-
Access Our
Best Book Club
Books of 2025!
Shampoo Unicorn: (noun)
1. A shower hairstyle in which one styles their lathered hair into the fluffiest soapy unicorn horn possible.
2. A podcast by two mysterious hosts exploring rural queer life—the isolation, the microaggressions, the boredom, and occasionally, the sky-shattering joy.
In the small town of Canon, West Virginia, most people care about three things: God, country, and football.
Brian is more into Drag Race, Dolly Parton, and his gig as one of the mystery hosts of his podcast, Shampoo Unicorn.
Greg's life should be perfect as the town's super-masc football star, but his secret is he's just as gay as Brian.
Leslie is a trans girl living in nearby Pennsylvania, searching for reasons to get out of bed every day. Her solace is listening to her favorite podcast...
When a terrible accident occurs, it's Shampoo Unicorn that brings the three teens' lives together. And what begins as a search for answers becomes a story of finding connection.
Sawyer Lovett's powerful and ultimately joyful debut novel is about three teens, one podcast, and carving out a rainbow pocket in an otherwise red state.
"Acceptance and forgiveness are at the core of this timely novel, which gives voice to queer youth and amplifies the importance of connection and community." —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"Lovett's debut is searing, powerful, and sure to extend a beacon of hope for queer teens across the country." —Booklist (starred review)
"Written with multiple points of view, including podcast transcripts, much of the story involves the characters explaining things to each other and to readers. However, the story does provide hope—and a possible roadmap—to teens who feel cut off from their communities and the world. An earnest addition to the contemporary queer YA canon." —Kirkus Reviews
"Heart-wrenching but hopeful, a beautiful story about how finding the courage to use your voice can help heal and build the kind of community necessary for survival amidst hate." —Randy Ribay, award-winning and bestselling author of Patron Saints of Nothing and Everything We Never Had
"Shampoo Unicorn is a fiercely loving ode to queer rural America and the young people who build oases of joyful community in a world that tries to deny them sustenance. This is the sort of book that saves lives." —Jeff Zentner, award-winning author of The Serpent King
This information about Shampoo Unicorn was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Sawyer Lovett is a trans writer living just outside of Philadelphia by way of Tazewell, VA. He's a graduate of the Rosemont College MFA program and the human parent to two chaotic rescue dogs. He is an accomplished balloon twister, a pretty good barista, and an occasional bookseller.
Your guide toexceptional books
BookBrowse seeks out and recommends the best in contemporary fiction and nonfiction—books that not only engage and entertain but also deepen our understanding of ourselves and the world around us.
