What If It's Us

What If It’s Us is a 2019 young adult coming-of-age novel by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera. It is set in New York and centers on the chance encounter between Arthur and Ben. Both authors’ debut novels came out in the same week, and their interactions led to the creation of this novel. Albertalli’s novel Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda (2015) was adapted into the film Love, Simon and won the William C. Morris Award from the American Library Association. She has also written six other novels, including three in the “Simonverse.” Silvera is most known for They Both Die at the End (2017) and its prequel, The First to Die at the End (2022). They Both Die at the End was a New York Times bestseller and received starred reviews from Booklist, Publishers Weekly, and Kirkus Reviews. In 2021, it also received the Flicker Tale Children’s Book Award for Older Readers. What If It’s Us has a sequel, titled Here’s To Us, written in 2021.

This guide refers to the first edition published by HarperTeen, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers, in 2018.

Content Warning: The source material features depictions of threats levied against gay teenagers.