Pitching You Should See Me in a Crown

Black queer (p)rom-com

By Katherine Jenkinson

Video: “Friday Reads: Leah Johnson Reads You Should See Me in a Crown.” Leah Johnson, Youtube, 3 April 2020. https/youtu.be/OyFXIeNlQwc?t=10

Want a sneak peek? Watch the video above to hear the author read the beginning of the book's first chapter.

Leah Johnson's You Should See Me in a Crown features Liz Lighty, a high school senior living in small-town Indiana with big plans for college. When she loses the financial aid she had been counting on, she makes the terrifying decision to run for prom queen in a school that takes the competition very seriously. This forces Liz, who is black, queer, anxious, and introverted, to confront racism, classism, homophobia, and her own insecurities more than ever before. Getting to know the new girl, Mack, is getting her through - but Mack is also running against Liz for prom queen. What's more, they are both queer, but Mack is out and confident, while Liz is not, and this becomes a point of contention. Ultimately, Liz triumphs, finding that people love her for who she is.

Quality of representation

In her review of You Should See Me in a Crown for Lunar Station Quarterly, Alexa Wilson Kelly writes: “For somebody who grew up at a time when a lot of LGBT books for teens were either a.) all about the pain of being gay, or b.) all about the pain and drama of coming out, I absolutely cannot get enough of this new wave of LGBT YA. In part because it really emphasizes that being LGBT is normal, good, and way more common than a lot of people think…” (Kelly).

Aaron Aceves at We Need Diverse Books continues this train of thought: “We haven’t had a lot of Black girl-happy-go-lucky rom coms; we haven’t had enough Black girl princesses and Black girl legends and Black girl fantasy. We’re at the beginning of what this is going to become. So we have a real opportunity to diversify the canon.” (Aceves).

This is a story in which a queer black girl is centered, and while those aspects of her identity play a significant role in the story, and the challenges associated with them are present, there is also a focus on joy. Liz ultimately gets to be her whole self. She is a fully three-dimensional character. We see her have both positive and negative experiences outside of those particular struggles, including caring for a sick parent, dealing with loss, and living with an anxiety disorder. Aceves adds, “The anxiety representation in this book is excellent.” (Aceves).

Why it matters

The intersectionality of the book is significant: “Representation matters, and it matters especially for queer people of color in a literary landscape that still, for the LGBT community and at large, looks overwhelmingly white.” (Kelly).

The author is also also a queer black woman who grew up in small-town Indiana. She says,

“I didn’t come out until my adulthood—didn’t even see a future in which being anything other than straight was an option—but I can only imagine what permission could have been granted to me and so many other kids if we’d seen more varied representation on shelves. If books show us what is and can be possible, then we need a wide array of stories to offer readers mirrors. I want the mirrors my books offer to reflect the totality of what complicated, beautiful, incredible, messy lives of possibility every kid deserves.” (qtd. in Oldfield).

An excerpt

"You could make history if you just follow our rules.

You could be a real credit to your people if you just straighten up and fly right.

You could actually be worth something if you would shut up and take what we give you.

And I know then what I’ve always known: Campbell is never going to make a space for me to fit. I’m going to have to demand it." (Johnson, qtd. in Kelly).

Awards and distinctions

2021 Stonewall Honor Book
2021 Lambda Literary Award for LGBTQ Young Adult Literature nominee
2021 ALA Rainbow List Top Ten Selection
2020 Junior Library Guild Selection
June 2020 The Bronx is Reading Book Club Selection
June 2020 Well-Read Black Girl Book Club Selection
Named a best book of the year by Cosmopolitan, Publisher’s Weekly, Marie Claire, Parents.com, Amazon, and New York Public Library
("Books")

Praise

"Readers will fall in love with this refreshing book that celebrates the beauty of individuality."
-School Library Journal

"Johnson puts a fresh spin on this novel with an unlikely romance, heartwarming friendships, and the tension of being Black, poor, and queer in a small town. A feel-good title for sure."-Booklist

"You Should See Me in a Crown is a powerful, absolutely relatable story I wish I would’ve had in high school. It tells Black, queer girls that society won’t make space for us to fit—but reminds us that we have the power to do it ourselves." -Camryn Garrett, author of Full Disclosure
(You Should See Me in a Crown - Scholastic).

Sources

Aceves, Aaron H. “Q&A With Leah Johnson, You Should See Me in a Crown.” We Need Diverse Books, 5 June 2020, https://diversebooks.org/qa-with-leah-johnson-you-should-see-me-in-a-crown/.

“Books.” Leah Johnson, 2021, https://www.byleahjohnson.com/books.

Johnson, Leah. You Should See Me in a Crown. Push, an Imprint of Scholastic Inc., 2021.

“You Should See Me in a Crown.” You Should See Me in a Crown | Scholastic Canada, 2021, https://www.scholastic.ca/books/view/you-should-see-me-in-a-crown.

Kelly, Alexa Wilson. “Review: You Should See Me in a Crown, Leah Johnson.” Luna Station Quarterly, 3 July 2020, https://lunastationquarterly.com/review-you-should-see-me-in-a-crown-leah-johnson/.

Oldfield, Kate. “Leah Johnson on Rom-COMS, Black Queer Representation and You Should See Me in a Crown.” United By Pop, 10 Aug. 2020, https://www.unitedbypop.com/young-adult-books/leah-johnson-on-rom-coms-black-queer-representation-and-you-should-see-me-in-a-crown/.