The Voting Booth
Brandy Colbert
Disney-Hyperion
Published July 7, 2020

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About the Voting Booth

Marva Sheridan was born ready for this day. She’s always been driven to make a difference in the world, and what better way than to vote in her first election?

Duke Crenshaw is so done with this election. He just wants to get voting over with so he can prepare for his band’s first paying gig tonight.
Only problem? Duke can’t vote.

When Marva sees Duke turned away from their polling place, she takes it upon herself to make sure his vote is counted. She hasn’t spent months doorbelling and registering voters just to see someone denied their right. And that’s how their whirlwind day begins, rushing from precinct to precinct, cutting school, waiting in endless lines, turned away time and again, trying to do one simple thing: vote.

They may have started out as strangers, but as Duke and Marva team up to beat a rigged system (and find Marva’s missing cat), it’s clear that there’s more to their connection than a shared mission for democracy.

Romantic and triumphant, THE VOTING BOOTH is proof that you can’t sit around waiting for the world to change, but some things are just meant to be.

My Review

This is one of the books I bought during the drive to support Black authors last month. (The other was A Song Below Water by Bethany C. Morrow.) I ended up being completely surprised by a box from Let’s Talk YA/Disney-Hyperion a week or two later with some incredibly cool promo items for the book release. The key thing here, is that it leaves me with TWO copies of the book! So I’m giving one copy away, yay!

I really loved LITTLE & LION, another book by the same author, so I felt pretty confident that the characters would really pull me into this story, and I was not wrong! Though the theme is very political, it’s also a winning romance about two teens struggling with heartbreaking things.

Duke is still wrestling with his older brother’s death, and his fears about not living up to his big brother’s expectations. Marva is faced with a heartbreaking disappointment as her first love lets her down in a way that makes her question everything about their relationship.

While the story focuses on voting, it’s largely not partisan. What I mean is, there’s no overt demonizing of any specific party, but more a focus on how certain practices, such as closing polling locations or purging voter rolls effects real people as they try to vote on election day.

The amount of profanity in the story may cause problems getting a book like this into classrooms, but I think the idea of the story, its themes and its ability to give readers a view into the experience of young Black voters, makes it a really important book. This is one that needs to be read.

THE VOTING BOOTH is a sweet romance with a side of social activism perfect for readers who loved Liz Lawson’s THE LUCKY ONES or THE LIFE AND (MEDIEVAL) TIMES OF KIT SWEETLY by Jamie Pacton.

The Voting Booth Book Box from Let’s Talk YA

Here’s a picture of all the things in the box I received from Let’s Talk YA/Disney Hyperion. (Don’t forget to read on past the content notes below for a chance to win a copy of THE VOTING BOOTH!)

Content Notes

Recommended for Ages 14 up.

Representation
Marva is Black. Duke is Black biracial.

Profanity/Crude Language Content
Extreme profanity used a few times each chapter on average.

Romance/Sexual Content
Kissing between boy and girl. A boy uses a crude word to accuse a girl of having had sex with someone.

Spiritual Content
One polling location is at a church. Someone swears, and another person responds by asking them not to as they’re in a house of God. There are a couple random comments referencing “the gods”, more of an expression than a declaration of faith.

Violent Content
References to Duke’s brother, who was killed. Marva and Duke also discuss having family members sit them down to explain what to do if they’re ever pulled over by police.

Drug Content
In one scene, Duke drinks vodka at a party and ends up saying something he deeply regrets.

Note: I received a free copy of THE VOTING BOOTH in exchange for my honest review. (I also purchased a copy myself.) This post contains affiliate links, which do not cost you anything to use, but which help support the costs of running this blog.

Giveaway for The Voting Booth by Brandy Colbert

One winner will receive a FREE hardback copy of The Voting Booth by Brandy Colbert. Hooray! (US only.)

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