{"id":200045,"date":"2025-10-03T19:01:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-03T19:01:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/200045\/"},"modified":"2025-10-03T19:01:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-03T19:01:09","slug":"reading-rainbow-is-back-with-new-episodes-on-youtube-npr","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/200045\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Reading Rainbow’\u2019 is back with new episodes on YouTube : NPR"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Mychal<\/p>\n

\n Mychal Threets is hosting the new iteration of Reading Rainbow, which starts Saturday.<\/p>\n

Buffalo Toronto Public Media\/Embassy Row<\/p>\n

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Buffalo Toronto Public Media\/Embassy Row<\/p>\n

After nearly two decades, the classic kids’ show Reading Rainbow is back \u2014 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.”<\/p>\n

The original show, which ran for 26 years on PBS with host LeVar Burton, won more than 250 awards<\/a>, including 26 Emmys and a Peabody Award. It spurred a love of reading for generations of kids.<\/p>\n

The new host is library evangelist<\/a> 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.)<\/p>\n

In an Instagram post, Threets wrote<\/a>: “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.”<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

YouTube<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

A second season of the series hasn’t yet been confirmed, but a representative for Buffalo Toronto Public Media says they have high hopes.<\/p>\n

Former host Burton has tried to reboot Reading Rainbow himself in the past \u2014 but became ensnared<\/a> in legal challenges with the local PBS station within Buffalo Toronto Public Media.<\/p>\n

\"How<\/a> <\/p>\n

\"Kids<\/a> <\/p>\n