TBR and Beyond Book Tour: Your Plantation Prom Is Not Okay by Kelly McWilliams

Your Plantation Prom Is Not Okay by Kelly McWilliams

Release Date: May 2, 2023

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary

Pages: 320

Synopsis

This sharp-witted, timely novel explores cancel culture, anger, and grief, and challenges the romanticization of America’s racist past with humor and heart—for readers of Dear Martin by Nic Stone and Grown by Tiffany D. Jackson.

Harriet Douglass lives with her historian father on an old plantation in Louisiana, which they’ve transformed into one of the South’s few enslaved people’s museums. Together, while grieving the recent loss of Harriet’s mother, they run tours that help keep the memory of the past alive.

Harriet’s world is turned upside down by the arrival of mother and daughter Claudia and Layla Hartwell—who plan to turn the property next door into a wedding venue, and host the offensively antebellum-themed wedding of two Hollywood stars.

Harriet’s fully prepared to hate Layla Hartwell, but it seems that Layla might not be so bad after all—unlike many people, this California influencer is actually interested in Harriet’s point of view. Harriet’s sure she can change the hearts of Layla and her mother, but she underestimates the scale of the challenge…and when her school announces that prom will be held on the plantation, Harriet’s just about had it with this whole racist timeline! Overwhelmed by grief and anger, it’s fair to say she snaps.

Can Harriet use the power of social media to cancel the celebrity wedding and the plantation prom? Will she accept that she’s falling in love with her childhood best friend, who’s unexpectedly returned after years away? Can she deal with the frustrating reality that Americans seem to live in two completely different countries? And through it all, can she and Layla build a bridge between them?

Content Warning: racism, mentions of slavery, grief from death of a loved one

Review

Coming soon…

Top 5 Reasons to Read Your Plantation Prom Is Not Okay

Harriet is truly a loveable character and you definitely get to experience a wide range of emotions and thought processes behind her eyes.
This book gives you a deeper look into cancel culture. Cancel culture can sometimes be very surface level in it’s meaning, but YPPINO allows us to see the reasons behind this cultural phenomenon.
Kelly McWilliams does a wonderful job at handling the darker topics in this book. Topics such as racism and grief are handled with care.
A well thought out plot about systemic racism and how hard it is to combat this.
The story is fast paced and definitely able to read in one sitting (I couldn’t put it down)!

Meet the Author

Kelly is the mixed-race author of AGNES AT THE END OF THE WORLD (2020), MIRROR GIRLS (2022), and YOUR PLANTATION PROM IS NOT OKAY (2023). AGNES was a finalist for the Golden Kite Award. She’s also written for Time, Publisher’s Weekly, and Bustle, among other outlets. She lives in Seattle with her family.

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