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Absolutely Maybe

by Lisa Yee (Goodreads Author)

3.62 of 5 stars 3.62 · rating details · 959 ratings · 201 reviews

Lisa Yee makes her YA debut with this hilarious novel about a charm-school dropout who becomes a drop-dead charmer on a quest for her father in California.

Meet Maybelline Mary Katherine Mary Ann Chestnut, named for two Miss Americas and her mother Chessy's favorite brand of mascara. Chessy teaches the students in her charm school her Seven Select Rules for Young Ladies, bu...more

Hardcover, 288 pages

Published February 1st 2009 by Arthur A. Levine Books

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Feb 26, 2009 edh rated it 5 of 5 stars

Lisa Yee takes a departure from her usual middle grade fare to offer a more mature look at adolescence in Absolutely Maybe. 15 year old Maybe (short for Maybelline) lives in Kissimmee, FL with her mother, Chessy. Chessy is a former beauty queen who now runs a charm school for aspiring pageant winners, and everything she cares about is anathema to Maybe, who would rather wear kohl eyeliner and purple lipstick and Hanes beefy-ts every day than a crown. Chessy's on-again, off-again relationships wi...more

5 likes · like · see review

Jun 11, 2012 CekMoNSter rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: english, freakin-genius-plots

Finished with this yesterday, and a very satisfying read to say the least. It was funny and awesome. But writing this one made me wonder.. Why do mostly YA books had a girl as their main character?Was it because it was mostly girl who read YA? Hurm..That`s something to ponder...

Anyway, this read was totally opposite the one I had with 'Aces Up' that I`ve reviewed previously. This felt much like reading Tara Kelly`s 'Amplified' all over again, except less emo and more plot, which was fine by me....more Finished with this yesterday, and a very satisfying read to say the least. It was funny and awesome. But writing this one made me wonder.. Why do mostly YA books had a girl as their main character?Was it because it was mostly girl who read YA? Hurm..That`s something to ponder...

Anyway, this read was totally opposite the one I had with 'Aces Up' that I`ve reviewed previously. This felt much like reading Tara Kelly`s 'Amplified' all over again, except less emo and more plot, which was fine by me. The story was a fast pace one in terms of writing and plot, so you`ll never get bored with this one.

The story was about a girl named Maybe, or Maybelline Katherine Mary [Something, can`t remember] Mary Chesnut. Her mom, Cheesy named her after actresses and her favourite cosmetic brand. Not surprising considering that her mom handled a Beauty Pageants` coaching school. So the girl and her single mother whom had been married six times (and was about to marry the seventh) were living together. Maybe was a very independent girl, coursing through her life and beauty-fanatic alcoholic mom. Until one day, the seventh guy that her mom was about to marry almost did something bad to her that Maybe decided to find her long lost biological father who she thought was a TV producer in Hollywood. So together with her bestfriends, Hollywood(real name Daniel Patrick Jones) and Ted(Adopted Thai teen who wore platform shoes) they went for backpacking to California.

Honestly, I loved every bits of this. There was a resolution to this at the end when everything felt back to its place. Maybe was a rebel, her hair`s color matching the sour need of her non-belonging. Her friendships with Ted and Hollywood were admirable. I think the trios had the cutest friendships ever, shoving each other, mocking and willing to sacrifice for one another.It was touching really. I like the way it seemed that everything had collapsed for Maybe until she met Sammy back because the story was written in a way that you couldn`t help but to worry if Maybe will be saved or will her journey ended badly. Hers non-existent romance with Hollywood though were a bit frustrating because of the open end. I wanted to know what happened to their friendship.

I also like how Maybe wasn`t the kind to be bothered with what people had to say about her. She was lonely yes, but her self-preservation helped her through. A nice goth girl with freaky hairs religiously watching Nelson`s Neighbourhood. Who wouldn`t want to read about her? So yeah, you can say that her character and her friends with awesome plot got me into giving this a five. I enjoyed the funny banters, especially when it came to Ted and his 'Chelsea De La Tour' and Chessy. They were funny...

A good read! Nuff said~(less)

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Mar 27, 2009 laaaaames rated it 2 of 5 stars

So I read this great blog post about the rewrites Lisa Yee did to this book before it was published: http://chavelaque.blogspot.com/2009/0...

It actually reminded me a lot of the rewrites I did to my own book, so I was all "HURRAH NOW I WILL READ HER FINISHED PRODUCT AND REJOICE FOR HER!"

