way into any classroom library.