Never one to rest on his laurels, the entertainer launched his RuPaul: What's the Tee? podcast in 2014, with frequent collaborator Michelle Visage, and appeared as a judge on the body painting competition Skin Wars. He also hosted the trivia game show Gay for Play for two seasons beginning in April 2016, while continuing to churn out albums like 2015's Slay Belles and 2017's Remember Me: Essential, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 and American. But one thing that truly cannot hurt me, or any child, is the understanding of love and acceptance that we humans can gift to one another. When little Ru was about to be born, a fortune-teller told his mom that her son would one day be famous. Growing up in San Diego, with his mother and three sisters, it was only a matter of time before he figured out how…” Playing with his first punk band, he mixed a prom dress with army boots on stage. Everyone wondered if he was a boy or a girl.”

If we're all born naked and the rest is drag, then this is RuPaul totally out of drag. This is RuPaul stripped bare. For RuPaul, the past few years spent writing the memoir became an unexpected process of self-discovery—whether he was reexamining challenging moments from his childhood, or simply recognizing how pivotal that turbulent period was in shaping the performer, producer, and entertainment powerhouse he is today. So you might think that as he prepares to put the book out into the world, RuPaul must be feeling more fearless than ever. But he isn’t—and that was exactly the point of writing it. “It’s pretty scary—although the scary part is really this part, where I’m actually having to talk about it,” he says, before breaking into his infectious laugh. “But I’ve always carried the truth of who I am inside of me. Little People, Big Dreams, RuPaul, by author Maria Isabel Sanchez Vegara and illustrator Wednesday Holmes is a child-sized account of a colorful, oak-strong personality who weathered the storm of the 1970s and 80s with the grace and wisdom of a queen. However, while the book does inspire and convey an important message, it felt too simplified. This series, in general, talks about many extraordinary people who have done remarkable things in their lives. The books in the series are simplified, giving the basics of the basics, as these are picture books and mainly for children, but this one seemed just plain, more than other books in the series.In the caption of the post, Ru continued to underline the exposure in the new memoir. “Writing this book left me gooped, gagged and stripped raw,” he wrote. “I’ve learned that vulnerability is strength, but so far, all I feel is nervous as hell, yet super excited to share it with y’all. When all is said and done, it’s just me, Ru.” Best Known For: RuPaul is an American drag queen, singer and actor known for such TV shows as 'RuPaul's Drag Race' and 'RuPaul's Drag U.' Did he discover more of those hidden meanings as he got deeper into the writing process? “Oh, absolutely,” he says. “Absolutely. And that’s where a kind of fearlessness comes in. A lot of the time, we, as humans, carry with us guilt about certain things. And then you realise, Oh my goodness, that had nothing to do with me. That was their issue. Right now, I’m talking about my parents. But when you look at it as an adult, you realise it had nothing to do with you, and you can relieve yourself of some of the pressure and blame you’ve assigned to yourself.” I’ve heard many great things from friends, colleagues and their children about the little people: BIG DREAMS books. So, to receive one to review was fab, and even better, I know who RuPaul is, so I have the familiarity with the main topic of the book. By sharing with the world the beauty of drag, little Ru gave us valuable tips to make the most out of life: ‘Don’t ever think we are born just to fit in a box, we are born to stand out.’”

It was a shame that the text at the end (with the timeline and the photographs) was blank in my ecopy. While it is often a more text-heavy rehash of the story there are sometimes new details found there. Here in RuPaul's singular and extraordinary story is a manual for living-a personal philosophy that testifies to the value of chosen family, the importance of harnessing what makes you different, and the transformational power of facing yourself fearlessly. I received an eARC copy from Quarto Publishing Group – Frances Lincoln Children's Books via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.It's one book, you should definitely buy for your little readers so they can learn about this wonderful artist.

This won’t be RuPaul’s first time flexing his writing skills. The House of Hidden Meanings marks Ru’s fourth book, preceded by his 1996 autobiography Lettin It All Hang Out, his 2010 style guide Workin’ It!: RuPaul’s Guide to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Style, and his 2018 self-help guidebook GuRu.If this story is anything to go by, then I know I will enjoy other books from this series. What a lovely read and a great way to share the extraordinary lives of the icons of the world past and present. It was interesting enough as an intro to The Scene (since I'm not at all versed in it, or exposed to it beyond TV), and I enjoyed all the pictures of young Scene RuPaul. But... those years are quite, quite obviously heavily glossed to avoid all the "seedier" aspects. And I still don't know who Lady Bunny really is in relation to RuPaul, even though they were friends coming up together. The book doesn't make any friendships very clear... it's entirely focused on Ru and her emergence into mainstream culture. Little People, BIG DREAMS is a best-selling series of books and educational games that explore the lives of outstanding people, from designers and artists to scientists and activists. All of them achieved incredible things, yet each began life as a child with a dream. In 1994, RuPaul made his feature film debut in Spike Lee’s Crooklyn, and a new facet of his performing career was launched. A string of roles would follow, including on TV shows such as Sister, Sister and In the House and in films such as The Brady Bunch Movie, Blue in the Face and To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar (all in 1995 alone). That same year, RuPaul saw his autobiography Lettin’ It All Hang Out published and he also signed on as a model with MAC cosmetics. RuPaul next landed his own TV talk show, aptly titled The RuPaul Show, which ran until 1998.