Who Is He?/Book

Who Is He? is a fictional children's novel written by Maya Smith. It was released on June 20th, 2019. The novel is set to have a made-for-TV movie adaptation, which is set to release in the fall of 2023.

## Synopsis

From the book's back cover:

"Tyler Allen has the perfect life outside of school. He has loving parents and an older brother, a pet cat, and he’s a great gamer. But inside of school, he hasn’t had much luck. Ever since Tyler switched schools, he hasn’t had a good time making friends, and he’s struggled with bullying every single day from a privileged group nicknamed the 'Clique Queens', who vow to attack those that aren't on their level of advantage. To combat the bullying, which his parents and teachers barely understand, Tyler turns into Ace, a more ideal and 'functional' version of himself. Now he makes friends and gets all the attention he’s yearned for. But the disguise comes with tons of downsides. Everyone thinks Tyler had disappeared, and everyone’s on the lookout for him. Ace has been asked out to the school dance and he's in the school's fall play, and that could expose his secret, and make people lose trust in him! How will Tyler keep his reputation clean while under his secret identity?"

## Main characters

* **Tyler Allen** - The main character of the story. He creates a false identity in order to avoid bullying.
* **Ace Allen** - Tyler's persona, who seems to be more "confident" and "not weird". Ace masks Tyler's real traits and personality.
* **Liberty Cantrell** - The leader of the so-called "Clique Queens", a group that bullies the disadvantaged students at school. At the end of the story, Liberty eventually gets in trouble.
* **Kate Bell** - One of the Clique Queen members. She leaves the group later on in the story, after coming to terms with what she did wrong.
* **Noelle Martin** - One of the Clique Queen members, and the first to leave the group, after getting into a fight with Liberty, over how she forced Noelle into the group. She is generally nice towards Tyler/Ace and his new friends.
* **Jordan Fish** - Tyler's new friend, and eventual boyfriend.
* **Clara Kramer** - A friend to Jordan and Tyler. She loves collecting plushies and writing.
* **Luther Lopez** - A friend to Jordan and Tyler. He likes to draw and he's in his own band.
* **Marlon Brooks** - A friend to Jordan and Tyler. He loves learning about new things and sharing his knowledge with others.

## Reception

Many readers and critics found this to be a good book, and an example of how most people, especially those who are neurodivergent, have to "mask" -- or suppress certain traits, in order to survive and fit in with society. People also applauded the book for its LGBTQ representation for its main and supporting characters.

## Trivia

* Maya Smith had to rewrite her story several times, mostly due to the fact that she felt that Tyler had a victim complex. "I don't want people to feel bad for Tyler throughout the entire story. I want them to be mad at him sometimes, find that sometimes things are Tyler's fault, and recognize his flaws. And there are other victims of the Clique in this story as well, who needed the same amount of support as Tyler. "
* The idea for this story came to Maya when she was 13.
* New copies of the book have a "soon to be a tvpublic film!" sticker on the front cover.
* The book will soon become a free e-book, that will be available to download when the movie releases.