• Age: 12 to 18
• Grade: 8 to 12
• Reading age: 12 to 18

Key Selling Points

• A transgender teen enters a youth drag contest in hopes of supporting his mother who is struggling financially.
• The story explores themes of self-esteem and friendship.
• An important addition to the small but growing number of books with trans main characters.
• The author is a transmasculine, multiracial author with lived experience in the queer community.
• Enhanced features (dyslexia-friendly font, cream paper, larger trim size) to increase reading accessibility for dyslexic and other striving readers.

C.A. Tanaka is a trans masculine multiracial writer of Japanese, Chinese, Indonesian and Scottish descent. A graduate of The Writer’s Studio program at Simon Fraser University, they have a BFA in intermedia from Emily Carr Institute of Art + Design and, in 2017, were awarded a fully funded literary residency at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity. C.A. is the executive director for the Storytelling with Drag Queens Foundation, a local non-profit organization with a mandate to promote diversity and inclusion in literacy for children, teens and adults. They live in Vancouver, British Columbia, on the unceded ancestral homelands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.

C.A. Tanaka's profile page

“Offers an ethnically diverse cast of queer characters navigating identity and emerging adulthood...Dramatic, optimistic, and emotionally engaging.”

Kirkus Reviews

“It's not focused on being a drag queen, but instead it’s a story showing how queer, trans, and immigrant identities intersect, and how they can impact the lives of youth...Books like Baby Drag Queen, about queer, trans, and racialized experiences written by authors from within those communities are so important for youth to be able to access in collections…Recommended.”

CM Magazine

“With contemporary themes, relatable characters, and plenty of high school drama, this title is recommended for high school libraries.”

School Library Journal