A drag-queen story hour in Philadelphia set a Guinness World Record earlier this month by attracting 263 attendees, but Kirk Cameron is confident he can shatter that mark.
The Christian actor and Brave Books are throwing their second annual See You at the Library event on Aug. 24, inviting supporters to host children’s story hours at their local libraries as part of a national one-day read-a-thon.
Last year’s gathering drew more than 10,000 attendees at more than 300 libraries in 46 states, according to Brave Books. But Mr. Cameron told The Washington Times that “we’re looking to 2X what we did last year.”
In other words, See You at the Library 2024 should have little trouble clearing the attendance threshold set on June 1 by the Drag Queen Story Time at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, sponsored by the Philadelphia Gay News and the tourism agency Visit Philadelphia.
“Our hope is that the Guinness Book of World Records will give us just as much recognition, and that we’ll crush the world record for attendance at a story hour,” Mr. Cameron said.
Guinness World Records listed the Philadelphia event as the “largest attendance at a drag queen story time” with 263 people, a tally verified by Guinness officials on the scene.
Four drag queens, or men dressed in elaborate female garb, read books including “Twas the Night Before Pride” by Joanna McClintick; “The Family Book” by Todd Parr, and “Kevin the Unicorn: It’s Not All Rainbows” by Jessica von Innerebner, according to the News.
It’s unclear whether Guinness has a non-drag category for “biggest library story time” or “largest attendance at a national story hour,” but Mr. Cameron said he plans to extend an invitation to Guinness to chronicle the Aug. 24 event.
“I think it’s going to be ’wholesome story hour’ for the win with the world’s largest story hour,” Mr. Cameron said. “And we’re going to invite the Guinness World Records to come out and record it, and we’re going to see if they have the objectivity and integrity to give us equal opportunity.”
He said interested families can support the event in two ways: by hosting a library reading, or by purchasing a Brave Books tool kit for their local hosts that includes five children’s books, 50 Statue of Liberty stickers, 50 hand-held American flags, and instructions on how to host a successful reading.
More information on “See You at the Library” can be found at bravestoryhour.com.
The event has already met with pushback. Book Riot warned on X that “Brave Books is bringing its right-wing See You at the Library Storytime events to public libraries again in August. Now is the time to prepare.”
Former librarian Kelly Jensen accused Brave Books in the June 10 article of using the readings as a pretext to sell titles and “stoke moral panic.”
Mr. Cameron and Brave Books began holding children’s story hours at public libraries in late 2022, saying that more than 50 libraries rebuffed or ignored their requests to sponsor a reading of Mr. Cameron’s book “As You Grow” despite previously hosting drag story hours.
Over the next six months, Mr. Cameron held more than a dozen book readings, joined sometimes by fellow Brave Books authors such as Riley Gaines and Missy Robertson, a tour that culminated in the mass “See You at the Library” event held Aug. 5 at libraries nationwide.
The readings routinely drew overflow crowds of children, parents and grandparents. often requiring Mr. Cameron to hold a second reading. Attendance estimates typically ranged from 500 to 1,000 people.
The strong public interest came despite a decided lack of enthusiasm from public libraries, which refused to sponsor or advertise the readings, requiring Brave Books to rent out public rooms.
Mr. Cameron’s participation in the library tour has slowed as he undertakes his next project, a Brave Books children’s television series called “Adventures with Iggy and Mr. Kirk,” which is scheduled for release later this year.
Puppeteer John Kennedy of the Jim Henson Company and “Sesame Street” plays the role of Iggy.
“I’m playing the Mr. Rogers of this generation, and we’ve got a vulture named Culture and an iguana named Iggy, and we talk about all these stories that I’ve read at the libraries, but now we’re actually putting them into a TV show,” Mr. Cameron said.
“So my time has been there, not at the libraries, but I’m leaning heavily into this event on Aug. 24,” he said.
• Valerie Richardson can be reached at vrichardson@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.