TESTIMONIALS
TESTIMONIALS
Praise for Drag Queen Story Hour NYC
"Those of us who work with young children on a regular basis know that children can dress and act in a variety of ways, and supporting their choices builds self-confidence and can help avoid serious problems later in life. By creating an atmosphere of acceptance, and reading stories about acceptance of differences, DQSH helps to stave off teasing and bullying."
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— Judy Zuckerman
Director of Youth and Family Services,
Brooklyn Public Library
"We recently hosted Drag Queen Story Hour in the middle school at Brooklyn Collaborative and, as perhaps you can imagine, the response was magical. Most of the kids in the audience were from our Gender and Sexual Identity/Black Lives Matter Collective. They had amazing questions and our drag queen, Harmonica Sunbeam, answered them with tremendous respect, insight, and graciousness. DQSH is really about connecting with kids, helping them to understand identity and intersectionality. I highly recommend this incredibly professional, well-managed, thoughtful organization. It is a jewel."
— Amanda Clarke
Librarian, Brooklyn Collaborative Studies Middle
School
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"Drag Queen Story Hour is a fun and fabulous way of encouraging children to read. It is also a great way to teach them to embrace our society’s differences and diversity. The expressions of joy on children’s faces when they see and interact with the drag queens are priceless. The flamboyancy and theatrics of Drag Queen Story Hour truly captures their attention and helps facilitate learning."
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— Daniel Dromm
New York City Council Member
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"This experience lightened my day and not only was it fun listening to a sassy, energetic, and color-loaded drag queen read and sing in the most hilarious voices, we also got to learn important life lessons everyone should learn. Parents, teachers, and children especially loved the enthusiasm."
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— Anonymous 7th Grader
MS 245, The Computer School
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"As a teacher, I had so much fun during DQSH. What impressed me most was how some students I never thought would even attend were not only there but they engaged in a way I haven't seen them engage all year. It brought a wide range of students (and adults) together and was such a fun way to celebrate what makes us unique."
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— Michael N, Teacher
MS 245, The Computer School
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“I am especially proud to support Drag Queen Story Hour, a wonderfully imaginative and inclusive program for kids that encourages acceptance and a love of reading. Drag Queen Story Hour provides all kids with a space to be themselves and to see queer role models — something I desperately needed as a kid.”
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— Jimmy Van Bramer
New York City Council Member
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“Drag Queen Story Hour is a wonderful event that teaches compassion and understanding to our children. There’s nothing that is more valuable.”
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— Scott Stringer
NYC Comptroller
"What an amazing way to teach individuality, empathy, and acceptance! Drag Queen Story Hour gave my first graders a fun and interactive platform to talk and think about social and emotional issues like acceptance, being yourself, and loving who you are. Through books, songs, arts and crafts, and movement activities, they explored these issues and had an amazing time doing it! During our debrief after DQSH, they were preaching the incredible lessons they had learned, like “It’s OK to be different,” and “There’s no such thing as ‘boy’ things or ‘girl’ things.” I was proud to be able to have DQSH at my school and will definitely be planning another story hour for next year!"
— Alexis Hernandez
First grade teacher at PS 118,
the Maurice Sendak Community School
“DQSH is an amazing program and provides students across many diverse backgrounds the opportunity to discuss gender expression and diversity in a safe space. DQSH has truly changed the culture in many schools and has helped open up dialogue as it pertains to gender identity. The book choices are also great!
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— Eric Vaughan
LGBTQ Program Manager,
New York City Department of Education
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“Dragtivity Time with DQSH and Sez Me was a huge success with our students and teachers. It's a fun and informative way to learn about drag and gender!
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— Monica Carter
LGBTQ Writers in Schools Program Manager
Lambda Literary
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"Having Drag Queen Story Hour at our school was such a wonderful, empowering, and wholesome experience for our students! Angel Elektra was dynamic, informative, kind, and just altogether great with the kids. The message and takeaway of the event for students and staff was all about kindness and inclusivity, in addition to following one's dreams, whatever those dreams may be. Every person in attendance, from sixth grade to high school students to the school principal walked away from the event feeling a little bit happier than when they walked in. My students and I are so grateful to have had such an enriching experience."
