Body

It only took a few seconds of accidental hand hold and eye contact for a series of misunderstanding to
brew over the years between Bryce Loski and Juli Baker. They were in second grade when they first met;
Bryce was new in town, and Juli lives just across the new home the Loskis are occupying. Juli was smitten
right away with Bryce’s piercing blue eyes; she thought they had a connection. Bryce was annoyed, he
immediately developed an instant disliking on Juli whom he thinks as aggressive. For the next two weeks
in his new town, he avoided her at any cost.

But Juli wasn’t someone who can be easily avoided, it was a small town, and they were bound to meet
each other from time to time – at school, at the bus stop, during play time – and the fact they just lived
across each other and that Juli relentlessly pursued him, it was a tough job not to see her. She was
always following him, making him stuck in uncomfortable situations with her.

Over the next years, Juli’s obsession with Bryce grew. And no matter how clear the signals that Bryce
were sending off, she kept missing them. For example, when Bryce avoided her at school and didn’t give
her any attention, she took it as Bryce’s way of just being shy at her. While Bryce has devised several
plans to be “Juli-free” (e.g. dating Shelly Stalls because Juli doesn’t like her), what he failed to do is to
confront Juli directly and tell her that he doesn’t like her.

But all of that changed in seventh-grade. Aside from having his grandfather Duncan live with them, he
also began to notice everything about Juli that he has failed to see in the past few years. She was smart,
accomplished, determined, and beautiful. As what his grandfather describes her, Juli was iridescent. He
began admiring her lively spirit and her wit. But the tables have turned, after all those years obsessing
Bryce, Juli has finally realized that Bryce was a shallow person – someone who would only apologize just
to make himself better, someone who was dishonest.

It was time for Bryce to be the one pursuing, and finally man up to confess how he feels for Juli.
However, Juli, still confused about how she felt, don’t want anything to do with him anymore. Bryce
tried winning her back, and finally he did. By planting her a sycamore at her yard. Juli was finally
convinced that Bryce was indeed sorry, and that’s when they decided to work out all of their
misunderstanding.

Conclusion

Van Draanen’s book was undeniably a delightful thing to read. It may seem like a typical “girl-like-boy,
boy-hate-girl” story but it has more value and lessons to uphold. I personally loved how the male
protagonist grew and matured in terms of his feelings; and how was able to see Juli in a different
perspective. Most of the time, we tend to fail the goodness in a person because we focus solely in our
own judgment and opinion of that particular person without even exerting an effort to know him or her.
We love to pass judgment to people without looking them at a different view point.