It's Our Prom (So Deal with It)--"Event planning is one gigantic pain in the butt"

Title: It's Our Prom (So Deal with It)

Author: Julie Anne Peters


What it’s about (in 75 words or fewer): Azure is asked to be on the prom committee to help make it an event that will appeal to all students.  Azure invites her best friends, Luke and Ridhaka (whom both Azure and Luke secretly have crushes on), to help plan.  Luke is busy is directing and starring in a musical he wrote, and Ridhaka is feeling pressured by her parents' high expectations.  Azure quickly becomes overwhelmed with the logistics of planning a prom.

What I think (in 250 words or fewer): I enjoyed this book!  I have been really overwhelmed lately with books filled with violence, poverty, racism, and serious bullying.  It's Our Prom had a small, realistic amount of homophobia, but otherwise, nothing too stressful.

I liked Azure's character.  She goes into the prom planning thinking that she will be able to plan it relatively easily and without help from the preppy, elitist jocks, but Azure quickly realizes that event planning is one gigantic pain in the butt, a lesson I have totally learned more than once.

Luke's musical is about his life, similar to Tiny from Will Grayson.  Luke is living alone with his older brother Owen, who seems at first to be a huge homophobic jerk, but then shows that he is more than a one-dimensional homophobe by the end of the book.

Radhika's character is a bit more mysterious, and I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop with her, but it turns out to be, well, really no big deal.  She works out her problems with her parents off-page.

I liked how when Azure and Luke both realize they like Radhika, no one becomes overly dramatic.  They both just say why didn't you tell me? and move on.

There's a bit of we'll never be able to pull this off! and some minor drama with students and faculty, and the ending is happy but not in an unrealistic, makes-you-wanna-barf way.


This book is on the 2013 Rainbow Book List.


My final takeaway (in 75 words or fewer):  It's Our Prom is an easy read with the kind of problems I remember facing when I planned events for our Thespian troupe (the amount I stressed about those seems silly now, but at the time, they were SUCH a huge deal).  If you are looking for suspense and high drama, you would not find it in this book, but if you want a relaxing read, this book is for you.

Memorable quotes/passages from the book:

• "'It's elitist,' I edge forward in my chair, 'It's so expensive only the richie rich can afford it, then the populars are the only people who go, so they can be seen.  You have to take a date or you're labeled a loser'" (hardback version, pg. 4).
• "Pastor Thomas is floating down the winding stairs in his long white robe as I enter through the Hall of Fellowship.  He used to be Pastor Ruth, until he transitioned.  He's always been a really spiritual person, sort of what I imagine angels to be" (pg. 107).
• "Radhika's cupcakes resemble actual cupcakes.  The first one I draw looks like a boob on steroids" (pg. 177).
• "Whatever my affirmation for today was, I'm rewriting it to read:  'Once you get past the dark side of a person, you might just find the light" (pg. 233).

Other reviews:  Kirkus Reviews and Publisher's Weekly


Another book by Julie Anne Peters is She Loves You, She Loves You Not

This book is available in the Greensboro Public Library.