![]() For this and about a million other reasons, Leah Johnson’s debut novel You Should See Me in a Crown -featuring a queer Black protagonist campaigning to be her high school’s prom queen-is both a breath of fresh air and an absolute delight. ![]() 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. When I think back to when I was a teenager reading YA, and how much I scoffed at those “cliché high school stories,” I can’t help but wonder if what I really disliked about them was that nothing about them felt relatable. In part because it really emphasizes that being LGBT is normal, good, and way more common than a lot of people think and in part because, dammit, these books are fun. ![]() In recent years, I’ve seen a completely amazing trend take root in YA literature: what I like to call “zany high school hijinks but make them gay.” 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. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |