November 25, 2025 • 43 mins
“The library is where I felt, I'm safe here. I have friends in Encyclopedia Brown, Junie B. Jones, Amelia Bedelia, Stanley Yelnats, and all these various characters. I think that's the beauty. That's the sanctuary, the sacredness of that physical space.” – Mychal Threets
Mychal Threets grew up among the stacks and, from a young age, experienced the magic and shelter of the library. Today, he is a librarian, a social media sensation, a mental health advocate, and the new host of the beloved show Reading Rainbow.
In this episode, we take a trip to St. Louis, where my conversation with Mychal was recorded live on stage at the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) Conference. You’ll hear all about how Mychal is stepping into his own rainbow-colored shoes while honoring LeVar Burton’s legacy, how he turned pain into purpose, and the power of “library joy.” And wow, the joy among the librarians in that convention hall, including two standing ovations for Mychal, was palpable.
This week, in place of a featured librarian, we hear a round of Q&A with Mychal and some of those librarians in the audience.
Settle in for a conversation full of Mychal’s signature warmth, heart, and honesty.
***
Links
- The Reading Culture
- The Reading Culture Newsletter Signup
- Follow The Reading Culture on Instagram (for giveaways and bonus content)
- Mychal Threets Lays Out His Life in Books
- Mychal Threets Instagram
- Mychal Threets TikTok
- Reading Rainbow on YouTube
- Beanstack resources to build your community’s reading culture
- Jordan Lloyd Bookey
Host and Production Credits
Host: Jordan Lloyd Bookey
Producers: Mel Webb and Lower Street Media
Script Editors: Josia Lamberto-Egan, Mel Webb, Jordan Lloyd Bookey
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Mychal Threets (00:04):
Libraries where I was like, I'm I'm safe here. I
don't feel all those things. Ihave friends in Encyclopedia
Brown, in Junie B. Jones, inAmelia Bedelia, in Stanley
Yelnats, in The Great Brain, andall these various characters. I
think that's the beauty, that'sthe sanctuary, the sacredness of
that physical space is it's thelast third space.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (00:25):
The library is a sanctuary, and today's
guest, Michael Threatz, knowsthat to his core. Raised among
the stacks, Michael is alibrarian, a storyteller, a
mental health advocate, and ajoyful force both online and in
the real world. And now he'salso the host of the beloved
show Reading Rainbow. In thisepisode, recorded live on stage
(00:48):
at AASL, which just in case,that's American Association of
School Librarians in SaintLouis, Michael talks about
carrying forward LaVar Burton'slegacy and keeping the spirit of
reading Rainbow alive for a newgeneration of readers. You'll
hear Michael talk about steppinginto his own rainbow colored
shoes, how he turned pain intopurpose, and the day he chose to
(01:12):
stay one more day, andeverything that's happened
since.
Plus, Michael shares about thepower of library joy, the books
that raised him, and the funnynew cosplay that kids everywhere
are embracing. My name is JordanLloyd Bookie, and this is a
special episode of the readingculture, a show where we speak
with diverse authors about waysto build a stronger culture of
(01:35):
reading in our communities. Wedive deep into their personal
experiences and inspirations.This show is made possible by
Beanstack, the leading solutionfor motivating people to read
more. Learn more atbeanstack.com, and make sure to
check us out on Instagram thereading culture pod and
subscribe to our newsletter forbonus content at the
(01:56):
readingculturepod.com forwardslash newsletter.
Alright. Let's head back toSaint Louis and everybody please
give it up for the people'slibrarian, Michael Threatz.
Mychal Threets (02:13):
Hi, Michael. Hello. Hello, everybody. I'm
glad that it was not the ReadingRainbow theme song that we came
out to. I've always been like,let's play let's play Golden
Girls.
Let's play Selena. Let's playGolden Girls. Writers of Rohan.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (02:27):
Okay. Oh, yeah. Alright. Next time.
Michael, I'd I like to startconversations, as you know, with
kind of, like, what I call agrounding, thinking about things
that are a little bit bigger,and then we can get into the the
details.
But in your most well, for me,it was most recent, although you
said there were three that theanother episode came out. But
the most recent one that Iwatched was about purpose. I
(02:49):
guess I wanna know what or whois guiding you in your life's
purpose.
Mychal Threets (02:56):
No. I I love the question of purpose. Yes.
Purpose was the last episode.There are now three episodes out
in this new season of ReadingRainbow.
I love Purple. I think theperson who guides me most is my
parents and my grandparents. I Irecently made a post about
episode number two about thesegment where I'm making bee
buffets with the library kids,where we're making sure that
(03:17):
bees can have a place to land inour egg cartons with all the
flowers and all the soil. Andthat segment is just so
important to me because it isrepresentative of my
grandmother. My dad's mom passedaway about a year ago and that
thank you, and that and she'sjust the the greatest woman of
all time.
I love all my my grandparents,but that grief is just very
fresh in my mind. Mhmm. And Ithink that segment when I talk
(03:39):
about purpose, my purpose is tolive for her, to live for my
grandparents. So that b segmentis so special to me because her
name is William Threes. To some,she went by Bill, but she often
went by b, b Brown.
It's William Threes, she went byb Brown. I never actually heard
my dad call her mom or evengrandma. Grammy was always b
Brown. And ever since she passedaway, I've seen bees every
(04:00):
single day. I saw bees today inpeople's phone cases, in their
little pop sockets, and it justmakes me happy every single time
because it means she's with me.