— David Budde
English Teacher,
Urban Assembly School of Criminal Justice
“We had the pleasure to welcome Harmonica Sunbeam to our Universal Pre-Kindergarten program. Harmonica read a story to the children, answered questions, and sat with the children to do an art project. We also had parents that wanted to join in the fun and stayed in the classroom for the duration of the visit. It was a wonderful and uplifting event that we are so grateful to have been able to share with our children.”
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— Carol Carrozelli
Program Director,
Henry Street Settlement Early Childhood Program
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Praise for Our Livestream Programs​
“One of our most popular livestream programs this week has been Drag Queen Story Hour, which always draws a big crowd in the branches. The drag queens are so sparkly and colorful and the kids just love to hear stories and songs from them. Many of the stories they read are about tolerance and acceptance and love, so it’s even more important to present that at this time when we all need a little more love. This week we featured Miz Jade, singing songs and reading books from her home. We are just delighted to be able to continue this program while people are sheltering in place and staying home.”
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— Fritzi Bodenheimer
Press Officer, Brooklyn Public Library
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“Drag Queen Story Hour is a creative, effective, and heart-happy program that promotes diversity and understanding for both children and adults. The Meatpacking BID is proud to be working with them during a huge time of challenge in NYC as we bring an increase of digital programming during the Covid outbreak, hosting a weekly DQSH livestream on Fridays.”
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— Jeffrey LeFrancois
Executive Director, Meatpacking Business
Improvement District
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“We recently hosted a virtual Drag Queen Story Hour for our company and the feedback has been amazing! We had so many kids with their parents, as well as adults, join and enjoy the program. We would definitely do it again and recommend it to everyone!”
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— Ivana Raymond
Executive Assistant, BRAINPop
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“Virtual Drag Queen Story Hour is a must for any organization looking to support the families they serve. I've seen DQSH live, and I was just as enamored with storytime online! Harmonica Sunbeam was AMAZING—such a happy, uplifting reader and singer who will brighten anyone's day! If you're looking for a way to better engage your audience, virtual DQSH is it! It's currently our video with the most engagement on Facebook. Especially now, everyone needs DQSH to lift their spirits, and to keep us reading, singing, and dancing!
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—Kristen Rocha Aldrich
Program Director, Reach Out and Read of Greater
New York
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“PS150Q was scheduled to have Drag Queen Story Hour perform last month, before the schools closed, and we were so happy when they offered to perform virtually! We had such a lovely evening with students from K-5 joining a virtual meeting to hear Harmonica read wonderful stories of inclusion and even sing songs. One of the highlights was that our kids were even able to interact and ask questions, which they were so excited by! While of course we would have loved to experience this in person (and plan to do so in the future), this was a fantastic experience for all involved!
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—Erin Lisowski
PTA President, PS 150Q
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“On behalf of Hunter College Elementary School and our DEI committee, Mosaic, thank you so very much [Council Member Keith Powers] for helping to sponsor our Drag Queen Story Hour event with Harmonica Sunbeam on June 15, 2020. Between the two programs, we had over 180 K-6th graders in attendance on Zoom.
In addition to introducing meaningful ideas and nuance to our understanding about identity, Harmonica’s performance and insights brought a dose of healing and language for celebration and joy in the midst of uncertainty and crisis.
Drag Queen Story Hour accomplishes so much for our kids. It’s fun and entertaining, even as the format offers new avenues for talking and seeing and, most importantly, for listening.
A thousand thanks to you and your office for paving the way for us."
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—Barbara Shostal, librarian, and Liz Van Hoose, 3rd grade parent and Mosaic co-convener, Hunter College Elementary School
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