After nearly two decades, the classic kids’ show Reading Rainbow is back — with a new host and a new digital format, but with the same mission of encouraging children to “take a look, it’s in a book.”
The original show, which ran for 26 years on PBS with host LeVar Burton, won more than 250 awards, including 26 Emmys and a Peabody Award. It spurred a love of reading for generations of kids.
The new host is library evangelist Mychal Threets, who became a social media star while working as a librarian in Solano County, Calif. (His tattoos include PBS cartoon aardvark Arthur Read’s library card.)
In an Instagram post, Threets wrote: “I was raised on Reading Rainbow, LeVar Burton is my hero. I am a reader, I am a librarian because LeVar Burton and Reading Rainbow so powerfully made us believe we belong in books, we belong everywhere.”
Buffalo Toronto Public Media, which co-created the original series in 1983, co-produced the new season, which will run for four episodes. In a bid to appeal to the media consumption habits of today’s kids, the show will be available via YouTube. The first episode in the season will drop this Saturday on Kidzuko, a YouTube channel owned by Sony Pictures.
A second season of the series hasn’t yet been confirmed, but a representative for Buffalo Toronto Public Media says they have high hopes.
Former host Burton has tried to reboot Reading Rainbow himself in the past — but became ensnared in legal challenges with the local PBS station within Buffalo Toronto Public Media.