Jackson Bright in the Spotlight

From drag superstar Eureka O'Hara and bestselling author Dan Poblocki comes a beautiful, buoyant middle-grade novel about a boy who enters a local pageant--as a drag queen!

When Jackson Bright wears a dress to the last day of school, he expects to be complimented on the cute polka-dot design. Instead, he gets sent to the principal's office.

Jackson doesn't know why people are saying that he needs to "dress like a boy." And with all the discussions of "dressing like a boy" and "dressing like a girl," he wonders where people like his best friend Eva, who's nonbinary, fit into all of this. Or why he felt so confident and happy while wearing that dress.

So when Jackson sees a flyer for the town's beloved Little Miss pageant, he comes up with a plan: dress in drag in order to compete and show the town just how fabulous he can be! More than anything, though, he wants to push the boundaries of gender and learn how to better support Eva and other nonbinary kids like them, which is harder than he realizes.

Before he knows it, he's thrust into a world of rhinestone gowns and fiercely applied makeup. With the help of Eva and Uncle Aaron, Jackson scrambles to come up with an array of dazzling costumes, a crowd-winning speech, and a killer talent act.

As he navigates the ups and downs of the competition--all while keeping his real identity a secret and hiding a growing crush on his rival's brother--Jackson will have to figure out how to stand beside his friend and show his small town that #nonbinaryteaisvalid, unpack questions about his family and identity that he's been hiding from, and learn how to stay true to himself and hold his head high no matter what!

Author: Eureka O'Hara,Dan Poblocki
Publisher: Harry N. Abrams
Published: 10/21/2025
Pages: 288
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 0.77lbs
Size: 8.30h x 5.83w x 1.00d
ISBN: 9781419773655
Audience: Ages 9-12


Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 07/15/2025
Publishers Weekly 08/04/2025

About the Author
Eureka O'Hara started out as a small country child in the heart of East Tennessee. She is known for competing on RuPaul's Drag Race and as the co-host of We're Here on HBO. One of O'Hara's goals is to give people of difference around the world the confidence to go out and live their dreams. O'Hara wrote Jackson Bright in the Spotlight, her debut novel, because she wanted to create something that could have inspired her when she was growing up. As a self-proclaimed Elephant Queen to her fans, O'Hara's passion for elephants reflects how she perceives herself: a large, majestic big mama. She regards those family-oriented and brilliant pachyderms as the best representation of size-positivity, kindness, and love, and she fights to protect those traits in all of us. She lives in LA. New York-based Dan Poblocki is an author of mystery, horror, and adventure novels for young people. He is the coauthor with Neil Patrick Harris of the #1 New York Times bestselling series The Magic Misfits (writing under the pen name Alec Azam). He's also the author of Tales to Keep You Up at Night, The Stone Child, The Nightmarys, the Mysterious Four series, and many more. His books The Ghost of Graylock and The Haunting of Gabriel Ashe were JLG selections and made the American Library Association's Best Fiction for Young Adults list.