Back in 2022, a beautiful documentary titled “Butterfly in the Sky” debuted, highlighting the impact and legacy of the popular PBS series “Reading Rainbow.” As it rightfully pointed out, “Reading Rainbow” wasn’t a show about teaching children how to read; it was a show teaching them how to love reading. A staple of PBS from 1983 until 2006 (making it the third-longest-running children’s TV series in US history), “Reading Rainbow” and host LeVar Burton collectively garnered more than 250 awards, including the prestigious George Foster Peabody Award, Telly Awards, Parents’ and Teachers’ Choice Awards, and a total of 26 Emmy Awards.
Tragically, “Reading Rainbow” ended in 2006 due to challenges with funding and the need to adapt to changing technology and delivery methods. The reality is that young audiences consume media very differently from the children of yesteryear. With an abundance of streaming on-demand favorites on easily accessible tablets, children crave a direct link to interactive activities, educational games, and their favorite shows.
Now, nearly 20 years after it went off the air, “Reading Rainbow” is returning with new episodes, new guests, new books, and a new format (incorporating hands-on crafting instructions) to better connect with today’s young audiences. A trailer for the series has highlighted several celebrity guests that will appear, including “Dancing With the Stars” performers Rylee Arnold and Ezra Sosa, “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” and “The Bear” actor Ebon Moss-Bachrach, and books narrated by the likes of Jamie Chung, Gabrielle Union, Adam Devine, John Legend, and Chrissy Teigen. The new iteration will be a digital series debuting Saturday, October 4, 2025, on KidZuko, the kids-focused YouTube channel operated by Sony Pictures Television, with a new host, Mychal Threets, aka Mychal the Librarian.
With no exaggeration, there is no one else on the planet more qualified to follow in Burton’s footsteps than Mychal the Librarian, and it is a sign that the revival is in the best possible hands.
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Meet Mychal the Librarian!
Mychal the Librarian showing off his merchandise – Mychal Threets
Mychal the Librarian is a Bay Area native with a master’s degree in library information science, and he previously worked as a children’s librarian at the Fairfield Civic Center Library, a branch of the Solano County Library in Solano County, California (which is the same library he grew up patronizing as a child). During the quarantine era of the COVID-19 pandemic, Threets began posting videos on TikTok and Instagram about why the library is a vital resource and place for joy. And it’s his own joy and passion for the library that viewers found downright infectious and helped make him a viral superstar.
Almost instantly, people were calling for him to revive “Reading Rainbow.” He was honored with the “I Love My Librarian Award” from the American Library Association for his outstanding public service in 2023, and in 2024, Threets was named the resident librarian at PBS, a perfect position for someone who preaches the message that the library is for everyone. But the magic of Mychal the Librarian is that his sunny disposition and quest to spread “library joy” are completely authentic. His TikTok videos weren’t just to guide young readers to the books he hopes will inspire a lifelong love of reading; they’re also a platform to direct adult viewers to resources libraries provide that they might not be aware of — like tax assistance, legal help, and equipment rentals, as well as technical support such as instructions on how to turn on a special font for dyslexic users in the popular free e-book app Libby.
Threets has also been very candid about his own struggles with anxiety, depression, and panic attacks, advocating for the destigmatization of mental illness. He wears his passions and truth on his sleeve, sometimes literally. Mychal the Librarian famously shows off his tattoos featuring characters from Maurice Sendak’s “Where the Wild Things Are” and the works of Richard Scarry, and he even has the library card of the titular “Arthur” tattooed on his arm, a permanent reminder that having fun isn’t hard when you’ve got a library card.
Mychal the Librarian is the advocate readers deserve
Book bans in the U.S. are at an unprecedented high, funding for quality children’s entertainment (especially PBS) is being gutted by the Trump Administration, and there’s only so much that “Bluey” and Ms. Rachel (a show Threets has appeared on!) can do to help fill the gaps. Threets turned his love and passion for reading, libraries, and joy into his full-time career, launching an online book club, the “Thoughts About Feelings” podcast, and a children’s book titled “I’m So Happy You’re Here: A Celebration of Library Joy,” due out in 2026. He, like Burton and Fred Rogers before him, has also pleaded with Congress to keep access to PBS alive.
Threets additionally provides a vital source of representation, as less than 7% of American librarians are Black. He is a constant advocate for the freedom of expression for all children, but especially those who are marginalized in some way. Young children already adore Mychal’s online content, and parents familiar with his work have already expressed their excitement online that he has been chosen as Burton’s successor. Mychal the Librarian has helped fundamentally shift the way people in the online age view libraries, having found a way to break through the noise and make the case for literacy as something to be enjoyed.
Classic episodes of “Reading Rainbow” are now available on the PBS Retro FAST channel, alongside other classic media like “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” and “Kratts’ Creatures!” PBS Retro is available on Prime Video, Roku, TCL, and Vizio.
New episodes of “Reading Rainbow” start on October 4, 2025, on Kidzuko.
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Read the original article on SlashFilm.
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