You Should See Me in a Crown

The popularity of the American High School prom never seems to grow old in popular culture but You Should See Me in a Crown doesn't just stand out from the rest - it's in a completely different league, smashing apart all of the stereotypes.

Liz Lighty dreams of attending an elite university, playing in their world-famous orchestra and becoming a doctor. When her application for financial aid is refused her only hope seems to be to win the scholarship money that goes along with the Prom Queen crown. But Liz knows she's about as far from prom queen material as it's possible to be - poor, socially awkward, high level anxious, not one of the in-crowd, black and maybe just starting to come to terms with her queerness. Despite her self-doubt, her intense fear of the spotlight, the cattiness of her competition and the risk of social media trolling, Liz remains determined to do whatever it takes to get to college. The arrival of new girl in school, Mack, makes life much more bearable, but also infinitely more complicated because Mack is in the running for Prom Queen too...

Essentially a feel-good love story, You Should See Me In A Crown is SO much more. Huge themes of racism, homophobia, mental health, chronic illness, classism, poverty and shocking social and institutional prejudice inspire, inform and drive the storyline but never overwhelm it. It's a story about finding your voice, being true to yourself and making change happen.

As a character, Liz leaps off the page: flawed, smart, driven, hard-working, intelligent, passionate, thoughtful. Her situation is messy - just like real-life - but she knows that she's got to come out of her comfort zone to get the future she has every right to and to make the world a better place for others too. You'll be rooting for her from the start and cheering for her at the end. She's impossible to forget.

The cast of supporting characters too are equally real, from the feisty, funny, fearless Mack to the loyal and generous Jordan who will win your heart as he builds up his friends and proves that girls and boys can be just friends after all.

Completely relatable, absolutely inclusive and emotionally involving, You Should See Me in a Crown is a must-read. It's an empowering and optimistic story for anyone who feels as though they don't fit in and will appeal to the resistant Gossip Girl-watching teens as much as the avid readers. It's hard to believe this is a debut novel, there's an energy and authenticity in the writing which keeps the pages turning and a few real cliff-hanger moments too.

The book acquired astonishingly timely relevance on publication, coinciding as it did with the Black Lives Matter movement and with coronavirus, making those all-important glitzy promposals sadly redundant. It's ultimately a feelgood novel we all need to read in 2020 - and it would make a blockbuster Netflix movie.
Leah Johnson is a shiny new own voices author we need to hear much more from in the future. It's impossible to praise her talents highly enough.

A discussion guide to the issues and creative activity ideas are available to download free here https://shop.scholastic.co.uk/resources/442184

With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo stars another funny, smart girl character, who takes some tough decisions but remains absolutely determined to follow her dreams despite the setbacks. Cinderella is Dead by Kalynn Bayron breaks the same stereotypes as You Should See Me in a Crown but frames them in a clever twist on the original fairy tale. The concerns and complications of American high school life also form the focus of Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli. Another powerful novel about finding out who you are and making your voice heard is Black Flamingo by Dean Atta.

336 pages / Reviewed by Eileen Armstrong, school librarian

Suggested Reading Age 11+