Sadly, I am not impressed.

Listen, it doesn't suck or anything. It's just very "meh". There are way too many cliches for my taste, I didn't actually feel like the L.A. setting was as authentic as it could have bee...more So I read this great blog post about the rewrites Lisa Yee did to this book before it was published: http://chavelaque.blogspot.com/2009/0...

It actually reminded me a lot of the rewrites I did to my own book, so I was all "HURRAH NOW I WILL READ HER FINISHED PRODUCT AND REJOICE FOR HER!"

Sadly, I am not impressed.

Listen, it doesn't suck or anything. It's just very "meh". There are way too many cliches for my taste, I didn't actually feel like the L.A. setting was as authentic as it could have been (which is weird given Yee grew up here). I just read Cecil Castalucci's Beige which isn't a perfect book by any stretch of the imagination but truly captured the city I live in. I mean, anyone could throw in some crap about taco trucks and starving wannabe actresses and call it Hollywood.

Also I guess Yee has written a lot of middle grade before, and to me this didn't truly rise from that level. Not to say there's anything wrong with middle grade! Still, if you're writing YA, write YA. Throwing in some stuff about rape and a gay friend doesn't make it YA automatically.

The story itself is fine, I guess, though I never felt like it picked up a huge amount of momentum. I kept reading but it's really, really hard for me to quit a book. I just wanted MORE. More authenticity, more setting, more from all the characters, more escape from cliches, more dialogue that didn't seem expositiony.

I'm not saying at all that there isn't a book here. I am, however, saying that I think it needs another rewrite or two to actually get there.

Oh, and EDITED TO ADD: I agree with the reviewer here who said it took the violence-against-women and alcoholism angles way too lightly. I know it looks like I took the same way out, up there where I said "stuff about rape", but that's my whole point, you can't throw in a little thing about violence of that nature just to call it YA or drive your plot forward. I thought the ending was pretty irresponsible, because I'm not sure some things/issues/people ARE redeemable.(less)

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Feb 14, 2009 Jenn Estepp rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: teenage-wasteland

Pretty disappointing, because I like Yee's middle grade novels so much. In a lot of ways this book reads very similar to them, except that the protagonist is older and has more serious problems. And yet, it doesn't feel like, as a character, she is that much more evolved or mature - she certainly didn't feel like a sixteen or seventeen year old to me. I also felt like she - Maybe - is a character to whom things happen and reacts, but does very little proactively. She's really passive when left t...more

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May 12, 2009 GirlwiththeBraids rated it 2 of 5 stars

Mabelline had a father once, she knows that much. Her mother never explained anything except when she was under the influence, even then it was only one or two things. Maybe’s mother, Chessy, had a ‘fling’ with a talent searcher years back and now she lives with Maybe in the apartment above her charm school. Charming, isn’t it? After living with six different stepfathers, Maybe wants to meet her biological father. With only a picture and a first name as clues, Maybe sets off for Los Angeles with...more

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Dec 30, 2008 Jennifer Wardrip rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: trt-gold-star-award-winner, trt-posted-reviews

Reviewed by Sally Kruger aka "Readingjunky" for TeensReadToo.com

ABSOLUTELY MAYBE by Lisa Yee is due out in February 2009. It is her first YA/teen novel - and readers will not want to miss it.

The main character is Maybelline, "Maybe" to her friends. She is currently living above her mother's Charm School. She is surrounded by glamour and future pageant hopefuls, but she feels anything but glamorous. Depending on the day, Maybe's hair color might be red, green, or blue, thanks to endless boxes of...more

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Apr 10, 2013 Abena Osei-gyamfi rated it 4 of 5 stars

