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

Transgender teen Ichiro enters a drag contest in hopes of earning enough money to live off the grid.

Ichiro is a transgender youth in his final year of high school. He has a job as a dishwasher to earn money to help support his single mother. But it's not enough. Ichiro dreams of buying a camper van for the two of them so they can escape and live off the grid and not have to worry about money anymore. A budding drag queen, he takes a second job performing drag at a local club and learns of an upcoming contest where the prize money would be enough to pay for a camper van. But nobody knows he does drag. So when some of his friends find out what he’s really doing in the evenings, Ichiro is worried about what they will think of him. Will they still accept him?

This short novel is a high-interest, low-reading level book for teen readers who are building reading skills, want a quick read or say they don’t like to read! The epub edition of this title is fully accessible.

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

• Short-listed, City of Vancouver Book Award
• Commended, Top Grade: CanLit for the Classroom

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

School Library Journal

“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

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

Kirkus Reviews

“Tanaka adds a welcome voice to young adult literature about transgender teen identity and drag performance artistry.”

Children's Literature Comprehensive Database (CLCD)