Reviewed by Lucy Sieczka
Review Source: Teaching for Change
Book Author: Kelly McWilliams
Your Plantation Prom Is Not Okay by Kelly McWilliams follows the story of 17-year-old Harriet Douglass on her mission to stop a neighboring plantation from becoming an event venue. Harriet has lived on the Westwood Plantation for about a decade as her parents restored the grounds, making it into an enslaved people’s museum. Westwood is different from many plantations-turned-museums: tourists are guided through the grounds and the focus is primarily on the people who were enslaved there, not their owners or the opulent homes they lived in.
We learn early on in the book that Harriet’s mother has recently died after battling cancer. Harriet has been angry since her mother’s death and her father has been suffering from deep grief. As the story unfolds, we begin to understand her father as both the historical pun t-shirt wearing, nerdy dad, as well as the man grieving the loss of his wife and his daughter’s mother. We also get to know the character Harriet refers to as her “rage monster.” We see the rage monster develop and then be dissected by Harriet’s therapist, Dr. Maple, who gives her tools to keep the rage monster at bay. This rage monster shows up and causes lots of trouble for Harriet, but also encourages her mission to stop Belle Grove, Westood’s nextdoor “neighbor,” from becoming a wedding venue for Hollywood’s famous “it” couple.
When they moved to New Orleans to create this museum, Harriet’s parents enrolled her in a top-rated school, a private Catholic school where she is one of only two Black girls in her grade. Not only does Harriet have to deal with the veiled (and not-so veiled) racism in her job as a tour guide at the museum and in her school, her best friend, the other Black girl in her grade, is studying abroad this school year. So when she finds out Belle Grove’s new owner has a daughter named Layla who is her same age, Harriet discounts her as another rich, white, racist girl in her school. Harriet and Layla’s relationship is tumultuous and captures the well-known frenemy troupe of young adult experiences. Another relationship that forms over the second half of the book is between Harriet and her childhood friend, Dawn. After Dawn returns to New Orleans, their relationship changes from childhood friendship to teenage romance.
Throughout this book, Harriet faces situations all high schoolers encounter, like friend drama and crushes, yet she also grapples with grief and racism in ways no child should have to, but many do. Harriet’s narration throughout the book gives insight into the truth of slavery. She also shares the danger in erasing those realities from a public understanding of history as Belle Grove, and most other plantations, have been doing for decades. Read this article by Kelly McWilliams for more information about how events, especially weddings, held at plantations are still common and why that is problematic. The book makes no concessions in its discussion of these topics, which although challenging, the story remains engaging and highly relatable. The writing style feels as if you have jumped into a teenager’s mind, albeit a very smart, therapy-attending teenager’s mind, making it a perfect YA read.
Lucy Sieczka is an intern with Teaching for Change for Summer 2023. She is a rising senior at the University of Arizona studying Public Management and Policy.
Your Plantation Prom Is Not Okay by Kelly McWilliams
on May 2, 2023
Genres: Young Adult
Pages: 320
Reading Level: High School
ISBN: 9780316450133
Review Source: Teaching for Change
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?
Leave a Reply