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'Reading Rainbow' has finally found its new host—beloved librarian Mychal Threets

For those who haven't heard of this Internet-famous champion for "library joy," get excited.

Gstatic, Wikipedia

Now this is some positive news.

Undoubtedly, a major part of what made Reading Rainbow so special, what kept people coming back year after year for nearly two decades, was the show’s charismatic, inspiring host—LeVar Burton. Even after the series ended, Burton remains an advocate for literacy and libraries through his podcast LeVar Burton Reads, as well as hosting the 70th National Book Awards Ceremony & Benefit Dinner, and serving as the 2023 Honorary Chair of Banned Books Week in 2023 to highlight the importance of fighting censorship. The man is even an award-winning author himself.

All that to say, these would be some pretty big shoes to fill, should the show ever come back. Lo and behold, the series is returning, and the new host couldn’t be any more perfect.

Mychal Threets, a California-based librarian with an amazing afro, quirky threads, and a contagious smile, first began sharing TikTok stories about the everyday folks he met at the library where he worked during the pandemic. It was either that or dance videos, and “I’m no dancer,” Threets warned in a recent interview with TIME.

Below is a small sampling of Threets lovely personality:

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Threets went viral in 2023 after sharing his experience of talking to a child whose grandparent was worried about library fines. Since then, Threets has used his Internet fame to spread “library joy” throughout the land, ensuring that it’s a “place for everybody to exist,” not just a book warehouse. And, boy, is it a message that’s been resonating with people.

So when it was announced that a Reading Rainbow reboot would be happening on Kidzuko, a popular kids-focused YouTube channel hosted by none other than Threets himself, people were moved to say the least.

Pretty soon, across various social media platforms, heartfelt praise for Threets began rolling in.

“I laid in bed last evening and cried when I saw the news.”

“You are a testimony to living your most authentic life and how that pays off and finding your passion.”

“What a time to be alive! I can’t think of ANYONE better. “

“Genuinely cried seeing the announcement, I'm so incredibly excited and I hope that this can catch my daughter's interest and help her grow her love for books.”

“Can’t think of a better way to move the legacy forward."

“My eyes are tearing up. Mychal you’ve come so far and are doing incredible things! You are gonna be remembered alongside the likes of LeVar Burton, Mr. Rodgers, Steve Irwin, and Bob Ross. Once in a lifetime gem.”

Threets also went onto Facebook to share gratitude for his predecessor.

“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.”

As we all wait on baited breath to see what Burton has to say, let’s take this time to congratulate Threets on this amazing milestone. It’s sure to inspire not only a love of reading for a whole new generation, but also lift a lot of spirits, too.

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People are freezing their old and secondhand books for this disgusting reason

"Book worms are real??!!"

Image via Canva/Jupiterimages

People who buy thrifted, secondhand and old books are shocked they need to freeze their books after buying.

Finding a treasured book at a thrift or secondhand store is a treat, and the look and feel of holding an old book is something special. Plus, they're often a good deal.

Many people who frequently buy used books are just finding out that they should be freezing their purchases. Sound weird? A little, but book lovers have a few solid, good reason for the quirky hack are spreading awareness about why they always put their secondhand books in the freezer before reading.

The main reason: it will get rid of any creepy-crawlies that may be lingering in the books. In an interview with Country Living, Lindsey Chastain, home expert and founder of The Waddle and Cluck, explained: "Freezing can get rid of booklice, silverfish, and bedbugs."

Surprisingly, bed bugs love to hide in books. According to library resource Mobius Consortium, bed bugs are usually found in the bindings of books near the spine, and often leave marks on pages. The organization notes that bed bugs may be more commonly found in hard cover books, but can also be found in paperbacks.

- YouTube www.youtube.com

Booklice also thrive in books, hence their namesake. They feed on mold and fungi and eat through paper products, thereby destroying books, according to Penn State University. Like booklice, silver fish also feed on book bindings.

Besides getting rid of bugs, freezing used books can also help with preservation. According to the Northeast Document Conservation Center, freezing books can also help prevent mold growth and maintain an old book's shape and condition.

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To properly freeze books, you should not simply place them in the freezer. "Put the books in a sealed plastic bag to keep condensation from warping the pages after you take them out," Chastain told Country Living.

Used books should remain in the freezer for at least 48 hours to eradicate anything that may be lingering inside. According to Dartmouth University, the cold temperatures and oxygen deprivation will slowly but surely kill the pests.

@mychala.reads

i learned why you should freeze your thrifted books and have never been the same since 😅 #thriftedbooks #bookthrifting #secondhandbooks #booktok #bookishtips

The pro-tip had book lovers shocked. "How did I not know this was a thing?" one commented on a video shared by book lover Diya on Instagram. Another added, "Oh, this is... sincerely helpful 👏 Thank you!" Another reader wrote, "My family thinks I am crazy that I do this! Glad I am not the only one!"

