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The Archer at Dawn by Swati Teerdhala
Baby Teeth by Zoje Stage
Breaking the Mould by Victoria Hamilton
Cast Iron Alibi by Victoria Hamilton
Cleopatra in Space: Fallen Empires by Mike Maihack
Curse of the Were-wiener by Ursula Vernon
Delicious in Dungeon, Volume 5 by Ryoko Kui
The Do-Over by Jennifer Honeybourn
Drawing Lessons by Patricia Sands
Grand Theft Horse by G. Neri and Corban Wilkin (Illustrations)
Here Comes the Body by Maria DiRico and Devon Sorvari
Hot Dog Girl by Jennifer Dugan
(Im)perfectly Happy by Sharina Harris
To Kill a Mocking Girl by Harper Kincaid
Love & Other Curses by Michael Thomas Ford
My Brigadista Year by Katherine Paterson
Not Like the Movies by Kerry Winfrey
The Pawful Truth by Miranda James
See You On a Starry Night by Lisa Schroeder
Six Cats a Slayin' by Miranda James and Erin Bennett
Starworld by Audrey Coulthurst and Paula Garner
Sun and Moon Have a Tea Party by Yumi Heo
These Witches Don't Burn by Isabel Sterling
The 13 Clocks by James Thurber
This is Edinburgh by Miroslav Sasek
The Total Eclipse of Nestor Lopez by Adrianna Cuevas
Trouble the Saints by Alaya Dawn Johnson
Wonder Woman: Tempest Tossed by Laurie Halse Anderson
Yak and Dove by Kyo Maclear and Esme Shapiro (Illustrations)
You Brought Me the Ocean by Alex Sanchez and Julie Maroh
You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson

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You Should See Me in a Crown: 08/03/20

You Should See Me in a Crown

You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson is set in Campbell, Indiana, a town obsessed with senior prom. Where some towns offer sports scholarships, this one offers them for the king, queen, and court.

Liz Lighty wasn't planning on running for Queen until her financial aid to Pennington College fell through. To keep her grandmother from selling her house to fund her education, Liz is going all out to win the crown.

Liz goes into the contest knowing it's flawed and antiquated. There are homophobic / transphoic rules. No same-sex dates to the prom. Participants must dress/compete as their assigned at birth gender.

In the usual mix of the competitors, there's a new girl. She has ties to the town but is a new comer. They're competing against each other but they're also falling in love. Can they stay in the competition but still be true to each other?

Throughout, I loved Liz's voice. She remains upbeat even when things appear to be against her. That's not say she's always polite or always perfect. She's sarcastic in an intelligent, geeky way.

Although this novel is set during the last weeks of the school year, the set up and the basic vibe, reminds me of If It Makes You Happy by Claire Kann (2019).

Leah Johnson's next novel is Rise to the Sun (2021).

Five stars

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