"Brave Books" co-CEO and founder Trent Talbot said he’s seen "amazing" support for his Christian, conservative story hours that he has been hosting at public libraries throughout the United States.
The entrepreneur, medical doctor, and children’s book author said he has seen a "hunger" on the part of Americans who want an alternative to sexualizing imagery that’s been spreading at Drag Queen Story hours in public libraries around the country.
Talbot, a father of two, started doing his own versions of children’s story hours at libraries late last year to fight back against these Drag Queen Story Hours, enlisting the famous conservative figures on his publishing roster to help present the Christian, conservative values found in Brave’s books to young kids.
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"The response has been amazing. At every single one we’re having hundreds or even thousands of people show up and just get behind what we’re doing," Talbot claimed.
Despite the pushback he has received from library staff insisting he’s not welcome at their spaces and incidences involving grown men dressed as drag nuns infiltrating his events and "creeping kids out," Talbot claimed the support he has received for his events has been "awesome."
Talbot stepped away from practicing medicine to found Brave Publishing Co. in 2020, a publisher of kids’ books featuring prominent Christian and pro-America themes. Shortly after it was created, Brave began publishing children’s books authored by prominent conservatives, including Rep. Dan Crenshaw, R-Texas, conservative actor Kirk Cameron, and Libs of TikTok’s Chaya Raichik.
Figures like former Trump press secretary Sean Spicer and radio host Dana Loesch have had kids’ books published by Brave Publishing Co. as well.
Two years after founding Brave and acquiring his roster of conservative authors, Talbot, with the help of Cameron, came up with the idea of doing story hours at public libraries throughout the U.S. The goal was to counteract some of the aggressive LGBTQ programming Talbot saw was being aimed at very young children.
They envisioned it as a wholesome alternative to Drag Queen Story Hours that have been hosted in public libraries throughout the country.
Talbot told Fox News Digital how they came up with their idea. He said, "Kirk Cameron was doing a book in December of last year, and he wanted to do a reading or two in some blue areas, specifically in libraries that have hosted a Drag Queen Story Hour. It’s like, hey, these communities need to hear a different voice and different message."
He explained, "And so we go and we start messaging these libraries to host our own story hour, and we’re like ‘Hey we want to do a children’s book reading that teaches Biblical-ism.’"
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Talbot noted that his idea initially received a cold response from dozens of public libraries he approached about the events. He claimed, "And zero of the 54 libraries responded to us… and some of them actively said, ‘No, this does not line up with our values. We’re not going to host you.'"
Though Brave wasn’t deterred. Talbot continued, saying, "Well, we let the media know about it and then we threatened to file a First Amendment lawsuit against some of these libraries. Finally, they backed down."
The publisher noted how once they finally started having these events, "thousands" of people showed up in support of them. "We had thousands of people show up at these libraries in Indianapolis and then Scarsdale, New York. The response was so amazing and the energy at these story hour readings were just so vibrant – there were songs breaking out of God Bless America, and things like that."
He added, "The energy was amazing that us and Kirk were like, ‘Hey let’s do more of these. This is awesome!’ There’s a demand. And so we did."
Talbot acknowledged some of the obstacles to getting these story hours off the ground, saying, "At every single one of these story hours, they’re interesting. Something happens – libraries try to block us, or they’re rude to us, or drag queen nuns show up."
He claimed the support has vastly outweighed the negativity.
"But the response for the most part, the response has been amazing. At every single one we’re having hundreds or even thousands of people show up and just get behind what we’re doing," he said.
He added, "There is a hunger both for wholesome content that teaches traditional conservative values, Christian values, but there’s also hunger for people to take action and work to take back some of these spaces, these institutions we’ve sort of just let the left control and own."
Fox News Digital asked Talbot a bit more about the pushback Brave has received from leftists for his story hours. Recently, one of his events made headlines after it was infiltrated and heckled by men dressed as drag nuns.
Another Brave story hour in New York City, featuring Brave author and LibsofTikTok account owner Chaya Raichik, was canceled after receiving threats of "unsafe behavior."
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Speaking about the drag nuns incident at the library in Fayetteville, Arkansas, Talbot said, "They were dressed in nun outfits, men dressed in nun outfits, faces painted, looked scary even to me. What’s their motivation to show up to this event and walk up and down, creeping kids out?"
Talbot explained why he thought they were doing this and why some LGBTQ people are hosting drag queen story hours for kids in general, saying, "It’s hard to put yourself in their minds, but to me it’s a desire – they sort of get off on shocking kids and taking away that innocence, and you if you really like think about it, that’s some dark stuff."
Elsewhere, he said, "I think it’s about taking away children’s innocence and starting the process of sexualizing them. To me, once kids are exposed to this stuff and their innocence is disrupted, it creates separation from the parents and the kids."
When asked about the cancelation of his New York City story hour, which was to be held as an event competing with New York Attorney General Letitia James’ own Drag Queen Story Hour last Sunday, Talbot claimed he didn’t want to risk an unsafe environment for the kids.
He stated that during the planning for the event, "we start to get word from people on the ground that, ‘Hey, ‘it’s probably going to be similar.' There’s gonna be people protesting, people trying to sneak in, disrupt the event."
