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A review by ruthypoo2
You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
This was a good story for a YA audience and did a really nice job of handling heavy topics like racism, classism, and coming out in a gentle way that might be easier to understand for a younger reader or more palatable for someone resistant to engaging in those topics.
The young tone of the book was well done, but I could barely get past the blatant disregard for correct use of personal pronouns. Yeah, I realize how many people don’t understand (or care) whether they should use me or I, but at least have grammatically correct sentences in popular reading material to help them learn. Of course , this is a personal gripe, but it affected my enjoyment of the story because of how frequently I was annoyed by and grumbling to myself about sentences like, “Me and Jim headed over to the cafeteria.”
Although this story is packed full of teen romcom cliches, it was a good story with mostly interesting characters. With that said, the focus was really on the experiences and emotions of the main character, Liz Lighty, and the other characters were not as fully developed, unfortunately. They seemed to be either stereotypical mean kids, goofy kids, misunderstood kids, and the high school relationships were often complicated by misunderstandings. But at the heart of the book were teens, and some adults, who came through for each other in the end and did not share the prejudices of their elders.
In a nutshell, Liz is going through the familiar teen struggles of dealing with the death of a parent, managing her younger brother’s chronic disease, trying to figure out how to pay for her college education, getting past the racial biases in her high school, developing a romantic crush on the cool girl who’s new in the school, and trying to save friendships with both of her best lifelong friends, all while competing for the coveted role of prom queen. Liz is a bright young lady who’s well-liked, but of course when you want to be prom queen, it can become a cutthroat business. But it is a good premise for creating conflicts and resolutions as everyone’s better angels find a way to surface as usually happens in the best teens stories.
I listened to the audiobook and thought the narrator, Alaska Jackson, did an excellent job.
The young tone of the book was well done, but I could barely get past the blatant disregard for correct use of personal pronouns. Yeah, I realize how many people don’t understand (or care) whether they should use me or I, but at least have grammatically correct sentences in popular reading material to help them learn. Of course , this is a personal gripe, but it affected my enjoyment of the story because of how frequently I was annoyed by and grumbling to myself about sentences like, “Me and Jim headed over to the cafeteria.”
Although this story is packed full of teen romcom cliches, it was a good story with mostly interesting characters. With that said, the focus was really on the experiences and emotions of the main character, Liz Lighty, and the other characters were not as fully developed, unfortunately. They seemed to be either stereotypical mean kids, goofy kids, misunderstood kids, and the high school relationships were often complicated by misunderstandings. But at the heart of the book were teens, and some adults, who came through for each other in the end and did not share the prejudices of their elders.
In a nutshell, Liz is going through the familiar teen struggles of dealing with the death of a parent, managing her younger brother’s chronic disease, trying to figure out how to pay for her college education, getting past the racial biases in her high school, developing a romantic crush on the cool girl who’s new in the school, and trying to save friendships with both of her best lifelong friends, all while competing for the coveted role of prom queen. Liz is a bright young lady who’s well-liked, but of course when you want to be prom queen, it can become a cutthroat business. But it is a good premise for creating conflicts and resolutions as everyone’s better angels find a way to surface as usually happens in the best teens stories.
I listened to the audiobook and thought the narrator, Alaska Jackson, did an excellent job.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Outing, Homophobia, and Death of parent
Minor: Bullying, Chronic illness, and Racism