STORYTIME
FAYE KIT-KNIGHTLY READS DR. SEUSS
TO KIDS AT BARNES AND NOBLE
A debutante tells a story of acceptance
The Sneetches got really quite smart on that day,
The day they decided that Sneetches are Sneetches
And no kind of Sneetch is the best on the beaches.
That day, all the Sneetches forgot about stars
And whether they had one, or not, upon thars.
— Dr. Seuss, The Sneetches
Dr. Seuss’s classic tale of contrived differences and
ultimate acceptance got a fabulous telling at Eugene’s
Barnes and Noble store Aug. 5. Faye Kit-Knightly, a
debutante of the Imperial Sovereign Court of the Emerald
BY CARL SEGERSTROM
Empire, a local drag queen organization, read The
Sneetches and The Zaxs to a crowd of parents and children
that swelled to around 70.
Kit-Knightly wore a flowing white dress, long eyelash
extensions, a large sparkling feather necklace, tall platform
shoes and a bejeweled tiara on her otherwise bald head.
She added timely quips to the classic tales — the strange
car, “probably a Tesla”, the crazy winding road, “I-5 at
Gateway” — and handled the restless crowd of three-
somethings with elegance and patience.
She says reading to children is a great way to teach
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PHOTO BY AMANDA L. SMITH • ASMITHIMAGES.COM
DRAG QUEEN
them about acceptance and tolerance, and that she picked
The Sneetches because it’s a story about overcoming
differences in perception.
The drag queen storytime program started at the San
Francisco Public Library and has spread around the country.
According to the organization, the program is intended to
create a space where “kids are able to see people who defy
rigid gender restrictions and imagine a world where people
can present as they wish, where dress-up is real.”
This was the second drag queen story time at the store.
Event organizer Ben Brock says they’ll keep the program,
which has been well received, going on a monthly or
every-other-month basis.
Brock has been working to build an LGBTQ section
in the local Barnes and Noble, and to bring in authors
and speakers from the LGBTQ community. He says the
store’s LGBTQ offerings have been expanding and they’ve
received a lot of positive feedback for opening their space
to the community.
Anthony Garcia, whose daughter sat in rapt attention at
the storytelling, has attended both of the local events with
his family. “I think it’s fantastic,” he says. Garcia says his
daughter loves to dress up, and that it’s important to him and
his wife to show her “all the diversity of life that we can.”
“People call it alternative lifestyles, but I just see it as
a lifestyle,” he says. Though Garcia says he’s not likely to
dress in drag anytime soon, he does add that “if dudes can
rock it, then rock it. I’m all for it.”
While the crowd’s response was universally positive,
similar events have faced backlash from conservative me-
dia outlets like Fox News and in inflammatory posts on
Facebook. In North Carolina, one group successfully pres-
sured a local library out of hosting a drag queen storytime.
Proceeds from sales by event-goers raised money for
the Gay Straight Alliance at the Network Charter School
in Eugene. ■
Go to Barnes and Noble’s Facebook page at facebook.com/BNeugene for future
drag queen storytime events and for other book related events such as the
Aug. 10 book signing with the authors of Interviewing Jesus the Man and the
Christian romance novel, Road to Paradise.