For over 23 years, the television series Reading Rainbow, hosted by LeVar Burton, gave generations of kids a true love of reading. And now, the iconic educational PBS series is getting rebooted. And it couldn’t come at a better time, as literacy rates have plummeted among young kids in recent years. Although Burton won’t be coming back as host, sadly, the producers have found a perfect replacement. Our new host is TikTok star and public library advocate Mychal Threets, aka Mychal the Librarian. The news comes to us from the folks at Bookriot, and you can watch the video announcement down below:
Judging from the brief announcement teaser, it looks like the new series will follow the formula of the original. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, as they say. And from the look of things, several big-name celebrities will appear, like The Fantastic Four: First Steps’ Ebon Moss-Bachrach, as well as John Legend, Adam DeVine, Gabrielle Union, and several other known names. But what we really want to know is, are we getting the iconic theme music back from the original show? We can’t think of the Reading Rainbow without instantly hearing the lyrics “Butterfly in the sky….I can go twice as high!” in our heads.
The original Reading Rainbow began in 1983, and aired on PBS, and later, PBS Kids, until November 2006. Much like Sesame Street, it played a foundational role in encouraging kids to read, instilling a love of books in them. It’s no surprise that so many YA franchises blossomed during the run of Reading Rainbow. We’re not sure when the version of Reading Rainbow will debut its new episodes. But it looks like they’ve already filmed much of the season. Hopefully, this is the beginning of a long run for this new iteration of the beloved series.