Beep beep! The Rainbow Book Bus is coming your way!
At a time when administrations across the country are seeking to ban books and limit access to educational and diverse texts in schools and libraries, RuPaul and his Rainbow Book Bus will be traveling from the West Coast to the South to distribute the very books targeted by those restrictions, The New York Times reports.
“You cannot keep the imagination down,” RuPaul said about the book bans.
RuPaul is one of the founders of a new online bookstore, Allstora, that seeks to promote underrepresented authors, particularly queer authors and authors of color. Some of the most challenged books are by or about LGBTQ people or people of color. But the “RuPaul’s Drag Race” creator and star holds out hope that lawmakers pushing these bans will one day have a change of heart.
“The truth is, I just hope that the child that lives inside of each and every one of them will revolt and have a voice and say: ‘I want to use all the colors in the crayon box. I will not be restricted,’” RuPaul said.
The 22-foot former school bus that will be delivering the free reading material is decked out with all the colors of the rainbow and features vibrant portraits of Black queer authors and icons, including James Baldwin and Marsha P. Johnson. The rainbow bus will travel the country starting in Los Angeles with the goal of giving away at least 10,000 books by the end of the year. RuPaul will also curate a monthly book club that will include themed playlists and interviews with authors.
Because reading is what? Fundamental.
Cover Photo: RuPaul’s Rainbow Book Bus Hits The Road to Deliver Banned Books / Photo credit: Allstora