Walk This Way
Walk This Way
“Some men have such a narrow view of what it means to be a man. They can’t wrap their heads around the idea that masculinity comes in all shapes and forms. Dressing up as a woman doesn’t mean you’re not masculine. Take me, for example. You would never confuse me for a real woman when I’m in drag.”
“I never thought about masculinity that way before,” I say. “I wish I could go back in time to my date with Randall and get in his face about his masculine-acting BS.”
“It is so strange to discuss gay dating with someone who is still in high school,” Miss Bill says. His face is concentrating on mine. “What it is like being a gay teenager in this day and age?”
“It’s not bad,” I say. “They still make fun of us.”
“Oh, darling, they will always make fun of us.”
“I can’t imagine what it would be like to hide my sexuality. It’s hard enough keeping my drag a secret from Ivan.”
“That’s why I became a drag queen,” Miss Bill says. “I got so sick of pretending to be something I wasn’t, I took it to the opposite extreme.”
“It would be harder if I didn’t have Kara and Chris to lean on. I’m worried they’re feeling neglected because of Ivan.”
“Things always change with your friends when you start a relationship. They’ll be fine. It’s good that you have friends your age to discuss what you’re going through. I didn’t have that until my twenties.”
“You never talk about your friends.”
“They’re all dead,” Miss Bill says matter-of-factly. He points to the poster of the Great Pretenders. “AIDS got them all. We raised so much money trying to find a cure. But the pills came too late for them.”
Joshua’s drag queen persona is a big hit on social media, but he’d like to put his act to the test in a live venue like the nearby club, Poodles. But not all gay guys appreciate drag, as Joshua quickly finds out during a date with Randall. When Ivan comes into his life, Joshua is thrilled with their relationship but wonders if Ivan can accept his interest in drag. As he works towards creating, emceeing and performing in his own drag show at Poodles, Joshua has to carefully balance his passion for drag with his hesitation about telling Ivan his secret.
Joshua is a 16-year-old high school student who learns a great deal in this combination of coming-of-age young adult novel and LGBTQ+ romance. He has learned to cope with his school environment and others making fun of him. But now he faces prejudice in the gay community as well since drag queens are controversial. Joshua’s emotions and fears threaten to take over his life and keep him from being his true self, and he must deal with them in order to be both honest and happy.
Joshua’s brother Ed is a hetero guy whose main interest is hockey. Readers also meet Randall, Ed’s friend and another athlete who happens to be gay and who is essentially repelled by the whole drag queen world. Another major character is Joshua’s romantic interest, Ivan, who seems to also be anti-drag until he rather reluctantly learns a little more about that world in order to please Josh and maintain their relationship.
Miss Bill, an aging drag queen, is Joshua’s drag mother and one of the most interesting characters of the story. He make no apologies for his over-the-top antics and helps Josh with his act, showing him how to truly get into character on stage. His method of teaching Josh how to walk in heels is great – “walk this way”! Miss Bill will also give young adult readers insights into the gay world of a few decades ago when AIDS was constantly in the news and had such a terrible impact on so many.
The relationship between Josh and Ivan is central to the novel, and, as in any other romance, both teens must learn the importance of communication and honesty. As long as Josh won’t be entirely truthful with Ivan and tell him about his interest in drag, their relationship cannot flourish. The romance is on-again, off-again in the book until Josh reveals his authentic self and persuades Ivan that they both need to give each other a chance to be themselves if there is any future for them as a couple.
Walk This Way, part of the “True Love” series, is a high interest/low vocabulary novel with a Fry reading level of 3.2 and a Lexile reading level of HL620L. The characters, setting and plot will have a great deal of appeal to many in the LGBTQ+ community. Given the reading level and the fact that the book is less than 200 pages long, Correia does not go into depth about many of the issues he raises. On the other hand, the novel is full of drama and emotion and humour as well and gives readers a look into the unconventional world of drag which is becoming more and more popular.
Ann Ketcheson, a retired teacher-librarian and high school teacher of English and French, lives in Ottawa, Ontario.