You Should See Me in a Crown

Starred review from May 11, 2020
Debut author Johnson easily channels the self-effacing coolness of 1990s teen comedies with a 2020 sensibility in this heartfelt and laugh-out-loud funny YA rom-com. Indiana high school senior Liz Lighty has two goals: attend prestigious Pennington College like her late mother, and become a doctor to study the disease that ended her mother’s life. When the music scholarship she’s counting on falls through, Liz’s brother persuades her to do the unthinkable as one of the only black girls at wealthy, majority-white, and sometimes racist Campbell County High—run for prom queen and win the $10,000 scholarship that accompanies the prom-obsessed town’s crown. An offbeat new girl’s arrival throws Liz’s carefully drawn plans for victory out the window: talented drummer Mack McCarthy is beautiful, and she’s running for prom queen as a legacy. With wit and grounded optimism, Liz answers the book’s burning fundamental question: can a poor, black, queer girl be prom queen? In Johnson’s emotionally resonant storytelling, the pragmatic, hopeful, awkward Liz Lighty comes alive, complete with fear, regrets, hopes, and dreams. So too do her cheer squad of devoted friends and the impressively drawn setting of Campbell High School. Ages 12–up. Agent: Sarah Landis, Sterling Lord Literistic.

Listeners will definitely want to cast their vote for Liz Lighty in this debut audiobook for teens. Narrator Alaska Jackson's relaxed, natural-sounding delivery makes Liz instantly relatable. She might not seem like prom queen material at her wealthy Indiana high school, but Liz is determined to win the crown because it comes with a scholarship that will ensure she can attend the college music program of her dreams. She's also dealing with changing friendships, her little brother's sickle cell disease, and the fact that she just might be falling for the new girl at school. Jackson doesn't always differentiate between characters, which can make conversations hard to follow, or match her narration to cues in the text. But the story, like Liz, is a winner. Hollywood, make this the next teen movie classic. J.M.D. � AudioFile 2020, Portland, Maine