The Girl in My Treehouse (Paperback or Softback)

"The Best Books We Read This Year (2021)"
-Independent Book Review

Only one summer sits between Matt Crosby and high school, and it feels like his middle school friends are leaving him behind. But when a comet of a girl moves in up the street, Matt discovers a side of himself that's dying to break free and try something new.
 
Lia doesn't see the Matt Crosby everyone else sees: the shy, awkward kid with the stammer, but instead a friend. With Lia, the long, summer days are action-packed with wonder. From scavenger hunts at the grocery store to midnight canoeing under the moon at Preacher Higgins' pond. Or maybe just staring at the sky and feeling completely comfortable in his own skin. But in a small town like Maycomb, a girl like Lia doesn't go unnoticed.

Matt's old friends make jokes about the way Lia dresses, her hair, even her darker skin. As a correctional officer, Matt's father has already run into Lia's mother at the jail. But it isn't until Matt discovers Lia sleeping in his treehouse that he realizes things might be worse for her than she's letting on. Having found the courage to follow his heart instead of his friends, Matt realizes that somewhere along the way, he became the Matt Crosby Lia saw all along.