By Mima Tipper
[Trigger Warning: mention of sexual abuse and child abuse. Please take care while reading.]
Think back to when you were a kid, maybe somewhere in the 10-14 year range, and tell me if you ever experienced a queasy, squishy feeling in the pit of your stomach because you knew someone—usually an older someone—was saying or doing something that gave you the creepy-crawlies, only the circumstances were unclear enough that you weren’t sure if what they were saying or doing was actually wrong.
Maybe you wanted to tell someone—a parent or a friend—but you weren’t exactly sure what to say, or even how to describe what the creepy crawler was doing to make you feel uncomfortable. All you knew was that what was happening felt wrong, and you didn’t feel like you could say anything, because what was there to say? Besides, maybe your creepy-crawly feeling was just your own imagination, and you didn’t want to cause trouble.
Those are the circumstances my 14 year old main character Kat Baker faces in my YA novel ‘Kat’s Greek Summer‘ (out May 13, 2025 from SparkPress). The book follows Kat launching a summer plan to achieve high school popularity by training with the high school cross country running team, only to have her plan go sideways when her Greek mom spirits her off to a tiny rustic Greek fishing village to spend the summer with the Greek side of the family.
Cultural clashing, hilarity and romance ensue, but there is also a thread where Kat experiences the confusing attentions of several older boys—American and Greek. The kind of confusing attention that has her questioning how she feels about boys and flirting, as well as what she wants from either and how she wants to respond.
Ultimately, Kat is challenged to speak up about her experiences and, hard as that is, speaking up about what makes her feel uncomfortable and advocating for herself is what gives her the power to take charge of not only a situation with a group of sexually harassing boys, but also to take charge of other aspects of her life and choices as well.
My own experience with intangible sexual harassment differs greatly from Kat’s, only not in the essential elements of the confusion, isolation and helplessness I experienced. I was about 11, and spending the summer in Greece with my Greek mom and the Greek side of my family.
Since I didn’t speak Greek or look like most of my Greek relatives, I already felt like an outsider. Early in the summer, a cousin I hadn’t met before, let’s call him X, came on the scene. He was much older than me—maybe 17 or 18—and right from the first time he came over, he took an excessive interest in me. He would always come right, leaning in close to talk to me in his halting English.
He made a point of sitting next to me at meals or on the couch. If he arrived and I wasn’t in the room, I’d hear him asking for me. It wasn’t that X did or said anything to me that was specifically inappropriate, but there was something about how he looked at me and how close he would get to me that gave me those creepy-crawlies.
That creepy-crawly feeling lasted that whole summer, coloring every experience I had. I woke every morning hoping X was not coming over, or, if he was, dodging him. I didn’t experience any physical harm, yet I felt increasingly uncomfortable and more, I felt helpless. At 11, I had no language to talk about what I felt, and I was ashamed of my feelings.
To be sure, I had been schooled by my mom and others a bit about sexual abuse and child molestation, but what was happening with X didn’t look like those stories I’d heard. So, what was going on? Was X actually doing something wrong? Or, worse, was there something wrong with me?
Sadly, I never got up the nerve to say or do anything about X, and looking back I believe my not having the nerve or the language or the confidence to speak up had a strong negative effect on the development of my sense of power and confidence. That’s what I’m really talking about here. I believe it’s important for kids to have the language to speak up, even if they are not sure if what is causing their discomfort is intentional or even specifically physically dangerous on the part of the “perpetrator.”
Let’s be honest, many kids are in tangible and specific physical danger as shown in a recent article put out by the National Sexual Violence Resource Center, where in 7th-12th graders, 56% of girls experience sexual harassment and 40% of boys; and 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 6 boys have been sexually abused before age 18.
These are staggering numbers that support the findings reported in an article put out by Psychology Today that says it’s important to “[raise] awareness early. Elementary and middle schoolers are overly exposed to sexual content and aggression, yet there is little discussion about inappropriate, unsafe and abusive behaviors.”
The point is that if a person or situation is causing a kid discomfort, and if said kid doesn’t learn how to speak up, then what tools or confidence does a kid have if and when something more tangible happens? This is why I believe stories that have characters dealing with nuanced, subtle forms of bullying and sexual bullying are more critically important now than ever. Kids need to witness characters facing potentially ambiguous harassment and bullying situations, in order to recognize their own discomfort, and gain tools and confidence to speak up.
With the #MeToo movement well ingrained into our popular culture (and only gaining momentum), there are more and more books for young adults and older middle graders about sexual harassment and bullying. That said, I believe we also need books where characters face ambiguous harassment/bullying situations that challenge a kid’s confidence and judgement through the sheer intangibility of those situations.
Gaining the confidence for self-advocacy is an important part of growing up, so let’s help kids gain that confidence by offering compelling, fun, thrilling stories where characters respond to tough situations and creepy crawlers by digging deep and finding the strength and confidence to speak up.
Half-Greek, half-American, Mima Tipper and her writing reflect her heritage—a little bit old-country, a little bit rock and roll: one foot wandering through the dreamy realms of myths and faerie tales, the other running on the solid ground of fast-paced, contemporary story. She earned her MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts. “Kat’s Greek Summer” will be her first published novel. Beyond devoting most of her time to writing, Mima volunteers at her local library and is committed to promoting literacy. Learn more at: www.mimatipper.com, and follow her on Facebook, X(Twitter) and Instagram.
ABOUT THE BOOK: Almost-freshman Kat Baker has big plans to train all summer long so she can become the running goddess of her high school. But when she learns her summer will instead be spent exploring her roots in a rustic Greek village, Kat’s sure her popularity plan is toast. In Greece, punishing heat and cultural clashes force Kat to launch a risky and covert training strategy to keep her running-star dreams alive. During her late-night runs, Kat is swept into encounters with Theofilus Zafirakis, a dreamy but off-limits Greek boy. Soon, Kat’s secret odyssey spirals out of control, putting one of her cousins in danger. In the end, it takes the unexpected meddling of an entire Greek village for her to discover that the key to belonging anywhere is belonging first to herself.
