THE QUEEN BEES OF TYBEE COUNTY
THE QUEEN BEES OF TYBEE COUNTY
Written by Kyle Casey Chu
Published by Quill Tree Books, 2025
Derrick’s dad dreams of his son becoming a basketball star, and Derrick works hard to be the best he can be at basketball, even winning the state championship for his middle school with a shot at the final buzzer. However, he also wears toenail polish and enjoys lip-syncing in front of his bathroom mirror. Throw in being Asian, having a widowed single dad, and the everyday challenges of friendships in middle school, and Derrick has a lot to deal with.
When there is not enough money for Derrick to attend basketball summer camp and his dad gets an out-of-town job, Derrick must stay in his dad’s small hometown of Tybee, Georgia, with his paternal grandmother, Claudia, whom he barely knows. And Claudia is anything but the stereotypical grandmother. She wears bright clothes, sports gray permed hair, and wears a full face of colorful makeup. And as the reader soon learns, she possesses a spark of something many would say is magic.
Derrick’s summer becomes a journey of self-discovery. He learns about the challenges and discrimination Claudia and his father faced as the only Asian family in a small town in Georgia. Through their experiences, he begins to understand and accept himself as a biracial Asian. He tries to reconcile the rising star athlete part of himself with the other part that loves glittery dresses and performing to music, as he questions long-time friendships back home. But he meets new friends who, like himself, have also been grappling with their own identities. However, they have learned to accept and embrace themselves, and they provide him with a window into and a roadmap for understanding the seemingly conflicting aspects of his personality. This eventually leads to discovering the part of him that wants to be a drag queen.
Will Derrick find the courage to share this discovery about himself with the world? This choice quickly arises when Derrick is given the opportunity to share this newly discovered side of himself with the public. When a slot opens up in the Tybee County Beauty Pageant, which Claudia helps to organize, will he allow himself to be free and bravely be true to himself?
This story is genuine and written from the heart. The author has created a cast of characters that the reader will come to love. And she effectively captures the emotions of all the characters and reflects their growth throughout the story. This is quite a feat, considering she is a debut author and the characters range in age, gender, ethnicity, interests, and background.
The author clearly knows her subject matter and conveys it to the reader in a compelling way. This is a powerful and necessary story for today, giving a voice to a very marginalized and maligned group of people. It serves as a lifeline for tweens/teens grappling with and accepting who they are as individuals. This story is a loving ode to drag queens, who are among the most warmhearted, generous, and caring people in the world. They are tremendously talented and dedicated to their craft, with a passionate desire to entertain and spread joy in the world.
A brilliant debut novel! I look forward to seeing more from this author in the near future!
