Middle School's a Drag, You Better Werk!

November 15, 2019
When your (current) dream is to manage the stars, as RuPaul might say, you'd better werk! Middle schooler Michael Pruitt, 12, white, and gay, wants to be an entrepreneur to impress his paternal grandfather, Pap. Sure, Michael doesn't really know what he wants to do, but he does know that a good businessperson should always be ready to embrace the next surefire scheme--a strategy that leads Michael to become the agent for Coco Caliente, Mistress of Madness and Mayhem, or, as she's known around school, Julian Vasquez. While managing Julian/Coco, Michael picks up a handful of other acts, hoping that one wins the end-of-the-year school talent show and a $100 prize. It's an entertaining-enough setup, but the talented secondary characters come across as much more interesting and likable than wheeler-dealer Michael. He is written as an unusual mix of savvy and naïve and has a distinctly odd understanding of contemporaneous culture, casually name-checking the online Yellow Pages, the PennySaver, and the JCPenney catalog but clueless about RuPaul. The plot driver--his desire to make his already-proud grandfather...er...proud--diminishes next to the quickly referenced and also quickly resolved family issues of Julian and the family addiction problems of friend and crush Colton (also white). In addition to Latinx Julian, prominent diverse characters include Michael's two best friends, an Indian American boy and a black boy. Drag queens and their many fabulous readers deserve better. (Fiction. 9-12)

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February 1, 2020

Gr 4-6-Inspired by his grandfather's many successful business ventures, Mikey has started Anything, Inc., a company that allows him to follow his dreams. His business takes off when he becomes a talent agent for several of his classmates, including Julian, a boy who performs drag as Coco Caliente, Mistress of Madness and Mayhem. Mikey schemes to assist Coco and his other clients in entering the school's talent show in the hopes of sharing a piece of the 100 dollar prize. Along the way, Mikey must navigate school bullies and disapproving parents to learn what it really means to be yourself. With an easy, conversational writing style filled with the mishaps and shenanigans of middle school, this story will be accessible to a wide range of readers. Coco's performance at the talent show is a fairly significant plot point; however, the focus is on Mikey and his desire to please his grandfather while also learning how to be himself at school. Readers will identify with Mikey as he deals with his annoying little sister, navigates the school cafeteria, and learns to feel compassion for his bullies. This is a heartwarming story perfect for fans of Tim Federle's Better Nate Than Ever and Jordan Sonnenblick's Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie. VERDICT While the topic of drag performance has been covered in young adult books, fewer novels have discussed kids who perform drag and in a way that is accessible to a younger audience. A solid purchase for most public and school libraries.-Jenni Frencham, Indiana University, Bloomington

Copyright 2020 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 1, 2019
Grades 4-7 Twelve-year-old Michael Pruitt?Mikey to his friends?believes he is quite an entrepreneur. Trying his best to take after his grandfather, Pap, Mikey finds himself suddenly thrust into the role of talent agent for a 13-year-old drag queen (Coco Caliente), a girl and her three-legged dog, an aspiring comedian, and a superhero impersonator. But Mikey is also dealing with the usual middle-school obstacles: bullying, self-discovery and self-doubt, coming out to friends, and trying not to strangle his nine-year-old sister. Mikey's privilege (white, cisgender, middle class) allows him to get away with a lot throughout the narrative, and unfortunately, it is not always dealt with in a constructive manner (he uses the term lame often, with no pushback, for instance); likewise, other characters engage in fat-shaming at times, with no real repercussions. In the end, however, Howard (The Whispers, 2019) pulls together a funny, fabulous, and ultimately life-affirming story that will uplift and entertain young readers from many different backgrounds. So, should you check this one out? Mikey says, yas queen!(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)