Written By: Ellie Royce
Illustrated by: Hannah Chambers
For ages: 4-8 years
Language: English
Forward by: Marti Gould Cummings
Topics Covered: Drag, LGBTQ, Pride, Family, Drag Queens, Pets, Friendship, Acceptance.
Summary:
I am seriously loving the amount of picture books involving drag queens that have come out this year. Hands down, best part of 2020. Auntie Uncle is no exception, I’m in love with it!
Our narrator is a young boy talking about their relative that during the day is accountant Uncle Leo, but at night is Auntie Lotta, a drag queen! This also means that Leo has a different friend groups that have never met each other. When an exciting event calls for all of Auntie Uncle’s friends to come together, who will show up-Leo or Lotta?
On the surface is a lighthearted book about problem solving with a dash of fierceness, but Auntie Uncle does so much more than that. As much as we might consider a drag queen to be mythical creature, they do spend time not wearing elaborate costumes. Some have day jobs, like Leo! The story can be used as a vehicle to explain to children what a family member might have as a job, as well as normalizing drag queens and the LGBTQ community. The young boy is proud to have Lotta in his family, and the two are very close. I love the underlying themes of acceptance and bravery, and the very human wish to want all of your friends to get along.
This book was kindly sent to us by Pow! Kids Books, but all opinions are our own.
Ellie Royce was born in Adelaide, South Australia and she’s been telling stories ever since.
Although she spent over ten years crafting nonfiction articles for magazines, she finally realised her real love was writing the stories for young people that blossom in her imagination.
Ellie is the author of four books, three of which are for children, with two more picture books due out in 2020.
Her first picture book “Lucas and Jack” was published in 2014.
Ellie truly believes in the power of stories to change the world for the better, so she writes and reads them all the time (quite often when she should be doing other things!).
These days Ellie lives in Northern New South Wales Australia and plans to keep writing visionary stories for kids and young adults forever.
Hannah Chambers (also known as Gil), is
an animator and illustrator recently graduated
from the Cleveland Institute of Art.
While Hannah is primarily focused on 2D character animation, they have a wide range of skills in digital media including illustration,
graphic design, video editing, and motion graphics.
In the analog realm, Hannah has experience sewing costumes and plushes, needlefelting,
prop-making, and ceramics.
Marti Gould Cummings is a NYC drag artist, television personality, and political figure. Throughout their nearly decade long drag career Marti has been a regular fixture in the nightlife world performing up to 6 regular shows a week. They have sold out concerts at 54 Below, Lincoln Centers Big Apple Circus, Dixon Place and regularly tour the world with Atlantis Cruises.
Marti’s album A Very Mary Holiday features some of broadways brightest stars including Tony Award winner Cady Huffman and Tony Award Nominee Daphne Rubin-Vega.
You can see Marti on Fusion televisions Shade Queens of NYC, on The Marti Report on LOGO, Dragged on Yahoo! and on The X Change Rate on The Build Series.