You Should See Me In A Crown – Leah Johnson

100-Word (or Less) Synopsis: When the music scholarship to her dream university falls through, Liz Lighty turns to Campbell High School’s storied prom competition to secure the funds. Balancing the social and philanthropic commitments of the prom and her personal life is difficult enough, so the arrival of a new student adds even more complexity to her perfect plan.  

Expectation: A YA wish-fulfillment fantasy featuring a BIPOC queer lead.

Reality: A funny, heartfelt and quickly paced story that reminded me of the best late-90s teen comedies.

Recommended For: Fans of YA coming-of-age stories.

Why I Read It: The Indianapolis-area setting all but sealed the deal.

My Take:

“You Should See in a Crown,” Leah Johnson’s charming and fast-paced debut novel, is a time capsule for today’s teens, much in the way late-90s films like “She’s All That,” “Can’t Hardly Wait” and “10 Things I Hate About You” were for me.

I thought of those films often while listening — each its own sort of fairytale about the outsider breaking through — and “Crown” follows a similar trajectory.

Whereas the films of my generation were about mostly white teens finding love, Johnson gives us a BIPOC heroine navigating the social challenges of being one of the only minority students at her central Indiana high school while taking on its most honored traditions — prom.

Johnson — a born and raised Hoosier, like me — takes on issues like casual racism, microaggressions and income disparity through Liz’s experiences competing for prom queen and the college scholarship that comes with it, but overall, this is a mostly breezy read.

As an adult, reading a story where prom plays such an important role in the plot requires some reality suspending. We know prom is a minor blip on the radar of life and things like “promposals” and school-specific social networks seem ridiculous.

Thankfully, Johnson knows the novelty of the story will reach an audience beyond teens, and she gives us adults a few knowing winks to let us know she understands just how crazy it all is.

Growing up a closeted gay kid in small town Indiana, there weren’t many characters I could relate to as most queer-themed stories were in New York or Los Angeles. While I couldn’t relate to every experience of Liz’s, I did feel seen in how she approached her coming out and feelings for Mack, the new girl with a rock star cousin and devil-may-care attitude.  

While many of the usual young adult tropes are here — teens educating adults on the world, queen bee sabotage, jock with a heart of gold, over-enthusiastic teacher, Type A best friend, family drama, etc. — Johnson doesn’t belabor these “requirements” of the genre, and instead inserts a fair amount of real-world wit on Liz and Mack and their burgeoning relationship.

The audiobook is narrated by Alaska Jackson, who does a great job of giving Liz her voice, but the rest the characters fell a little flat. Given the quickness of the plot, an audio or traditional format would both work well.

Tonally, this is like the “Love, Simon” film, and it will make you feel warm and fuzzy at the end, too — even with all its predictability. Simply put, I was charmed by this smaller-town set story of living out loud.

As I’ve shared before, the young adult genre is not a go-to for me, but with “Crown,” “Flamer” and “The House in the Cerulean Sea,” we are in an era where diverse authors are bucking the usual trends and presenting us with simple, heartfelt and relatable stories that bring comfort to all ages.

Rating (story): 4/5 stars

Rating (narration): 3/5

Formats: Audiobook (library loan)

Dates read: June 14 - 18, 2021

Multi-tasking: Good to go. I mostly exercised (biking, walking) while listening.