The Hips on the Drag Queen Go Swish, Swish, Swish

by Lil Miss Hot Mess, Olga de Dios Ruiz (Illustrator)

Overview

Playing off "The Wheels on the Bus," this nursery rhyme book from a founder of Drag Queen Story Hour is a fun, freewheeling celebration of being your most fabulous self.


The Hips on the Drag Queen Go Swish, Swish, Swish encourages readers to boldly be exactly who they are. Written by a founding member of the nationally recognized Drag Queen Story Hour (DQSH), this playful picture book offers a quirky twist on a classic nursery rhyme by illustrating all of the ways to "work it". The story plays off "The Wheels on the Bus" as it follows a drag queen who performs her routine in front of an awestruck audience. A fun frenzy of fierceness, this book will appeal to readers of all ages.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780762467655
Publisher:	Running Press Book Publishers
Publication date:	05/05/2020
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	217,701
Product dimensions:	9.60(w) x 9.60(h) x 0.30(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Lil Miss Hot Mess was among the first queens to host Drag Queen Story Hour (DQSH) and is on the national advisory committee. She has written for Wired, the Guardian, Salon, and them., performed at venues ranging from Stanford to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, and was a backup dancer for Katy Perry on Saturday Night Live.


Olga de Dios is an author and illustrator of children's books whose work focuses on equality, freedom, and justice. She studied at the School of Art 10 in Madrid. Her first book, Pink Monster, has been translated into twelve languages. She lives in Madrid, Spain.

Editorial Reviews

"This book's gonna werk, werk, werk all through Pride Month and beyond. Drag persona Lil Miss Hot Mess rewrites 'The Wheels on the Bus' to create a fun, movement-filled, family-friendly celebration of drag. . . . Appropriately psychedelic. . . . Fun, fun, fun all through the town!"—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

"It's much more than a parody. It's an expression of the collectiveness of the drag community."—Matthew Winner, The Children's Book Podcast

From the Publisher

★ 2020-01-12
This book's gonna werk, werk, werk all through Pride Month and beyond.

Drag persona Lil Miss Hot Mess rewrites "The Wheels on the Bus" to create a fun, movement-filled, family-friendly celebration of drag. The text opens with the titular verse to establish the familiar song's formulaic pattern: "The hips on the drag queen go SWISH, SWISH, SWISH… / ALL THROUGH THE TOWN!" Along the way, more and more drag queens join in the celebration. The unnamed queens proudly display a range of skin tones, sizes, and body modifications to create a diverse cast of realistic characters that could easily be spotted at a Pride event or on RuPaul's Drag Race. The palette of both costumes and backgrounds is appropriately psychedelic, and there are plenty of jewels going "BLING, BLING, BLING." Don't tell the queens, but the flow is the book's real star, because it encourages natural kinetic participation that will have groups of young readers giggling and miming along with the story. Libraries and bookshops hosting drag-queen storytimes will find this a popular choice, and those celebrating LGBTQ heritage will also find this a useful book for the pre-K crowd. Curious children unfamiliar with a drag queen may require a brief explanation, but the spectacle stands up just fine on its own platforms.

Fun, fun, fun all through the town! (Picture book. 4-6)

Kirkus Reviews