{"id":46238,"date":"2026-04-24T22:28:04","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T02:28:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=46238"},"modified":"2026-04-24T22:28:04","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T02:28:04","slug":"review-of-harriet-tubman-live-in-concert-by-bob-the-drag-queen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=46238","title":{"rendered":"Review of Harriet Tubman: Live in Concert, by Bob the Drag Queen"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Harriet Tubman<\/p>\n

Live in Concert<\/em><\/p>\n

by Bob the Drag Queen
\nread by the Author<\/p>\n

Simon & Schuster Audio, 2025. 4 hours, 18 minutes.
\nReview written February 16, 2026, from a library eaudiobook.
\nStarred Review
\n2026 Alex Award Winner<\/p>\n

I would have never listened to this audiobook if it hadn’t won an Alex Award. The Alex Awards are given each year to ten novels published for adults that will be of interest to teens. I hadn’t listened to any of the winners this year, so I was trying to make up for that – and I was completely enchanted with this book.<\/p>\n

The story is told by Darnell, a hip-hop producer who’s been out of work for fifteen years when he meets his hero, Harriet Tubman, in real life.<\/p>\n

We learn that people have been bringing back certain historical figures. I love that the book never explains why or how it’s supposed to work. Because that would rapidly get into ridiculous territory and as readers, we’d realize it doesn’t work. Instead, we’re caught up in the wonder of Darnell meeting his hero.<\/p>\n

And what Harriet Tubman wants to do – along with “the Freedmen” she’s brought with her – is create a hip-hop album and go on tour to tell her story to the modern generation.<\/p>\n

The process of Darnell learning more about Harriet’s life – from her own voice – and processing the lessons of it makes a simply lovely story. And along the way, Darnell needs to process his own coming-out journey, because Harriet senses that here, too, is someone she needs to lead to freedom.<\/p>\n

I recommend listening to the audiobook performance of this book – especially because it ends with two of the songs written for Harriet to perform, consolidating lessons from her life.<\/p>\n

bobthedragqueen.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Buy from Amazon.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Find this review on Sonderbooks<\/a> at: www.sonderbooks.com\/Fiction\/harriet_tubman_live_in_concert.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.<\/p>\n

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but the views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.<\/p>\n

Subscribe<\/a> for more reviews and talk about books.<\/p>\n

Join the conversation: What did you think of this book?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Harriet Tubman Live in Concert by Bob the Drag Queen read by the Author Simon & Schuster Audio, 2025. 4 hours, 18 minutes. Review written February 16, 2026, from a library eaudiobook. Starred Review 2026 Alex Award Winner I would have never listened to this audiobook if it hadn’t won an Alex Award. The Alex […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,21,5,32,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-46238","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-audiobooks","category-contemporary","category-fiction-review","category-historical","category-science-fiction"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=46238"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46238\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46456,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46238\/revisions\/46456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=46238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=46238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=46238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}