In the book Absolutely Maybe, the main character, named after her mother’s favorite line of makeup, Maybelline, has a rough life. Her mother is into beauty pageants and even runs one of her own. Everyone looks at Maybe and expects her to be all girly and prissy, but she is the opposite. She has pink hair and her best friends are two “weird kids” named Ted and Hollywood (nickname). Her mother is a drunk, along with her stepdad whom she does not like. To make matters worse, one day, her stepfathe...more In the book Absolutely Maybe, the main character, named after her mother’s favorite line of makeup, Maybelline, has a rough life. Her mother is into beauty pageants and even runs one of her own. Everyone looks at Maybe and expects her to be all girly and prissy, but she is the opposite. She has pink hair and her best friends are two “weird kids” named Ted and Hollywood (nickname). Her mother is a drunk, along with her stepdad whom she does not like. To make matters worse, one day, her stepfather tried to rape her. After the incident, she runs away to California with her two best friends, trying to find her birth father. During their stay in California, they went through many hardships. Some of these obstacles led the characters to use appeals to pathos (feelings), logos (logic), and ethos (credibility) throughout to book.
While the friends were in California, they got some stuff stolen including Maybe’s purse and money. She needed some new makeup because she looked rundown from all the troubles they went through but did not have any money to get it. She asked Ted for money, but he did not give her any because he needed to save up for better things. Maybe really wanted the makeup, so she slipped it into her pocket, not knowing that Ted was watching her. Since Ted cares about her, he told her to put the makeup down or he would call the police, no jokes aside. She saw how serious he was and put the makeup back. Ted believed that his threat helped her out of “a quick way to land in jail” (pg 73). Ted appealed to logos by telling Maybe to put the makeup down because it is known that when you get caught stealing, you can get in big trouble. She knew it was wrong but was too desperate to think of the consequences and Ted was there to help her make the right decision.
In the same instance, Maybe appealed to pathos. She really wanted the makeup and she begged him to let her take it without him telling on her. After all, he had even told her “you look funny.” Ted told her she was being dramatic and she got really upset. When he said she was being dramatic, she told him she had a reason after all that had recently happened to her from getting her purse and money stolen, to almost getting raped by her mom’s fiancé, to running away from home with no job or place to live (pg 73). She wanted him to know why she wanted to steal the makeup so bad and not be judge, so she used everything that happened to her to try to make him feel her pain and let her take the makeup. Sadly, her appeal to pathos did not work because Ted did not want her to end up getting in trouble for stealing the makeup.
At the end of the book, Maybe’s mom finally gets ahold of her and apologizes and asks her to come back home because she misses her. Maybe did not really want to go back home because of all the bad things that happened and the bad treatment she had been receiving while living there. Her mom however had shown great improvement. She had been taking AA classes to help her stop drinking and even broke it off with her fiancé. Maybe’s mom appealed to ethos by her actions and the things she told Maybe. It baffled Maybe that “[her] mother got on a plane to see [her] and she said she was sorry” (pg 249). This showed her that her mom actually cared. In the end, her mom decides to stay in California and they live together again, to start a whole new life.
The characters in this story appealed to pathos, logos, and ethos, making any argument they made stronger. This also made it easier for the reader to distinguish the emotions being expressed and how and why they were expressed. Ted appealed to logos by telling Maybe not to steal and the store, while Maybe appealed to pathos right after by trying to justify her stealing by giving her sob story. In the end, Maybe’s mom appeal to ethos by actually going to California, giving up drinking, and breaking up with her fiancé, to make things between her and Maybe better. This is a good, well-written book and I would recommend it to one of my friends.

(less)

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Aug 02, 2012 Aby rated it 1 of 5 stars

In my opinion, this isn't a Young Adult Novel. It feels like one of those middle school books that a teacher makes you read in homeroom just to waste away time.

There were some serious topics that Yee could've elaborated on, maybe made more important and more impacting for the reader. For example, there was attempted rape, parental issues that includes alcohol problems, and homelessness. And the 'teenage angst' that is never really shown.

But everything felt random after maybe the first five pag...more In my opinion, this isn't a Young Adult Novel. It feels like one of those middle school books that a teacher makes you read in homeroom just to waste away time.

There were some serious topics that Yee could've elaborated on, maybe made more important and more impacting for the reader. For example, there was attempted rape, parental issues that includes alcohol problems, and homelessness. And the 'teenage angst' that is never really shown.

But everything felt random after maybe the first five pages. In the first chapter, it was like 'okay, Maybe is gonna have a plan on what to do' and the rest was just a total waste.

The attempted rape was random and rushed because it was obviously just a mild plot point that Yee needed in the story. Her being homeless felt rushed. Her doing nothing when she got to California felt dragged out. A lot of details were missing and some details (like her group of friends apparently being mugged on their trip) felt like they weren't needed. She sees her father for about two and half pages and then decides he's a jerk and leaves him forever. I, the reader, felt nothing for Maybe.

