Drag

The following titles present dynamic ways to integrate dance, music, and drag into your storytimes.

The Titles

Miss Rita, Mystery Reader | If You’re a Drag Queen and You Know It | The Hips on the Drag Queen Go Swish, Swish, Swish

The illustrated cover of Miss Rita, Mystery Reader. Miss Rita waves with big black hair, a pink dress, and a big smile on her bespectacled face. Next to her is a smiling non-binary child wearing a blue shirt and pink suspenders and a bowtie.

Miss Rita, Mystery Reader by Sam Donovan and Kristen Wixted

Donovan, S. & Wixted, K. (2022). Miss Rita, mystery reader (V. Tobacco, Illus.). Farrar Straus Giroux.

Tori’s dad is their classroom’s featured storyteller for the day. Rather than visit the class as daddy, Tori asked Miss Rita to come. Together, they work to get daddy dressed for the big event, picking wigs and a dress. The text repeats the mantra “sparkle is serious business,” and arcs with Tori’s worry that their class will not like Miss. Rita as much as they do. In the end, Miss Rita and Tori decide to team up and perform a drag storytime together. Miss Rita, Mystery Reader features a non-binary child that uses they/them pronouns and a drag queen. Authors Donovan & Wixted include helpful information to be shared with an adult, including the difference between transgender and drag, and what it means to be non-binary.

Activity Idea

What is your mantra? Tori and daddy regularly repeat “sparkle is serious business” as they get ready for school. This book can be paired with another book with a repeated mantra throughout, like Mae Among the Stars, to show the ways words can build us up. Students can create their own mantras before working together to develop a classroom mantra.

And looking for a catchy way to introduce drag to young readers? Try Nina West’s Drag is Magic.

More resources found on the Teaching Books page.

Related Titles

Drag Storytimes: Lil Miss Hot Mess. (2020). The hips on the drag queen go swish, swish, swish (O. de Dios, Illus.). Running Press Kids. / Lil Miss Hot Mess. (2022). If you’re a drag queen and you know it (O. de Dios, Illus.). Running Press Kids.

Breaking Stereotypes in School: Hoffman, I. & Hoffman, S. (2014). Jacob’s New Dress (C. Case, Illus.). Albert Whitman & Company.

Celebrating Differences: Brown, K. (2019). I am perfectly designed (A, Syed, Illus.). Henry Holt and co. / Woodson, J. (2018). The day you begin (R. López, Illus.). Nancy Paulsen books.

The illustrated cover of if you're a drag queen and you know it. Three fabulous drag queens vogue. One wears a yellow dress, the other is in a wheelchair with a mermaid tail, and the third is in a sparkly pink cocktail dress with long gray hair.

If You’re a Drag Queen and You Know it by Lil Miss Hot Mess

Lil Miss Hot Mess. (2022). If you’re a drag queen and you know it (O. de Dios, Illus.). Running Press Kids.

If You’re a Drag Queen and You Know It integrates movement and song into storytime. Sung to the tune of If You’re Happy and You Know It, the diverse array of drag queens do actions such a blow kisses, strike poses, and wink, offering full body fun and engagement for an interactive read-aloud.

Activity Idea

If You’re a Drag Queen and You Know It works well in a movement-based storytime for younger children. Promote listeners to get up and dance – use multi-colored scarves to make it exciting!

More resources found on the Teaching Books page.

Related Titles

Drag Storytimes: Donovan, S. & Wixted, K. (2022). Miss Rita, mystery reader (V. Tobacco, Illus.). Farrar Straus Giroux. / Lil Miss Hot Mess. (2020). The hips on the drag queen go swish, swish, swish (O. de Dios, Illus.). Running Press Kids.

Movement Books: Craig, L. (2012). Dancing Feet (M. Brown, Illus.). Knopf Books for Young Readers. / Schoefield-Morrison, C. (2014). I got the rhythm (F. Morrison, Illus.). Bloomsbury Children’s Books. / Young, J. (2018). Play this book (D. Wiseman, Illus.). Bloomsbury Children’s Books.

The illustrated cover of The Hips on the Drag Queen Go Swish, Swish, Swish. Three drag queens dance in a line. One has long blue hair with a beard and mustache, the other wears a maroon cocktail dress with hot pink glasses, and the third wears a violet evening gown with a red boa.

The Hips on the Drag Queen Go Swish, Swish Swish by Lil Miss Hot Mess

Lil Miss Hot Mess. (2020). The hips on the drag queen go swish, swish, swish (O. de Dios, Illus.). Running Press Kids.

This book is a sing-song book about drag queens. It is read/sung to the tune of “The Wheels on the Bus”. Throughout the book, the drag queens swish their hips, stomp their shoes, shimmy their shoulders, snap their fingers, and twirl in a dance. This book is for children ages 1 to 6 years old. The Hips on the Drag Queen Go Swish, Swish, Swish is fitting for the Rainbow Connection because it shows children that they can be anything or anyone they want to be.

Activity Idea

The Hips on the Drag Queen Go Swish, Swish, Swish works well in a movement-based storytime for younger children. Promote listeners to get up and dance – use multi-colored scarves to make it exciting!

More resources found on the Teaching Books page.

Related Titles

Drag Storytimes: Donovan, S. & Wixted, K. (2022). Miss Rita, mystery reader (V. Tobacco, Illus.). Farrar Straus Giroux. / Lil Miss Hot Mess. (2022). If you’re a drag queen and you know it (O. de Dios, Illus.). Running Press Kids.