Could Billy Bloom be any more fabulous? Having just moved from Darien, Connecticut, to finish out his senior year in a conservative suburb of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Billy faces extreme culture shock: he is a teenage drag queen, super freak, and self-proclaimed gender obscurist. He has great wit, style, and attitude; unfortunately, his classmates at Dwight D. Eisenhower Academy don’t appreciate him. From the moment he throws open the door to his first period Biology class, wearing a ruffled lace shirt, high-waisted blue pants, and a Prussian-blue military jacket (”What’s straighter than a pirate?”), Billy becomes the school pariah. He’s gay-baited and queer-bashed relentlessly, particularly by the Backseat Boys, as Billy calls the members of the varsity football team who occupy the last row of seats in the classroom. In the face of daily taunting, pummeling, and general humiliation, Billy maintains his dignity and his sense of humor. Even though he curls up in a cupboard and cries at home, he courageously returns to school each day, daring to be himself. Beneath Billy Bloom’s hilariously melodramatic rantings and capitalized pronouncements, there’s a serious story about a sensitive boy’s search for love and acceptance. There’s also a strong streak of social satire running throughout the book, as Billy makes his witty, acerbic observations about life in the “reddest of the red states. . . where even the crustiest crack whore is a registered Republican and Gloria Estefan is inexplicably the biggest star in the world.” (Age 13 and older)

Soon to be a major motion picture with Bette Midler, Laverne Cox, Abigail Breslin, and Alex Lawther starring as Billy Bloom

"Freak Show has it all. It's hilarious, sad, sexy, and glamorous—just the way life should be."--Perez Hilton

"Gutsy, funny, over-the-top Billy Bloom is a profile in courage."--The Washington Post

Meet Billy Bloom, new student at the ultra-white, ultra-rich, ultra-conservative Dwight D. Eisenhower Academy and drag queen extraordinaire. Actually, ?drag queen? does not begin to describe Billy and his fabulousness. Any way you slice it, Billy is not a typical seventeen-year-old, and the Bible Belles, Aberzombies, and Football Heroes at the academy have never seen anyone quite like him before. But thanks to the help and support of one good friend, Billy?s able to take a stand for outcasts and underdogs everywhere in his own outrageous, over-thetop, sad, funny, brilliant, and unique way.