Shane Jenek took a little more care than usual while transforming into drag queen Courtney Act for the first public reading of their new children’s book. There wasn’t as much sparkle or as many sequins in the outfit, but there was one very important accessory – wattle.

The native Australian plant is the centrepiece – not just of Act’s outfit on the morning they read Confetti and the Rainbow Garden to a bunch of kids in Sydney’s Botanic Garden, but also of the story itself.

Jenek, who came under fire in 2022 when they read a book to children on Play School’s Story Time as Courtney Act, has written a book from the perspective of an anthropomorphic wattle who wanted to fit in.

“They might first go ‘Oh God! A book by a drag queen! It’s got rainbow in the title!’ ” Jenek jokes. “But then

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