Generations of fans of the long-running PBS staple Reading Rainbow most likely tuned in on the family TV. Now a growing generation of young readers can stream the reboot on YouTube, hosted by children’s librarian Mychal Threets, who started his career in the San Francisco Bay Area and is known to his more than 1 million followers across TikTok and Instagram as Mychal the Librarian.
Threets broke through on social media with heartwarming videos that went viral in 2023. His message has balanced real talk about mental health with unwavering positivity, a message he’s now carrying over as honorary chair of National Library Week (April 19–25), with the theme “Find Your Joy.” He’s also featured on a new READ poster.
He spoke with American Libraries about his path from hometown library to TikTok fame and beyond, and his debut picture book, I’m So Happy You’re Here: A Celebration of Library Joy, with illustrations by Lorraine Nam (Random House, February).
You’ve talked about being a library kid long before you ever worked at the library. How did you start to see it as a career path?
It took a lot of failure. It took a lot of mistakes, a lot of careers not panning out. My dream job was to be in the military. Even as a kid, loving the military because my dad was in the Marine Corps and my grandfather was drafted into the army, I wanted to be part of it. I actually went to boot camp and was medically discharged from the US Army.
I was in my troubles, struggling mightily, and I was back at the local library trying to figure out my next steps, using their computers to research, to read things, to just be present. I didn’t wake up and say, “Today I’m going to have the courage to ask the library people, ‘How do I start becoming a library person?’” I was just at the library, and something came over me and said, “Maybe you can do this, maybe you can work here while you’re figuring things out.”
I became a shelver and a library aide and a library assistant, and that’s when I realized, yes, this is the life for me. I love hearing people’s stories. I love helping them get into their emails, apply for jobs, learn to read, figure out the books that will help them learn to read. So I went to school, I kept getting hired and promoted, and I fell more and more in love with library service.
What do you think it is about your library content and joy that’s resonated so much on social media?
I think a lot of it is that people remembered how much a library meant to them. For me, I started my social media career during the height of the pandemic. So many people were lonely, addressing different things in their lives, and they realized how big a role the local library played in their happiness, in their success, and even in their presence in the world, just by being for them.
That’s where the library always has a role: It’s reminding people that they’re not alone and that we’re going to do the best we can for one another. It’s us coming together as neighbors and saying, we all have a voice; this is who we are, this is why we need help even when we’re not able to ask for it. That’s where the helpers of the world come into play and start helping people via the local library.
Years after it went off the air, Reading Rainbow has now relaunched on YouTube. Why is this the right time and format for a reboot?
It’s always been the right time for Reading Rainbow. We’re doing what the show has always sought to do, which is to encourage people to read and reach people where they’re at—which is YouTube, which is the internet. [Former host] LeVar Burton will always be Reading Rainbow. You won’t find a bigger fan than me. That’s why I’m so thankful to be a part of the show, to talk about what it has always represented and what it still represents.
Now you’re a children’s book author. Where did the idea for the book come from?
My picture book is intended to remind people that they belong in the library, they belong in books. The project has been in the works for a long time, way before Reading Rainbow was announced to the world. I think the publisher reached out because of my overwhelming joy and silliness for libraries and books. They saw I had stories to share. As someone who has a tattoo sleeve of picture book characters, it’s very exciting to be part of literature.
What were you reading as you were writing?
A lot of Louis Sachar and Beverly Cleary. Getting back into the literature that hooked me and made me the reader I am. Also, some deep dives into Toni Morrison, James Baldwin, Audre Lorde, bell hooks, all sorts of people. Jason Reynolds, Kelly Yang, Raina Telgemeier. A lot of comfort reads and remembered reads that I’ve always loved.
You’ve been open about the stress and burnout that can come with being a public librarian. How do you reconcile that with library joy?
For public librarians, there are a lot of issues around the library being such a welcoming place—for the unhoused, for the mentally ill. I think if those people are not in the public library, the library is probably doing something incorrectly or actively excluding them, and that should never be the case.
That’s something that’s hard for young and experienced librarians alike to realize and to focus on, that that’s their role in the world, to make sure the library is for every single person. But there’s a lot of struggle. Being a library person, I focus on library joy, that’s the heart of my content, but I’ve never shied away from what happens in libraries.
I try to remind people why they got into working for libraries and that the library is for every single person. That’s why it’s okay if the library is a little bit noisy, if there are “loud in the library” days. You can learn to have a library voice, and you can realize the day when you’re not ready for the library, and that’s okay. There will always be a time, there will always be a place where you need the library, even if you don’t think you do. At some point you will, and the library will be ready for you.
What gives you hope and keeps you choosing joy in troubling times?
It’s always the library kids. They’re the ones who saved me. They’re the ones who made me keep on going, keep on coming back, and talk about libraries day in and day out. And recognizing that they struggle with everything that adults struggle with: mental health, anxiety, depression. And they keep on going, they try again and again. They remind us that things are worth fighting for, that [former US representative and civil rights activist] John Lewis’s “good trouble” is something that every single one of us is capable of.
Seeing their remarkable fight—for their right to read, for the right to belong—keeps me going. As long as they’re willing to fight, as long as they’re willing to keep on persevering and bettering themselves, I’m going to do all I can to help them along the way.
