Drag Queen To Read Kids' Books On Long Island City Street

LONG ISLAND CITY, QUEENS — An outdoor story hour is coming to Skillman Avenue tomorrow afternoon, but the reader isn’t a librarian, she’s a local drag queen.

Bella Noche, the organizer of Long Island City’s Drag Queen Story Hour chapter, is reading stories for kids of all ages from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Wednesday outside of Lou Lodati Playground at Skillman Avenue and 42nd Street — one of the neighborhood’s Open Streets.

The event is funded by City Councilmember Jimmy Van Bramer’s office in partnership with Sunnyside Woodside Open Streets and Drag Queen Story Hour (DQSH), an organization that creates culturally inclusive family programming where drag queens read storybooks to kids.

The organization has been hosting virtual readings since the start of the pandemic, and Bella Noche says tomorrow’s event, which is her first in-person reading in over a year, is particularly special since she was born and raised nearby, in Astoria.

“Being able to share my drag art and love for books in my home borough after the incredibly difficult year we had means the world to me,” she told Patch.

Bella Noche will be reading “Rainbow” by Michael Genhart, “The Hips on the Drag Queen Go Swish, Swish, Swish” by DQSH’s very own Lil’ Miss Hot Mess — which she describes as “a book and song all in one” — and “Julian is a Mermaid” by Jessica Love.

Bella Noche says Love’s book is about “a little boy who loves mermaids and wants to be one” which is something she “can relate to” as the self-described “drag mermaid of New York.”

DQSH has hosted several other outdoor story hours across the city, but this is their first in-person event during June, which is LGBTQ+ Pride Month.

Part of DQSH's mission is to help kids "imagine a world where people can present as they wish" — which is partially why Bella Noche's chosen titles celebrate pride and the power of individual expression.

"It’s important to me to give kids and their families queer messages and education because we now live in a world where most people know that all kinds of love are, ultimately, still love," she said.

Plus, it's important to DQSH, and Bella Noche, that those inclusive stories are told by people who can serve as queer role models for kids, too.

"I honestly wish I had queer role models sharing their truth with me when I was younger. It would have made growing up and coming into my own much easier," said Bella Noche, adding that she wants to be "that inspiration for kids to know its OK to unapologetically be themselves, whatever that may be. "

Find out more about the event here.