TRAILER PARK PRINCE

Two royals from the planet Kayda try to get by while living among an alien diaspora based in a trailer park community on Earth.

Kaydans closely resemble humans, although they have supernatural powers and copper-colored tattoos running from their hands to their shoulders, something that’s earned them the slur coppers. They’re also persecuted by a hate group called the Riders in His Holy Name. Kaydan princes and twin brothers Noan and Jormon, who live in a Georgia trailer park, struggle with their identities as outsiders. Noan throws himself into studying Kaydan magic from an ancient text, while Jormon grapples with being a closeted gay teenager. The brothers befriend Dirk, a Kaydan boy raised as a human in Alabama, after they save him from becoming the victim of a hate crime. Even as Noan, Jormon, and Dirk try to integrate with their human peers at the local public school, they’re bullied by the other kids and targeted by the Riders. Bradley has crafted a rich metaphor for racial oppression that’s unflinching in its depictions of prejudice and violence, such as in the opening scene, which features a burning cross outside Noan and Jormon’s trailer. The chapters rotate among the three boys’ perspectives, showing different points of view about what it’s like being Kaydan and how to resist the hate they face. Their narratives question the use of violence and interrogate how leaders ought to respond to it.

An intense ride that raises tough questions.