An encouraging and necessary story, Cub is a book that will start important conversations among younger readers, librarians, and educators. While KCC preys on Theo’s insecurities, Mama Bear-a somewhat cliché, benevolent drag queen-works to build Theo up in ways that can remind readers of their own power to empower those around them. While hi-lo novels do not often allow for greater character development because of the focus on plot, Cub allows Theo to fully develop as a young gay man surrounded by people who are obsessed with looking a very specific way, namely thin and muscular. Chef KCC and his husband use their positions of power to prey upon Theo’s innocence and naiveté. Coccia also uses the cooking competition as an opportunity to critique image-obsessed, mainstream gay culture, especially around weight and muscles (see the excerpt above.) In addition, the novel looks at ways that young men are preyed upon in the workforce, something that can be forgotten about within larger discussions of #MeToo and female oppression in a patriarchal workforce. With the help of Mama Bear, the drag queen emcee of the competition, Theo eventually has to decide if the heat in the kitchen is still bearable or not.Ĭub is a hi-lo novel with very high stakes, but one that manages to balance solid character development as well. But as excited as he is, Theo is also not fully prepared for the personal insults from fellow contestants or the sexual tension with Chef KCC, especially when the celebrity chef offers him a guaranteed win in exchange for encounters of a more intimate nature. When his friend Di enters him into a cooking competition through HEAT-the hip new restaurant in town run by superstar chef Kyle Carl Clark (aka Chef KCC)-Theo can’t turn down the opportunity. He's confident in his baking ability, and dreams of opening his own bakery one day, but he's not a chef.

So when his best friend signs him up for a cooking competition at Heat, the city's newest trendy restaurant, Theo is nervous. Right? Usually meant metaphorically, in the case of 17-year-old Theo, the adage is a bit more literal. 'In the gay community, a young, husky man is known as a 'cub' Seventeen-year-old Theo fits the definition perfectly, but he is very self-conscious about his body. If you can’t stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen.

Cub by Paul Coccia