This is the one about ‘Drama Queers.
Posted February 14th, 2010 by Mike Lawson
We first met Bradley Dayton in Frank Anthony Polito’s first novel Band Fags, which I read and wrote about here. This book isn’t exactly a sequel to Band Fags because the two main characters (the Band Fag and the Drama Queer) have a b.f.f. breakup and these books take place during that time when they weren’t super close and involved in one anothers lives.
When I read Marc Acito’s How I Paid For College and the “sequel” Attack of the Theater People I found myself bored and tempted to skip sections at a time. “I don’t need to know all of Character A’s backstory…I just read it in your other book,” I thought to myself.
And to be honest, if Daniel hadn’t bought me Drama Queers for Christmas, the fear of repeat boring backstory might have stopped me from picking this book up. Luckily, Polito was wise enough to write Drama Queers as a stand-alone that compliments or supplments his first book. Knowing what I know about Jack, Brad’s best friend since the 7th grade, only helped me enjoy the second book more.
High School isn’t really easy for anyone, and as Polito’s stories accurately point out, figuring out you’re a F-A-G just complicates things. As a former Band Fag and Drama Queer, this book was a nice throw-back to those days that I’m so glad are over.
The pace of this book was much better than Band Fags, and Polito seemed to get a lot of his impress-them-with-vast-early-80s-pop-culture-knowledge out of the way in the first book.
While I only slightly recommend Band Fags, I’d fully recommend you read Drama Queers.
My sister read them all when I was a kid, but I was never into them. And I still think that maybe one day I’d like to write a young adult novel. So I’m going to read the series.
I have almost all of the first 10 books – but I’m still in need of number 3 and number 9. And doesn’t one of the baby sitters have diabetes?
This is the 6th book I’ve read in 2010.
5 Responses to “This is the one about ‘Drama Queers.”
February 14th, 2010 at 5:07 pm
Yep, I think it was Stacy who had diabetes. I loved those books growing up…and I might have 3 and 9 laying around someplace around the house. I’ll give it a look when I’m off work.
February 14th, 2010 at 5:09 pm
I’m a total Baby Sitter’s Club nerd, so I’m excited to hear what you think (the first few books are probably the best, just because the girls all have actual personalities and aren’t one-trait caricatures of themselves). And yes, Stacey has diabetes (although it’s not discussed until I think #3? The Truth About Stacey is the title, I know).
February 14th, 2010 at 8:28 pm
Yep, Stacey has diabetes and isn’t allowed to eat sugar (except when she’s hypo, and then I think she eats honey) and tries to hide it in her debut book. I think she’s on NPH; the books were written before the development of Lantus and around the time that Novolog hit the market. And guess what? There’s a graphic novel series that’s the same books only as graphic novels.
February 15th, 2010 at 9:23 am
Thanks again Mike… Glad you enjoyed my second book! (I agree, the pace IS much better — there’s an actual PLOT.)
Personally, I’ve never read The Baby Sitters Club. My sister read The Girls of Canby Hall series when I was growing up, and I’d borrow them. The one that got me hooked was called “Here Come the Boys.” (Go figure!)
February 15th, 2010 at 10:43 pm
Mike. I told Daniel you can borrow any of my Babysitter Club books. I was a huge fan and I believe I have all of the series. I’ll try to have the box out for you on Wed morning.
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