WoW: Your Plantation Prom is Not Okay by Kelly McWilliams

This bookish meme tells the blogosphere what we’re waiting patiently (and sometimes not so patiently) for! It’s hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine!

A timely young-adult novel that reckons with how we remember America’s past…and what we choose to forget
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?

Published by: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Expected Publication: May 2, 2023

Why I’m Waiting: All I needed to see was the title and I knew I needed to read this. I have this argument with people all the time. I had a friend mad at me because I told them I would be in their wedding but I thought it was gross it was on a plantation. And living in the south there’s just so many places like that and it makes me sick. I hope people will read this and understand that this practice is disrespectful and we really need to stop things like this.

What about you? Will you read this? Have you thought about this subject before? Let me know in the comments!