leah johnson you should see me in a crown

If this book is going to be about a girl who has to run for prom queen to win a scholarship, which was the premise from the moment I sat down to write the book, we had to know the stakes. From the beginning we knew the inciting incident had to happen in the first chapter. The first draft of Crown was not streamlined the way this version : There was a lot of detouring into backstory and more conversation that move the story. I sit down and let the story tell me what it wants to be. Did you know from the beginning how you wanted the book to end?

One of the things that stood out most to me was that this book has such a clear arc. Johnson and I discussed the origins of Crown, the pressure of representation and #OwnVoices, and writing mean girls that aren’t the antagonists of yore. It’s a book full of love-platonic, romantic, and familial-and it’s a book for those of us who have found comfort hiding in the shadows but have yearned to break free and find somewhere where we can be more honest and whole. Crown is, at its core, a book that offers hope.

Now, she will have to do the opposite, and fight her various school nemeses for a chance to be in the spotlight-a chance at the prize that’ll offer her freedom and hope. She’s made it her mission to be invisible. Lighty is horrified by the idea.Įver since her childhood best friend, Jordan, joined in while a group of boys mocked her hair for being too big and too curly, she’s learned to slip under the radar, slicking her hair into a low ponytail and never wearing anything too bright or noticeable.

But her brother has an idea: Lighty can enter their high school’s massive prom competition, which comes with a large cash prize and find a new way to pursue her goals at her dream school. When she doesn’t get the scholarship, she’s crushed and feels like her entire plan comes crashing down. Liz Lighty, a Black girl in her senior year of high school, has a plan: She’s going to land a music scholarship to her dream school, she’s going to become a doctor and study the disease that took her mother, and she’s going to make her younger brother and grandparents proud. In a debut as warm and welcoming to young, queer readers as it is open and truthful about what it means to be queer and Black in a small town, Leah Johnson’s You Should See Me in a Crown is the high school prom story that readers deserve. Leah Johnson, author of You Should See Me in a Crown ( Photo credit: Reece T.

Leah johnson you should see me in a crown