Leah Johnson creëert verhalen die zich verdiepen in de complexiteit van menselijke verbindingen en maatschappelijke kwesties. Haar schrijven wordt erkend om haar openhartige stem en haar vaardigheid om de subtiele nuances van geleefde ervaringen vast te leggen. Johnson wordt gedreven om thema's te verkennen die haar diep raken, met als doel een breed lezerspubliek te bereiken. Haar werk weerspiegelt vaak een toewijding aan diversiteit en inclusie.
12-year-old Ellie and her best friend Abby, live in the small-townof Plainsboro where nothing ever happens. Ellie is an unassumingand unspectacular comic book geek, and she idolises her best-friendAbby who is cool, chic and talented. But when a freak earthquakestrikes the small town, Ellie learns that she has acquired anunimaginable power...
Liz Lighty has always done her best to avoid the spotlight in her small, wealthy, and prom-obsessed midwestern high school, after all, her family is black and rather poor, especially since her mother died; instead she has concentrated on her grades and her musical ability in the hopes that it will win her a scholarship to elite Pennington College and their famous orchestra where she plans to study medicine--but when that scholarship falls through she is forced to turn to her school's scholarship for prom king and queen, which plunges her into the gauntlet of social media which she hates and leads her to discoveries about her own identity and the value of true friendships.
Set over the course of four days at a music festival, the novel features strangers Toni and Olivia, who meet and realise that the music is more than just a way out; it's a way through... if they are brave enough to face it together.