Confessions of a Teenage Drag King

Volume XXVII / Issue 21 - February 5 / 2021
Confessions of a Teenage Drag King
Confessions of a Teenage Drag King
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Confessions of a Teenage Drag King

Author: 
Markus Harwood-Jones
Series: 
Real Love
Toronto, ON: James Lorimer, 2020
176 pp., trade pbk. & epub, $14.95 (hc.)
ISBN: 
9781459415584 (hc.)
9781459415591 (epub)
Grades: 
Grades 8 and up
Ages: 
Ages 13 and up
Review by: 
Helen Mason
3
Excerpt: 

In the back, cameras flash. I blink, seeing spots. Suddenly, I'm closer to the edge of the stage than I meant to be. I almost step right off the platform. I play like it was on purpose, but I can practically feel Stormé shaking her head.

The spotlight lifts for a second and I'm met with an ocean of faces. They're talking, laughing, milling about. Some are singing tunelessly along to the song. My song. Then I spot Clover waving down Joni for a drink. She's not even watching.

Cold sweat runs down the back of my neck. I try to shake it off. I'm Ren. I don't get nervous. I get inspired. Falling back into the beat, I step down from the stage. On purpose this time. The spotlight follows as I twist through the crowd. I tap Clover's shoulder. She turns back and I flash her a wink as I hoist myself onto the bar.

The song, my song, goes into its breakdown. I strut across the bar rail. "Dude!" Joni starts to shout, but the words get drowned out. Everyone loses it, shouting and grabbing at me as I go. I spin back to Clover and reach down to take her hand.

"What are you doing?" she gasps.

"Trust me!" ...

But can anyone trust Ren? Can anyone even know someone who spends nights as a confident drag king on the Barn's all-age stage and days as Lauri, a somewhat average female high school student who works to avoid attention?

Complications arise when Ren meets Clover on the way home from a Sunday show. That Monday, Clover turns up in Lauri's gym class. Unfortunately, they're in the same Biology class too, and the teacher pairs them up for a major assignment. How can Lauri work with Clover without the dual identity slipping out?

Lauri considers Ren to be her performance side. She, Lauri, is the real thing—or so she believes. When the Drag King's on-stage persona attracts more fans, Lauri tells lies to protect her on-stage persona. At the same time, Ren starts up a demanding text conversation with Clover. Although Clover explains that she's transgender and in the process of transitioning, Lauri/Ren won't admit their own status. Of course, Clover's got it figured.

As demands of the stage and school personas increase, Lauri/Ren loses track of what's expected. Lauri doesn't do her share of the Biology project. Ren showboats to the crowd during one act and fails to arrange performers for an upcoming pageant. Eventually, Ren's called out by fellow actors. Rather than admit to selfishness, @The.Real.Ren stops posting.

But even when Lauri identifies LGBTQ members at a prom committee meeting, she's still unwilling to come out. It takes a combination of school friends whom Lauri doesn't think know about Ren, plus performing buddies who've never met Lauri, to force an amusingly satisfying finale. Not surprisingly, Ren has the last word. Prom anyone?

Confessions of a Teenage Drag King is part of Lorimer's “Real Love” series. This group of high interest/low vocabulary stories deal with teen relationships, including LGBTQ+ issues.

Recommended
Reviewer: 

An author, Helen Mason volunteered at a Youth Drop-in Centre with an LGBTQ group. She's currently working on a young adult novel about a 15-year-old whose mother has a mood disorder.