Truth is, Maybe is a bland main character and a bad friend. She's very mean to Hollywood and otherwise eh to Ted. Plus, her stepfather (who apparently provided housing and money in a whim) lets her do everything she wants which she proceeds to do stupidly. She seems so dull and thoughtless that there is never a real connection with her and then when the film about her is talked about, the author tries to tell the reader that this teenage girl is a dynamic, super nice character after too many pages of THIS GIRL BEING UNACCEPTABLE.

I don't think so.

The ending was also random and it feels like Yee just wants to end everything on a happy note that is not even resolved. Ted is gay, we all saw this if we've been reading; Chessy apologizes and everyone forgives her so easily and her ex-husband times two even lets her live in his house. All this ends to unrealistically.

To repeat my opening note, it doesn't feel like a novel. It is a jumble of stories with the occasional funny joke that should've been saved for a better book. There isn't a structure to it. Maybe does everything she wants to do without thinking, her hair changes relentlessly, and she doesn't provide a unique or different AT ALL point of view. This 'novel' isn't about anything really. It's a blender of unfinished thoughts and ideas.

I am in the audience Yee wrote this for, I am thirteen. But I don't recommend it, absolutely never.(less)

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Apr 13, 2011 Charles Raymond rated it 5 of 5 stars

Absolutely Maybe by Lisa Yee is definitely a girl book. I meet the author at a conference in Miami and she has a personality that goes on and on like the Energy Bunny. So I decided to by her book and see what its like to read one. Well, I can't say enough about the book. The characters are colorful. The main character's name is Maybelline, she was named after her mothers favorite brand of mascara, but everyone calls her Maybe, she is a teenage girl who failed charm school, which is owned by her...more

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Feb 06, 2011 Jewelz rated it 4 of 5 stars

Maybelline Mary Katherine Mary Ann Chestnut, Maybe for short, is named after her mother's favorite makeup brand, Maybelline, which Maybe hates as well as her mom's charm school. When her mother's soon-to-be seventh husband tries to rape Maybe, her mother walks in on them and blames Maybe. Tired of her mother's put downs and parade of husbands, Maybe decides to go find her biological father. She knows he was in show business and her only other clue is an old photograph with the name Gunner. She h...more

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Jan 08, 2011 Cindy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Recommended to Cindy by: Cathy Blackler

Shelves: 12-bk-challenge-tbr-pile-for-1yr, young-adult, realistic-fiction, bookaday-2011

There is a need for half stars: 4.5 for this one.

Maybe is Chessy's poor excuse for a daughter, in Chessy's opinion. Maybe's mom is a beauty pageant queen herself and runs a business to help young girls participating in beauty pageants. So when Maybe is the complete opposite of a beauty queen, her mom always has a way to remind Maybe of this, but never in a nice way.

So when Maybe's mom is on husband-to-be # too many for Maybe, and Chessy chooses the "scuzzball" over her, Maybe decides to leave mo...more

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Aug 17, 2010 Margaryta rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: chapter-books, chic-lit, modern, reality-dramatic

This book was hilarious. I know it's not the best book out there but hey, if you want to read a book that you'll enjoy because it's modern, and doesn't follow all the outlines of a sappy chic-lit book this is the book to pick.

Maybelline (aka. Maybe) is a character I found it very easy to relate to. She bears with what life gives her and goes by day after day putting up with all the garbage. I respect that kind of character that has a backbone, not like one of those LA girly-girls that are all pu...more

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Jun 02, 2010 Breeyah30x Dozier rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book went over my expectations. It's about a 16 year old girl named Maybeline Mary Katherine Mary Ann Chestnut .15 year old Maybellinelives in Kissimmee, FL with her mother, Chessy. Chessy is a former beauty queen who now runs a charm school for aspiring pageant winners, and everything she cares about is anathema to Maybe, who would rather wear kohl eyeliner and purple lipstick and Hanes beefy-ts every day than a crown. i think chessy affects maybelline in different ways because chessy is l...more

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Jul 03, 2009 Karin rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: young-adult-fiction, teenagers, runaways, families, realistic, quirky, borrowed-from-the-library

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Maybelline Mary Katherine Mary Ann Chestnut (Maybe, for short) runs away from home after her mother’s fiancée makes a pass at her. Chessy, Maybe’s mother, is an alcoholic. She runs a charm school that trains girls to win beauty pageants, and she drives Maybe crazy. When Maybe decides she’s leaving, her best friends Ted and Hollywood agree to help her get to California to find her biological father. Hollywood is going to film school in California and Ted gets a job as the personal assistant to an...more Maybelline Mary Katherine Mary Ann Chestnut (Maybe, for short) runs away from home after her mother’s fiancée makes a pass at her. Chessy, Maybe’s mother, is an alcoholic. She runs a charm school that trains girls to win beauty pageants, and she drives Maybe crazy. When Maybe decides she’s leaving, her best friends Ted and Hollywood agree to help her get to California to find her biological father. Hollywood is going to film school in California and Ted gets a job as the personal assistant to an older, famous movie star (Glora de la Tour). Ted manages to track down Maybe’s stepfather, Sammy, and she’s able to stay with him while she searches for her father. She also gets a job at a mobile taco restaurant, where her new friend Jess pays her under the table.

