This was a super gentle treatment of what could be a very mean bullying scene in middle school, but I loved the way the author presented it, with the main character, Martin McLean, getting plenty of friend, parental and Tío support for exploring first, whether he wanted to do this, and then once he decides he does.
Martin McLean is in 7th grade. He's a member of the Mathletes team and has real gems of best friends in Pickle and Carmen. But this is the year that everyone seems to like someone else, especially Pickle who has a major crush on Violet, who uses a wheelchair. The class bully insinuates that Martin likes boys, and Martin has a panic attack and runs out of math class. He doesn't know what he likes.
His single-parent artist mom brings in her brother, Tío Billy, to spend some quality time and talk to Martin about guy things, and he takes Martin to see him perform in a local drag show. This opens up a whole new world of possibilities for Martin, who is encouraged to create his own drag persona, Lottie Leόn (means lion in Spanish).
Through Lottie, Martin finds his courage to go on stage and perform, and that courage carries over to dealing with the middle school bully, as well.
This is definitely a best-case scenario, full of supportive family and friends for a young person exploring drag.
