You Should See Me in a Crown

by Leah Johnson

[Amber (The Literary Phoenix)]

You Should See Me in a Crown is a perfect YA contemporary book.

The book's so well written and the realism and issues folded together nicely. My critical brain was fully able to step back and just enjoy this book.  And what a great book it was?

Liz Lightly is a music nerd, a Black girl, and likes girls.  In the small town of Campbell, none of the things really endear her to running for Prom Queen, especially not in a town where Prom is a Really Big Deal.  When a scholarship for her dream school doesn't pan out, the $10,000 awarder being voted Prom Queen feels like the only way out.  And Liz is game.  She's a fighter.  It's the Lighty way.

I like Liz or many reasons, but one of these reasons was because she's messy.  Liz Lighty is an underdog in so many ways and she's such a strong person because when the world kicks her down, so gets back up again. Every.  Single.  Time.  Most of this book feels like just a normal semester in Liz's life but as you read further and further, you feel Liz's exhaustion and the burdens she bears every day by just being who she is, let alone trying to get the scholarship.  There are so many brilliant thing Leah Johnson did in You Should See Me in a Crown, one of which was that the fact that Liz would be the first Black Prom Queen in town... but that was never the Point of the story.  Johnson keeps this story about Liz, not about making a statement about changing the world.  Instead, she showed the world from Liz's perspective and helped make the reader aware of the problems.  There are people who are terrible in the universe and people who are trying to do better.

I liked that this story about about Liz, and not about racism, homophobia, or a specific issue.  Issue books are important and have their place, but books about people are important, too.  This is an important book in its own right, but it's important to see the people in stories and not just the issues.  And You Should See Me in a Crown touches on so much!  Liz feels so alive in this book, with so many interests and worries and small joys, and I was really rooting for her the whole time.  And, don't get me wrong - the issues here are important and need to be given their consideration.  But Liz isn't taking on the world here.  She's taking care of her world.

You Should See Me in a Crown is a great story about life and love and friendship and dreams and fear and hope and just... it's genuinely such a good book.  It has a lot to teach its readers, it makes you mad at times but in the ways it aims to.  It's an enjoyable read alongside being an important one.  I totally, completely, 100% recommend it.