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A review by bookphile
You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson
5.0
I listened to this book on audio.
CW: anxiety in a character, black female character faces racist situations and micro-aggressions (both challenged on page), chronic illness - sickle-cell anemia, hospitalization, death of a parent (off-page), homophobia (challenged on page), outing of a gay character (challenged on page).
You Should See Me in a Crown is a feel good high school story about Liz Lighty. When she doesn't get as much financial aid for the college she wants to attend, she decides to enter the prom Queen competition which awards a scholarship to the winners. However, being from a small Southern town, there are certain ... unspoken perquisites that Lizzie - a black, gay, and poor girl - doesn't exactly meet. But she's about to learn that while some people's thinking is still stuck in ages past, today's kids are mostly alright.
The kids are most definitely all right. It felt so good to root for Liz, not just for her to win Prom Queen, but also to win at love and at friendship. Liz was a fantastic character. Even suffering from pretty severe anxiety she faces problems head-on, and while she doesn't always win, she always gets up again to defeat her problems, sometimes on her own, and sometimes with the support of her family and friends. I loved how supportive Liz's friends were, how defensive they were in situations were she faces discrimination based on both her race and sexuality.
I truly do not envy kids these days. It was hard enough to be in high school without technology, I cannot imagine constantly having to be anxious about someone making a meme out of me or capturing a moment of shame or stupidity on video and posting it on a social media app. I seriously cannot imagine the pressure to perform and to maintain a certain image.
Overall, this was a great coming of age story, in which a young black female character faces off against age old prejudices, doesn't let the haters stop her, and the mean girl win.
Definitely recommend either reading it or listening to the audiobook.
CW: anxiety in a character, black female character faces racist situations and micro-aggressions (both challenged on page), chronic illness - sickle-cell anemia, hospitalization, death of a parent (off-page), homophobia (challenged on page), outing of a gay character (challenged on page).
You Should See Me in a Crown is a feel good high school story about Liz Lighty. When she doesn't get as much financial aid for the college she wants to attend, she decides to enter the prom Queen competition which awards a scholarship to the winners. However, being from a small Southern town, there are certain ... unspoken perquisites that Lizzie - a black, gay, and poor girl - doesn't exactly meet. But she's about to learn that while some people's thinking is still stuck in ages past, today's kids are mostly alright.
The kids are most definitely all right. It felt so good to root for Liz, not just for her to win Prom Queen, but also to win at love and at friendship. Liz was a fantastic character. Even suffering from pretty severe anxiety she faces problems head-on, and while she doesn't always win, she always gets up again to defeat her problems, sometimes on her own, and sometimes with the support of her family and friends. I loved how supportive Liz's friends were, how defensive they were in situations were she faces discrimination based on both her race and sexuality.
I truly do not envy kids these days. It was hard enough to be in high school without technology, I cannot imagine constantly having to be anxious about someone making a meme out of me or capturing a moment of shame or stupidity on video and posting it on a social media app. I seriously cannot imagine the pressure to perform and to maintain a certain image.
Overall, this was a great coming of age story, in which a young black female character faces off against age old prejudices, doesn't let the haters stop her, and the mean girl win.
Definitely recommend either reading it or listening to the audiobook.