You Should See Me In A Crown by Leah Johnson

I read this on a travel day recently, and it is a good airport read, where you can't always get a moment of quiet amidst the near constant drone of fellow passengers and overhead announcements. I found the book through Reese Witherspoon's recommended YA books, and since I am in training for having a granddaughter who will likely read in this genre soon, I am beefing up my reading in this area (I read a lot as a tween and teen, but never in this particular niche, so have some catching up to do). In this book, high schooler Liz has to come up with a new plan after losing her hoped-for college scholarship. She is living with her grandmother after her mother died far too young, and money is very tight. Her brother reminds her that the school Prom Queen is awarded a scholarship, too. Liz is hesitant because as a poor, black girl, she wasn't born in the classic mold for this. Prom Queens are generally everything Liz isn’t, which she is well aware of but she is desperate and decides to give it a go. Her dream is to get her undergraduate degree at Pennington (the school her mom went to) and then move on to medical school so she can develop a cure for sickle cell anemia—the disease that killed her mom and that her little brother Robbie inherited. And she can only do that if she secures the funds to go to Pennington. During her run for queen, Liz has a few advantages. She’s the top of her class, which accounts for a small portion of who will end up on prom court, and she has friends who are ready to strategize, campaign and completely redesign Liz’s public image. But as a shy, relatively unknown student, Liz must put herself into situations that require her to be outgoing, friendly and happy. She’ll have to battle her anxiety and make herself known when all she wants to do is sink back into non-existent bliss. Throughout the process, she makes new friends, rediscovers old ones and even loses a few. She also manages to find love in Mack, a new girl at their school also running for queen, and does a slow rolling coming out, culminating with going to the prom with her new found partner. It is a bit cliché and a bit predictable, but that is the genre in a nutshell, and I enjoyed it.