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A review by bottomofthebookshelf
You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson
4.0
“My Lizzie, my little star. I never want to tell you not to burn as fast and as bright as you can.”
This made my heart happy ♥️. This book follows our anxious bisexual black MC Liz Lighty as she runs for prom queen in a predominantly white high school in order to get into college. Along the way she meets a girl named Mack, who’s also running for prom queen and who’s not afraid to be her true self or to stand up for what’s right. Feelings start to grow and what unfolds in certainly swoonworthy.
I’m going to ignore the romance for a second and talk about some important topics this book includes! First of all, I appreciate the commentary being made about black people only being seen as valuable if they’re entertaining or fit in. For example, Liz’s old friend Jordan and his family are seen as valuable mainly because the dad played professional football and they’re rich. I also appreciated some tougher topics being discussed in this book, such as grief, mental health, racism, white privilege, systemic oppression, and internalized racism. There was also some important points being made about homophobia in schools, and how having a prom king and queen is problematic and outdated.
Now let’s talk about characters! First of all, I loved Liz as an MC and just wanted the best for her. I also loved the budding relationship between her and Mack and thought they were super cute together. But most of all I loved the relationship between Liz and her little brother Robbie. They just really cared about each other and I loved every scene they had together. Now Gabi... she’s the main reason this wasn’t a 5 star read for me. She was a bad friend, a bad ally, and I personally don’t think she deserved the ending she got. Having a bad home life doesn’t excuse being a horrible friend for years.
Overall, I really loved this book! It was a wonderful story about owning who you are and standing up for what’s right. This was the type of book I needed in high school and I’m so happy teenagers have access to inclusive stories like this nowadays. If you’re looking for a cute sapphic YA book, I definitely recommend this one!
TW: Racism, homophobia, outing
This made my heart happy ♥️. This book follows our anxious bisexual black MC Liz Lighty as she runs for prom queen in a predominantly white high school in order to get into college. Along the way she meets a girl named Mack, who’s also running for prom queen and who’s not afraid to be her true self or to stand up for what’s right. Feelings start to grow and what unfolds in certainly swoonworthy.
I’m going to ignore the romance for a second and talk about some important topics this book includes! First of all, I appreciate the commentary being made about black people only being seen as valuable if they’re entertaining or fit in. For example, Liz’s old friend Jordan and his family are seen as valuable mainly because the dad played professional football and they’re rich. I also appreciated some tougher topics being discussed in this book, such as grief, mental health, racism, white privilege, systemic oppression, and internalized racism. There was also some important points being made about homophobia in schools, and how having a prom king and queen is problematic and outdated.
Now let’s talk about characters! First of all, I loved Liz as an MC and just wanted the best for her. I also loved the budding relationship between her and Mack and thought they were super cute together. But most of all I loved the relationship between Liz and her little brother Robbie. They just really cared about each other and I loved every scene they had together. Now Gabi... she’s the main reason this wasn’t a 5 star read for me. She was a bad friend, a bad ally, and I personally don’t think she deserved the ending she got. Having a bad home life doesn’t excuse being a horrible friend for years.
Overall, I really loved this book! It was a wonderful story about owning who you are and standing up for what’s right. This was the type of book I needed in high school and I’m so happy teenagers have access to inclusive stories like this nowadays. If you’re looking for a cute sapphic YA book, I definitely recommend this one!
TW: Racism, homophobia, outing