Starred review from February 1, 2020
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)
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September 8, 2023
Preschool-Grade 2 Drag queens bring fun and fashion to town in this picture book debut by one of the first hosts of a Drag Queen Story Hour, Lil Miss Hot Mess. An #OwnVoices title for the youngest readers, The Hips on the Drag Queen Go Swish, Swish, Swish takes the well-known "The Wheels on the Bus Go 'Round and 'Round" and infuses it with a fresh energy children will find infectious. Bursting with riotous color, illustrations by de Dios (Pink Monster, 2019) bring staid San Francisco neighborhoods to life as an eclectic group of queens sashay down the street. Featuring snaps, twirls, stomps, shimmies and more, this title is sure to get groups moving and singing along. Be forewarned, compared to the original rhyme the extra syllable found in "the (blank) on the drag queen goes" may tie unpractised tongues. Be sure to run through the cadences a few times before using this title for storytime. Recommended for all children's collections.
COPYRIGHT(2023) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.