Everything seems to happen all at once, then. Hollywood wins a film-making contest and Maybe’s father agrees to meet her at the screening. The film is a documentary about Maybe – Hollywood has been watching and filming her life all this time. Maybe can’t even watch the whole thing at first (it’s too painful), and she runs out of the theater. When she does meet her father (later on) he’s a jerk and offers her “hush money” to stay out of his life. Maybe uses it to fly her mother out to California for a detox package (to help with her drinking problem), and Chessy decides to stay on as Gloria de la Tour’s new personal assistant (Ted is going home to his family). So, at the end, even though things aren’t perfect, they’re on their way to being better for everyone.

This was mostly upbeat and funny – despite Maybe’s near-assault. I think things could have taken a much more serious turn from there, had Maybe been on her own. Because she had her friends helping her, and then Sammy (who still loves her and Chessy), Maybe was ok. I’m not sure I’d have been able to forgive Chessy for not believing me, had I been in Maybe’s shoes. But I think that her journey to find her father and living with Sammy – a father who really loved her – gave Maybe some insight into her mother’s problems and situation and helped her to understand what she went through. This was a bit of a rocky ride, but the characters were a lot of fun (Ted, in particular, was a complete hoot). (less)

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Dec 11, 2012 Kacie rated it 5 of 5 stars

After reading this story I believe that you have to read into it for quite awhile before it will get interesting. If you do, you will be very entertained and won't be able to put it down! I can easily relate this story to my life as I believe many others could; this gives the story a nice touch becuase readers can connect with the story line. In the story, the main character was a young girl named Maybe who was confused about her life and was beginning to make many new friends. That is how I fe...more

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Jan 01, 2013 Kyle Brittain rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: favorites, covergasm, loved-it, read-more-than-once

This review can also be found on my blog

In Absolutely Maybe, Lisa Yee does that impressive thing, that incredibly rare thing: She allows you to connect with her characters on an amazingly close level. With many books you can connect with the characters in simple ways, such as sharing their favorite color, or agreeing with a choice they make in the novel- but with Absolutely Maybe, you get so much more. The characters in this novel feel so real, so three dimensional, it is incredible.

Chessy, the...more

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Nov 22, 2010 Shawnasea rated it 4 of 5 stars

I think the thing I liked the most about this book was that the character was dealing with a LOT of serious issues and she handled it all in stride with a great sense of humor and optimism. There's nothing that annoys me more than a YA book where the whole main conflict is that the kid has something very ordinary happen to them but they overreact to it to the point of getting depressed, contemplating suicide or whatever. Yeah, I do think that Maybe doesn't always think everything out very well,...more

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Aug 31, 2009 E. Anderson rated it 5 of 5 stars

Lisa Yee's first young adult novel begins in Florida, where Maybe - short for Maybelline Mary Anne Mary Katherine Chestnut (she's named for her mother's favorite mascara and two beauty queens) - has finally had it. She's sick of her mom, who dotes on her charm school students. She's sick of her mom's students, who pick on her in school. And she's sick of her mom's fiancee (who will be her jillionth stepdad) who has finally overstepped his bounds in a serious way. Worst of all, Maybe's mom blames...more

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Apr 20, 2010 Kimberleigh rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2010

3.5 stars

First off, I just loved Maybe's friends, Ted and Hollywood. I thought they were pretty awesome. Just so you know.

The story is about Maybelline Chestnut, aka Maybe. Her mother Chessy runs a charm school and marries and drinks as a hobby. But when Maybe is almost raped, and Chessy chooses her fiance over Maybe, Maybe decides to run away to California in search of her biological (unknown) father with her best friends.

