Praise for Drag Teen:
"If there is a hint of Cinderella in this charming story, it’s Cinderella in a well-realized real-world setting with appropriate ups and downs, joys and sorrows." -Booklist, starred review
“explores universal themes of family, friendship, and identity with verve and panache” -School Library Journal
05/01/2016
Gr 8 Up—Seventeen-year-old JT Barnett lives a humdrum existence in Clearwater, FL, working in the family gas station, drifting through school, and dreaming of fabulous days to come. His one attempt at drag led to public humiliation in a school talent show, so he is reluctant when Seth, his wildly attractive, overachieving boyfriend, encourages him to enter the Miss Drag Teen pageant in New York City. The prize of a four-year college scholarship ultimately convinces JT, and after lying to their parents, he, his best friend Heather, and Seth embark on a spring break road trip that leads to fights, honest reckonings, and encounters with a cast of remarkable personalities. With the exception of spiteful Tash, the diverse group of pageant contestants offer JT acceptance and a tantalizing glimpse into a brighter world. This joyous, life-affirming novel moves at a brisk pace, hitting the perfect balance between action and introspection. The sympathetically drawn characters—Heather struggles with fat prejudice, impossibly perfect Seth is hiding a secret, JT is riddled with anxiety and self-doubt—are appealingly authentic. While their world is not entirely free of bigotry, homophobia refreshingly does not define the boys' relationship or lives. The only false note is the resolution of the rivalry between JT and Tash, which feels a bit too pat. Pulling back the curtain on the glamorous world of drag, this novel explores universal themes of family, friendship, and identity with verve and panache. VERDICT A first purchase.—Laura Simeon, Open Window School Library, WA
JT; his boyfriend, Seth; and best friend, Heather, take a road trip from their home in Florida to New York City so that JT can enter a teen drag queen contest to win scholarship funds. The author, who has a well-served YouTube fan base in the gay community, turns out to be an outstanding narrator who turns this teen novel about gaining confidence, trusting your friends, and—literally—putting yourself out there into a delightful and nuanced performance of authentic emotions. He keeps genders and the assorted Southern drawls right as the kids drive farther north, meeting unexpectedly sympathetic adults. The story itself may have overly perfect resolutions; in the listening, however, it’s perfect storytelling. F.M.R.G. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine
JT; his boyfriend, Seth; and best friend, Heather, take a road trip from their home in Florida to New York City so that JT can enter a teen drag queen contest to win scholarship funds. The author, who has a well-served YouTube fan base in the gay community, turns out to be an outstanding narrator who turns this teen novel about gaining confidence, trusting your friends, and—literally—putting yourself out there into a delightful and nuanced performance of authentic emotions. He keeps genders and the assorted Southern drawls right as the kids drive farther north, meeting unexpectedly sympathetic adults. The story itself may have overly perfect resolutions; in the listening, however, it’s perfect storytelling. F.M.R.G. © AudioFile 2016, Portland, Maine
2016-03-02
When the only exit from Floridian monotony is winning a drag contest, beggars can't be losers. Why would 17-year-old JT Barnett want to live in the moment? His moment is a future assessing pesky love handles, pumping gas, dealing with despondent parents, and being left behind by his best friends in Clearwater, Florida. He wants nothing more after graduation than to go to college and become a writer and drag queen, but with grades as lackluster as a gown sans sequins, his prospects are flatter than a broken stiletto. When his too-good-for-him, gorgeous boyfriend and best girlfriend convince him to enter a drag contest in NYC (even though he has only performed once with disastrous results), a road trip to Manhattan—and to learning some self-love—is born. JT has no issue with being gay, so this isn't about the trials of coming out. Instead, it's a learn-to-love-yourself odyssey in which a diversity of secondary and tertiary characters appears only after they've crossed through the Holland Tunnel. On his pilgrimage, self-deprecating JT's conflicts tend to lead easily to solution (a rich benefactress materializes after a flat tire; one makeup lesson results in a skill no seasoned queens question), making his struggles more a series of mended broken nails than catastrophic ripped couture before curtain call. Even frothy fun needs a deep bass line that isn't found here. (Fiction. 12-18)