And some shared their horror stories about finding critters in their books: "I always set my books on my night stand right? one day noticed TINY little crawlies all over it... book lice. MORTIFIED. had to put the night stand out in the snow for a few days. haven't seen em since.. (I am a clean person I promise)," one reader commented on a TikTok video. Another shared, "Uhh we got book lice once and never again. We freeze everything."

Others found humor in the new revelation. "Cracking open a cold one has a whole new meaning 🤯," one commented on reader Iraiter's Instagram video. Another quipped, "Cause reading is cool."

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Parents complained about 'offensive' book, so the principal read it to the entire school

Apparently learning about the Civil Rights movement is "inappropriate."

Jess Piper/Twitter
School responded to a parent's book complaint by reading it aloud to the entire student body

Schools often have to walk a fine line when it comes to parental complaints. Diverse backgrounds, beliefs, and preferences for what kids see and hear will always mean that schools can't please everyone all the time, so teachers and educators have to discern what's best for the whole, broad spectrum of kids in their care.

Sometimes, what's best is hard to discern. Sometimes it's absolutely not.

Such was the case when a parent at a St. Louis elementary school complained in a Facebook group about a book that was read to her 7-year-old. The parent wrote:

"Anyone else check out the read a loud book on Canvas for 2nd grade today? Ron's Big Mission was the book that was read out loud to my 7 year old. I caught this after she watched it bc I was working with my 3rd grader. I have called my daughters school. Parents, we have to preview what we are letting the kids see on there."

Fittingly, the Facebook group was titled "Concerned Parents of the Rockwood School District."

book bans, books, reading, elementary school, schools, education, racism, kids books, childrens books, parents, teachers Parents have always been concerned with what their kids are reading; but lately it's getting out of hand. Photo by Jonathan Borba on Unsplash

The book in question, Ron's Big Mission, highlights a true story from the childhood of Challenger astronaut Ron McNair, who had experienced discrimination as a child in South Carolina because he was Black. In 1959, when he was nine years old, McNair wanted to check out books at the library, but the librarian told him the library didn't loan books to "coloreds." McNair refused to leave the library until he was allowed to check out books. Rather than give him a library card, the librarian called the police, who ultimately convinced her to just let him check out books.

Seriously, what issue could this parent possibly take with such an inspiring story of a kid standing up to injustice and fighting for the right to educate himself?

This was a child who single-handedly changed a library's racial segregation policy and grew up to be an astronaut—a genuine, real-life hero. What is there to take issue with? The parent didn't specify, so we're left to conjecture, but bad reviews for the book on Goodreads and Amazon might give us a clue: Some readers have taken offense at the way the book portrays white people.

"I understand racial diversity is important but this is just awful. I don't think it's appropriate for kids because they don't live in a world where black kids can't rent books or do the same things white kids can do. It's a pretty level playing field now," one reviewer wrote on Goodreads.

"Children are supposed to learn how to love all cultures not hate all cultures," added another 1-star reviewer.

Cue up the tiny violins.

book bans, books, reading, elementary school, schools, education, racism, kids books, childrens books, parents, teachers The old "reverse racism" trope! Giphy

Rockwood Education Equity and Diversity Director Brittany Hogan told KMOX News Radio that after hearing of the complaint, other parents responded immediately in the book's defense.

"They were saying this is amazing that they were buying copies of the book," Hogan said. "One of our parents came out and said she was going to purchase a copy for every second-grader at the elementary school that her children attends."

Hogan called McNair a hero and said, "He deserves to be celebrated. His story deserves to be told to our children. It's important that we continue to move in a space that embeds diverse curriculum."

And the school responded in the best possible way—by announcing the book was going to be read aloud to the whole student body via Zoom. That's how you shut down a bigot. Boom.

Here's Pond Elementary Principal Carlos Diaz-Granados reading "Ron's Big Mission" to students via Zoom and sharing why he thinks it's an important book for kids:

- YouTube www.youtube.com

In the years since this incident, book bans have sadly become even more of an issue in many parts of America. During the 2023-2024 school year, over 10,000 books were banned in public schools; a rapidly accelerating number. It's too easy for special interest groups and politicians to hide behind the idea of "protecting kids" from inappropriate content, when in reality, any books written by or about people of color or the LQBTQ+ community are being overwhelmingly targeted just for existing.

Schools have a responsibility in this battle. While it's not their place to adopt a formal religious, racial, or political position, they are supposed to be environments where all are welcome. And it's their job to fight for their students' right to learn and access information. Kudos to the Pond Elementary Team for doing the right thing here.

