WWW.PUBLISHERSWEEKLY.COM 31LGBTQ Books
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Download e-galleys on EdelweissLotta’s drag persona is juxtaposed with (Uncle) Leo’s accounting job. “Drag performers
also have families and day jobs and a regular existence on top of the art that they do,”
Nielsen says. “That’s an important thing to reinforce.”
Lil Miss Hot Mess, one of the first drag queens to participate in DQSH and a
member of its national advisory committee, wrote The Hips on the Drag Queen Go Swish,
Swish, Swish (Running Press Kids, May, ages 4–8) partly in response to the many
gender-related titles that focus on bullying. “It almost makes it feel like, if you’re
queer or different, this is what you have to expect,” she says. “I wanted to write some-
thing that had a different message.”
The book is her take on the children’s song “The Wheels on the Bus,” with illustrator
Olga de Dios depicting a diverse group of drag queens acting out the lyrics (“The fingers
on the drag queen go snap, snap, snap”). Lil Miss Hot Mess says it made sense to adapt
a song kids already knew, because parody is “central to drag as an art form.”
At read-alongs, kids can act out the stomping and shimmying. “This is about
embodying what drag queens are and what we do, rather than explaining it or putting
it in a narrative,” Lil Miss Hot Mess says. Drag is “not just a costume you put on and
take off. It’s about finding something in yourself and turning that into reality simply
by putting on a pair of heels and a wig and some extra makeup. It’s also about being
bold and not doing what’s conventional.”
A video of her performing the song at story hour, which was submitted with the
book proposal, helped convince Julie Matysik, editorial director at Running Press
Kids, to acquire the title. It’s “a great celebration of independence and uniqueness and
owning who you are,” Matysik says, “while giving a soft, fun introduction to drag culture.”
Both Matysik and Nielsen say potential controversy was discussed in-house before
signing the books, but ultimately, it wasn’t a deterrent. “The fears of conservative
parents don’t dictate what stories we’re going to tell,” Nielsen says, noting that she
hopes parents “will allow their kids to explore outside of their comfort zone.”
So while this is Pow!’s first drag-themed book, it needn’t be the last. “Drag has so
many different faces,” Nielsen says.
“There are drag queens, there are drag
kings, there are people who wear lots
of makeup, and people who don’t.
I’d love to see books that explore
more of it.” —R.K.B.
DRAG QUEEN STORY HOUR AND THE CORONAVIRUS
In mid-March, as public gatherings became discouraged and later
prohibited, DQSH began livestreaming readings on Facebook and
Instagram. Lil Miss Hot Mess, author of The Hips on the Drag Queen Go
Swish, Swish, Swish, was among the first to participate.Lil Miss Hot Mess
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children’s books.