
Red,
White, & Royal Blue meets The West Wing in
Jasper Sanchez's electric and insightful #ownvoices YA debut, chronicling a
transmasculine student's foray into a no-holds-barred student body president
election against the wishes of his politician father.
Optics can make or break an election. Everything Mark
knows about politics, he learned from his father, the Congressman who still
pretends he has a daughter and not a son.
Mark has promised to keep his past
hidden and pretend to be the cis guy everyone assumes he is. But when he sees a
manipulatively charming candidate for student body president inflame dangerous
rhetoric, Mark risks his low profile to become a political challenger.
Jasper Sanchez is the author of The (Un)Popular Vote, a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection. He earned his BA in anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania and his MA in cinema and media studies from UCLA. While neither degree prepared him for the neoliberal hellscape of late-stage capitalism, they did push him to join the IWW as a red card-carrying Wobbly. He is a Californian by birth, disposition, and more recently, choice. When he's not writing, he can be found kvetching about capitalism and conversing with his cat. You can visit him online at www.jaspersanchez.com.
"Refreshingly original, this debut by trans author Sanchez is a thoroughgoing delight that's not to be missed." -- Booklist (starred review)
"Mind-bogglingly good. The narrative takes a smart, careful look at the intersection of identity and politics, and the fight in standing up for friends and ourselves, even against people that we love. I laughed, I cried, I rooted for Mark all the way. With everything that's happening in the world right now politically, this is a novel that every teen needs." -- Kacen Callender, author of Felix Ever After
"Charming, stunning, and unapologetically queer." -- Mason Deaver, bestselling author of I Wish You All the Best and The Ghosts We Keep
"Sanchez expertly portrays political drama, toxic masculinity and activism all in a character holding fiercely to his queer identity." -- Shelf Awareness
"Heartwarming, inclusive, and intelligent. A recommended purchase for any library, especially those where books by Becky -Albertalli and Benjamin Alire Sáenz are popular." -- School Library Journal