This article originally appeared two years ago. It has been updated.

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'Wicked' author reveals subtle clue in 'The Wizard of Oz' that Glinda and Elphaba were friends

"I fell down onto the ground laughing at the thought that they had gone to college together."

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Gregory Maguire was inspired by a line in the original 1939 film "The Wizard of Oz."

Have you ever watched a movie or read a book or listened to a piece of music and wondered, "How did they come up with that idea?" The creative process is so enigmatic even artists themselves don't always know where their ideas come from, so It's a treat when we get to hear the genesis of a brilliant idea straight from the horse's mouth. It's often not what you would expect!

If you've watched Wicked and wondered where the idea for the friendship between Elphaba (the Wicked Witch) and Glinda (the Good Witch) came from, the author of the book has shared the precise moment it came to him.

The hit movie Wicked is based on the 20-year-old hit stage musical, which is based on the novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West written by Gregory Maguire. It says a lot about how powerful the story is that it has succeeded in so many different mediums and continued to find new audiences that connect with it.

While the musical is a simplified version of the 1995 book, the basic storyline—the origins of the two witches from "The Wizard of Oz"—lies at the heart of both. In an interview with BBC, Maguire explained how Elphaba and Glinda's friendship popped into his head.

wizard of oz, wicked, wicked for good, wicked movie, wicked musical, wicked novel, gregory maguire, art, artists, writers, authors Ariana Grande as Glinda in the "Wicked" film Giphy

Maguire was visiting Beatrix Potter's farm in Cumbria, England (Potter was an author and illustrator who created Peter Rabbit) and thinking about "The Wizard of Oz," which he had loved as a child and thought could be an interesting basis for a story about evil.

"I thought 'alright, what do we know about 'The Wizard of Oz' from our memories,'" he said. "We have the house falling on the witch. What do we know about that witch? All we know about that witch is that she has feet. So I began to think about Glinda and the Wicked Witch of the West…

"There is one scene in the 1939 film where Billie Burke [Glinda] comes down looking all pink and fluffy, and Margaret Hamilton [The Wicked Witch] is all crawed and crabbed and she says something like, 'I might have known you'd be behind this, Glinda!' This was my memory, and I thought, now why is she using Glinda's first name? They have known each other. Maybe they've known each other for a long time. Maybe they went to college together. And I fell down onto the ground in the Lake District laughing at the thought that they had gone to college together."

Maguire must have thought the idea of Glinda and The Wicked Witch attending college together was absurd at the time. What a kooky idea! But he pursued it nonetheless and, well, the rest is history.

wizard of oz, wicked, wicked for good, wicked movie, wicked musical, wicked novel, gregory maguire, art, artists, writers, authors A photo of author Gregory Maguire.By Jeremy Goldstein/Flickr CC BY 2.0

In "Wicked," Glinda and the Wicked Witch, Elphaba, meet as students at Shiz University, a school of wizardry. They get placed as roommates, loathe each other at first, but eventually become best friends. The story grows a lot more complicated from there (and the novel goes darker than the stage play), but it's the character development of the two witches and their relationship with one another that force us to examine our ideas about good and evil.

Watch his explanation and inspiration here:

Maguire also shared with the Denver Center for Performing Arts what had inspired him to use the "Wizard of Oz" characters in the first place.

"I was living in London in the early 1990’s during the start of the Gulf War. I was interested to see how my own blood temperature chilled at reading a headline in the usually cautious British newspaper, the Times of London: 'Sadaam Hussein: The New Hitler?' I caught myself ready to have a fully formed political opinion about the Gulf War and the necessity of action against Sadaam Hussein on the basis of how that headline made me feel. The use of the word Hitler – what a word! What it evokes! When a few months later several young schoolboys kidnapped and killed a toddler, the British press paid much attention to the nature of the crime.

"I became interested in the nature of evil, and whether one really could be born bad," he said.

"I considered briefly writing a novel about Hitler but discarded the notion due to my general discomfort with the reality of those times. But when I realized that nobody had ever written about the second most evil character in our collective American subconscious, the Wicked Witch of the West, I thought I had experienced a small moment of inspiration. Everybody in America knows who the Wicked Witch of the West is, but nobody really knows anything about her. There is more to her than meets the eye."

Authors and artists—and their ideas—help hold a mirror up to humanity for us to see and reflect on who we are, and "Wicked" is one of those stories that makes us take a hard look at what we're seeing in that mirror. Thanks, Gregory Maguire, for launching us on a collective journey that not only entertains but has the potential to change how we see one another.

The second Wicked film, For Good, hits theaters in November 2025.

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This story originally appeared last year. It has been updated.

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