A lot is going wrong in the world right now, but there are two rays of sunshine breaking through: Sesame Street found a secondary home on Netflix, starting next year, and Reading Rainbow is returning with a new host!
Reading Rainbow launched in 1983 with host LeVar Burton. Burton taught children about the wonders of the library and reading as a source of fun, as well as learning more about the world around them.
The original show ran for 26 years with 155 episodes, making it the third-longest-running children's television series in U.S. history. Reading Rainbow ended in 2009, but not before it earned an impressive 26 Emmy awards, a Peabody Award, and more than 200 other broadcasting awards.
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Earlier this week, the team behind Reading Rainbow shared a very special video on their Instagram page that left all of their followers smiling: they were coming back with none other than Mychal Threets.
Threets is known as "Mychal the Librarian" on social media, as he is not only a social media personality but also a librarian, literacy advocate, and mental health advocate. With his bubbly personality, love of books, and unique ability to connect stories to communities and historical events, Threets is an excellent choice to fill the shoes of LeVar Burton.
The Reading Rainbow team captioned the video:
"Take a look, it’s in a book!"
"After nearly 20 years… Reading Rainbow is returning to motivate, help, and encourage kids to become avid readers with new episodes, new friends, new projects, and of course… new books! Make sure to follow the rainbow."
Threets then added a video description to the comments section:
"Video Description: A familiar tune plays. Mychal walks out of a library, smiling and saying, 'Hi! And welcome to Reading Rainbow!'"
"He introduces the library, and video of kids talking, cheering, and coloring plays. He announces 'Reading Rainbow' is returning with all new episodes! There will be new friends like Rylee Arnold, Ezra Sosa, Bellen Woodard, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach."
"New projects like postcards, sensory bottles, and sidewalk libraries."
"New books narrated by Jamie Chung, Gabrielle Union, Adam DeVine, John Legend, and Chrissy Teigen."
"A kid previews their book rating of an astounding 2,000 stars!"
"Mychal encourages you to follow the rainbow."
You can watch the video here:
The news of Reading Rainbow returning was like a breath of fresh air to many.
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Many viewers were also overwhelmingly excited to see that Mychal Threets had been chosen for the role.
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Reading Rainbow is returning with four episodes to begin with and will be viewable on Sony Pictures Television's YouTube channel, KidZuko, starting Saturday, October 4. But if the show is popular, we might receive a full reboot!
With educational programs being cut and fewer third spaces available than ever, seeing news like this gives us incredible hope.
And launching it right before Banned Books Week, which advocates for and celebrates banned books in the U.S. and runs from October 5 to October 11, is making quite an incredible statement.
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