Book Review: You Should See Me in a Crown / Leah Johnson

This is one of the Flume nominees for the 2021/22 school year. The Flume award is a New Hampshire award in which teens in our state nominate books, a short list in created from those nominations, then teens vote for their favorite book. We have a display in the library of the nominees (though on August 25th many of the titles have yet to come in.)

I really liked this book a lot. Liz Lighty is black, poor, and awkward, but attends school in a mostly white, privileged community. She lives with her supportive grandparents and brother, her mother died when she was younger. Liz has a clear dream of her future - go to the college where her mother attended on a music scholarship, and study to become a doctor. She has an interest in hematology due to her brothers sickle cell anemia. And then she gets the letter from the school informing her that she didn't get the scholarship. Suddenly her life is thrown into disarray. How can she make her dreams happen without her grandparents selling their house to fund her education (which she knows that they will do if they learn about the missed scholarship and she does NOT want that to happen.)

Her friends rally behind her and they begin to scheme how she can become the Prom Queen which is attached to a $10,000 scholarship. However, this Prom Queen business is all about popularity and is a huge deal in her little town. There are petitions to get through, volunteer work to do, and she is one of those unpopular students on the edge of her school community. Toss into that mix that she has serious (vomit inducing) anxiety and she is learning that she is gay. 

This is a story about growth and learning, determination and grit, shedding one's skin to grow into a new person. 

Find You Should See Me in a Crown on the shelves at South. At Nashua public library you can find this book on the shelf, but also an audio version on Hoopla, and an ebook and audio book through Libby.