BABY DRAG QUEEN

A determined Vancouver high school senior steps out of his comfort zone to help his mom.

Seventeen-year-old transgender boy Ichiro hates that his mom refuses to quit her job even though her boss is sexually harassing her. Despite her insistence that he focus on school, Ichiro makes a plan to solve their money problems—he’ll purchase a camper van to save on rent. Throwing himself into his job washing dishes at a cafe, Ichiro struggles in classes and misses hanging out with friends, especially cute new girl Lexie, who might lose interest if he doesn’t make a move soon. Just when Ichiro’s goal starts to feel impossible, he learns about a youth drag competition with a huge cash prize. As Ichiro pursues the contest, he grapples with stirring romantic feelings, sharing his identity with his friends, and a fraught relationship with his mother, who doesn’t accept him as her son or recognize that he is trans (this last point may confuse readers given that she calls him Ichiro, traditionally a boy’s name, throughout). Tanaka establishes concrete goals for Ichiro, but the story suffers from unbalanced pacing, highlighted by the title’s emphasis on drag: Drag performance provides a means to an end for Ichiro, but he’s in it for the money and doesn’t start learning routines until over halfway through the book. Nevertheless, this accessible debut for reluctant readers offers an ethnically diverse cast of queer characters navigating identity and emerging adulthood. Ichiro and Lexie are of Chinese and Japanese descent.

Dramatic, optimistic, and emotionally engaging.