Reading Rainbow is returning to TV with a new host: Mychal Threets, also known as Mychal the Librarian, a Bay Area librarian immensely popular on TikTok and Instagram. News of the show’s return with Threets was announced on Monday.
“Reading Rainbow is returning will all-new episodes,” Threets said in a trailer video for the revamped children’s series. “That means new friends, new projects and, of course, new books!”
The children’s show promoting reading and literacy originally aired from 1983–2006, with host LeVar Burton and a contagious theme song.
Threets is a natural fit to host the relaunched Reading Rainbow. Born in Fairfield, he returned home after graduating from San Jose State University and began working at the Fairfield branch of the Solano County Library, where he would stay for 11 years.
There, he began posting motivational videos on TikTok about books, self-confidence and overcoming personal challenges — themes inherent to the original run of Reading Rainbow. He has since amassed more than 800,000 followers on both TikTok and Instagram.
“My overall message with these videos is just to remind people of one, that the library exists,” Threets told KQED in 2023. “But more importantly, just remind people that they do belong.”