When in California, Ted and Hollywood get jobs and homes and Maybe is stu...more

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Jan 14, 2012 BookChic Club rated it 3 of 5 stars

I enjoyed reading this book, but I don't think it's something I'd really recommend buying as a hardcover; it's more of a library book. It was an intriguing story and was an easy, fun read but not much more than that. Yee's writing was compelling and kept me reading, which is great, but the characterizations really lacked something. It felt like the plot was just one event after another without any sort of emotional connection or reflection. Everything moved by too quickly and so the book felt ru...more

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Dec 08, 2011 Erin Forson rated it 4 of 5 stars

Absolutely Maybe
Lisa Yee
What would it take to make someone want to run away from home? Maybelline (named after her mother's favorite makeup brand) runs when she is accused of something by her mother that is so awful most of us couldn't even say it out loud. Maybe (her nickname) possibly has the most monstrous mother in fiction—a former beauty queen named Chessy Chestnut who does nothing but insult and pester Maybe all day long, and who goes through marriages like a whale goes through krill. Than...more

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Oct 08, 2012 Evy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Lisa Yee jumps from her usual middle school drama like Millicent Min Girl Genius and heads into some deeper waters. Absolutely Maybe focuses on Maybelline Mary Katherine Mary Ann Chestnut, a.k.a. Maybe, and her mom, Chessy. Chessy is an alcoholic who runs a pageant training business and is always remarrying to the dismay of Maybe, who prefers baggy clothes Kool-Aid hair dye and kohl eyeliner to beauty pageants. Maybe wants to find her biological father and is assisted by her best friend, Ted - a...more

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Feb 20, 2009 T.V and Book Addict rated it 4 of 5 stars

Absolutely Maybe is such a great read that will have you entertained until you have reached the last page..when you get there you'll be sad because it's over like this --> :(
Maybelline, named after her mother's favorite mascara, is a teenager who runs away from home after an incident happens (horrible just horrible) having to do with her beauty queen mom and her soon to be seventh husband.
Maybe (awesome nickname), her best bud Ted, a short little dude with a great personality, and Hollywood s...more

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Jul 18, 2010 Anne Broyles rated it 4 of 5 stars

I loved Maybe (Maybelline Mary Katherine Mary Ann Chestnut)and rooted for her all the way. Daughter of a woman who runs a charm school and is about to marry for the seventh time, Maybe feels unloved, misunderstood, and (after the newest stepfather-to-be tries to rape her), unsupported and unprotected. With her two best friends (strong, memorable characters in their own right), Maybe embarks on a road trip and ends up in California where she hopes to find her birth father.

I loved Maybe's voice, h...more

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Mar 01, 2012 Mari Anne rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: mg-ya

3.5 stars for the YA book by an author more known for her MG books. I LOVE Lisa Yee and definitely think she is an under-appreciated talent. "Millicent Min Girl Genius" was great and I really enjoyed it. This one I also liked and enjoyed but I felt was somewhat of a stretch for Yee. The characters were supposedly high school age but were put in situations beyond what (I think) kids their age might do. Maybe I am totally wrong about this but I don't know many 17 year olds whose parents would let...more

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Jul 05, 2009 Mary rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: high-school-books, middle-school-books, realistic-fiction

Maybe is Maybelline Chestnut. She lives with her mother, Chessy, and Chessy's endless string of husbands, but she has never lived with her father. Chessy won't tell who Maybe's father is. When Chessy's latest fiance, Jake, assaults Maybe one night when Chessy is passed out drunk, Chessy interrupts and blames Maybe. Maybe decides to go cross-country with her best friends Hollywood and Ted to look for her father in Los Angeles. Thrown out of Hollywood's USC dorm, Maybe becomes homeless until Ted l...more

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Jan 27, 2013 Kiari Oded rated it 5 of 5 stars

I... I just can't say enough about this book. I finished it at three thirty last night, and I'm still in shock. It was such a whirlwind of emotion! I was angry, sad, happy, confused, and eager to continue all at once. Maybe is one of the greatest characters I've ever had the immense pleasure to meet in all my years of reading. She's feisty, funny, heart wrenchingly tragic, and so strong. This is my first look at Lisa Yee's work, but I can tell you for certain it won't be the last. The words prac...more

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Sep 28, 2009 Christy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: teen-fiction

Maybe (short for Maybelline) her mother's favorite mascara is a complicated character. She dresses in large over-sized clothes, dyes her hair with kool-aid and enjoys wearing lots of black eye-liner. Her mother is a former pageant queen and now runs a beauty and charm school. She has also been married several times. Maybe and her mother do not have a great relationship and Maybe spends a lot of her time feeling ugly, hurt and taking abuse from the girls that her mother coaches.

