I’ve been SO excited to share this book, and it’s finally out! Drag is a weird and wonderful facet of the queer community, and I’ve enjoyed many shows over the years. Now, with drag shows moving online it’s been really cool to see the changes in performances and a wider variety of performers than just in the immediate area. Still, there’s nothing quite like being in a crowded club and watching all of the gravity-defying wigs and death drops in person.

This YA book goes back to the roots of theatre performance, and how the banning of women actors essentially created the need for male actors to impersonate women during shows. Kabuki, Shakespeare, Kathakali and other early male-only theatre groups around the world are largely responsible for what now has a globally recognized television phenomenon. Broken down into different chapters and talking about the performers who embodied that trait (glamour, freaks, charisma, influence and more). I really like the attention paid to performers of color, and the importance of queer activism to the LGBTQ scene. Whatever your level of knowledge of drag queens, queer history, and theatre, there’s bound to be new information in this book for you! I love the different artistic styles in the book as well, and it encapsulates the over the topness that is quintessentially drag. This is an incredible book, and I highly recommend checking it out!