Mom (or as Maybe...more

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Sep 04, 2010 Joli rated it 4 of 5 stars

I really liked reading Absolutely Maybe because you could see Maybe's independence develop throughout the novel. At the beginning of the book, Maybe's individuality is misunderstood by her mother and by the people of her community with the exception of her two friends, Ted and Hollywood. When a terrible confrontation between Maybe and her mother results in Maybe running off with her friends for the summer, you think that she will have a summer filled with adventures while searching for her fathe...more

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Mar 23, 2009 Kathryn rated it 5 of 5 stars

Loved this authors way of approaching a tough subject and drawing the reader in. Maybelline, mary katherine mary ann chestnut a.k.a Maybe thinks that if she can just find her biological father her life will be perfect. She heads to California with her two guy friends and soon finds out that although her friends are adjusting to the new surroundings, she isn't and money is running out. She only has a first name for her father and that he was a "big wig in the production business" before she was b...more

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About Lisa Yee

Lisa Yee was born and raised near Los Angeles. As a kid, she loved reading, opening brand new boxes of cereal (to get the prize), and riding the teacups at Disneyland.

Lisa attended Brightwood Elementary School in Monterey Park, California where she once won an award for best decorated cake. However, Lisa cut the ribbon in half because her friend Linda had also worked on the cake, and they had agre...more Lisa Yee was born and raised near Los Angeles. As a kid, she loved reading, opening brand new boxes of cereal (to get the prize), and riding the teacups at Disneyland.

Lisa attended Brightwood Elementary School in Monterey Park, California where she once won an award for best decorated cake. However, Lisa cut the ribbon in half because her friend Linda had also worked on the cake, and they had agreed to split any prize they might win.

While at Alhambra High School, Lisa was on the debate team and president of the honor society. On occasion, she would ditch class and sneak off to the library. (Okay, so she never quite figured out the juvenile delinquent thing.) At the University of Southern California, she majored in English and Humanities, and she also took a bowling class.

Lisa has been an inventor, a hand model, and the associate director of a creative think tank. At Walt Disney World Lisa was a writer/producer and one time, when she was the only short person around, she got to be Mickey Mouse.

As co-owner and creative director of Magic Pencil Studios, a strategic creative company, she's written and directed creative projects for Fortune 500 clients, led creativity seminars for dairy farmers (moo), and been featured in the Wall Street Journal for her obsessive workaholic behavior. (She is now practically, totally cured of this.)

Lisa's been part of the Official Olympic Committee Torch Run Caravan (until the police requested that she leave), and she's been paid to eat chocolate. But what she likes doing most is writing. Her writing assignments have included labels for cans of refried beans and a speech for the President of the United States (The President's speechwriters rewrote the speech but they did include Lisa's immortal words, "Hello, Joan and Ben.")

Lisa has also penned her own newspaper column, written TV and radio commercials, menus that have been read by millions, jingles for waffles, and television specials for Disney.

Livesin South Pasadena, California. In her spare time, Lisa likes to read, make things out of junk, and consider taking a nap. Her HUGE collection of Winnie the-Poohs is on loan to the White River (Ontario) Winnie-the-Pooh Museum.

With the publication of Millicent Min, Girl Genius, Lisa has realized her lifelong dream of becoming an author. The winner of the prestigious Sid Fleischman Humor Award, there are over 500,000 copies of MILLIE in print. Lisa's second novel, Stanford Wong Flunks Big-Time won the Chinese American Librarian Association Best Book of the Year award, and was named an American Library Association Notable Book.

Lisa was also named the 2007 Thurber House Children's Author-in-Residence. Her third novel, So Totally Emily Ebers came out in 2007 and so did Good Luck, Ivy, an American Girl historical novel.

In 2009, Lisa's first YA novel, Absolutely Maybe, debuted, as did Bobby vs. Girls (Accidentally), the first of her new chapter book series, which was followed up by Bobby the Brave (Sometimes) in 2010.

2011 marks two more American Girl books, Aloha, Kanani and Good Job, Kanani, plus Warp Speed, a spin-off of the Millicent Min Trilogy.(less)

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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3801440-absolutely-maybe?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328843002l/3801440.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3801440-absolutely-maybe?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]Absolutely Maybe by Lisa Yee[/url]

Absolutely Maybe

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