So my purpose in life is just tokeep on living her legacy, she's
a person who came from Arkansasand she wasn't allowed to have a
library card, she and mygrandfather had to ride at the
back of the bus, they had thedogs sicced on them, all those
(04:22):
things. Literacy had no chancein their lives and now I'm a
person who's on this very stagetalking to a bunch of school
librarians about books andlibraries and literacy and
reading Rainbow and So so muchmy purpose is really just to
make her proud, to make my othergrandparents proud, to make my
parents proud, and I'm just soso proud that I'm alive to be
(04:43):
able to do my very best tofulfill that purpose. And I know
my my grandmother always toldme, I'm proud of you no matter
what. Okay.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (04:49):
Best answer ever. I call that the grounding,
and now we'll go to thebutterfly in the sky. I know you
told me you've known for awhile, but you're the new host
of Reading Rainbow, is prettynew for most of us in the room
and very exciting news. And Idon't know. Are you, like, you
pinching yourself?
I wanna know about, like, thelevel of excitement and who you
(05:12):
told first. You know? Who waswho did you call or who's with
you? Yeah. Like, what happened?
Mychal Threets (05:16):
No. I'm so excited to be the host of
Reading Rainbow. I think I'vemet so many people who were
like, it must be a dream cometrue, it must be so cool, and
I'm like, it is. It is so cool,but it was never a dream come
true. I don't even honestly, Idon't even think it's a
subconscious dream come true.
It's never something that Ithought would ever happen. It
definitely is a pinch me momentevery single morning. I wake up,
I'm like, oh, I guess it's stillhappening. I'm still involved
(05:37):
with this. So it already havethree episodes in the air.
I think the first episode hasbeen watched almost 500,000
times.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (05:45):
Yeah.
Mychal Threets (05:45):
Episode two has been almost seen 250,000 times,
which to me means it justthere's so many more kids who
are being introduced to ReadingRainbow because it's been almost
twenty years since it went offthe air with LeVar Burton. So if
you're 20, there's so many kidswho don't know about this.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (06:00):
That's right.
Mychal Threets (06:01):
And they have a chance to be exposed to things.
So to see these videos of peopleof kids watching Reading Rainbow
saying, I wanna go to thelibrary. I wanna go to the
bookstore. I wanna borrow TinyTroubles, Nelly's Purpose. Yes.
I wanna I wanna get no cats inthe library. I met somebody else
the other day in New York Cityand they're like, you know what?
My kid doesn't have a cat, sothey're reading books to their
(06:22):
goldfish. And that means so muchto me that all these kids are
reading along. There's peoplewho are like, oh, my kid is
playing librarian in theirbedroom.
They're playing Charlie thelibrarian. They're playing Roger
the librarian. So it just to me,I'm I'm not the star of Reading
Rainbow at all. It's the kidswho are the stars. There's still
library kids.
There's still kid bookreviewers. And most importantly
because it's always going to behoning to me as a PBS resident
(06:45):
librarian, is still viewers likeeverybody in this room who are
at home watching it on theircomputers, on their phones Mhmm.
Just tuning in and justcelebrating literature,
celebrating literacy, knowingthat they have a chance to be
seen in literature and celebratethe fact that everybody can be a
reader, and that's what ReadingRainbow still seeks to do.
That's what LeVar Burton did. Hedidn't teach us how to read.
(07:06):
Right. He encouraged us to read.He made it fun. Yeah. And I'm
just trying to continue thatlegacy.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (07:11):
I've heard people say, don't know about
you, but like, oh, it's he's anew LeVar Burton, you know,
which is you're like, no. I'mI'm Michael of the Library, and
that's my but you are. You areyour own person, but there is
this obvious show and years andyears of love for it. So how are
you kinda carving out your spaceand adding your colors to the
rainbow, so to speak? Like, howare you thinking about the
(07:31):
legacy and the future of theshow?
Mychal Threets (07:33):
Honestly, it's not even that I'm just like, I'm
Michael Librarian. I am me. It'sjust that I am such a fan of
Read Your Rainbow. I'm like, I II call myself library's number
one fan, but I am also Read YourRainbow's number one fan. I'm so
sorry if you all thought youwere both of those things.
I am the number one fan of bothof those. I refuse to give up
the title. No. I I think one, Ijust think that I can't fill
(07:55):
those shoes. I just feel itwould be a disservice to
everything that he did forLiteracy and still does to this
day Mhmm.
To try to fill his shoes and saylike like those people who I
think accidentally say I'mreplacing LeVar Burton. I'm not
replacing LeVar Burton. I amcontinuing the legacy. I am the
Reading Rainbow kid that heraised, and now LeVar Burton is
(08:15):
cussing up a storm for bannedbooks. But it is important.
I think in a day where like therainbow is under attack and I
think it's so funny with a showlike Reading Rainbow, the I
mean, the rainbow is yes, it isoften correlated with LGBTQIA
plus and there's nothing wrongwith that. Oh. But the rainbow
is not just that. The rainbow isso much more. It's looking
towards hope.
(08:35):
It's seizing hold of theimpossible. I like to think of
people who are like, rainbows,what? It's going was going woke.
And it's just like, you knowwhat? We've had so much rain
today, which Saint Louis did notissue any warnings when I
checked the weather coming fromknow.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (08:50):
Like, raise your hand
Mychal Threets (08:51):
if you packed
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (08:51):
a rain jacket.
Mychal Threets (08:52):
Bought one hoodie. Yeah. But it's just
like, what do you what do youdo, like, when you if you if you
think that way and you see arainbow in the sky after the
rain, are you like, gross. Whatis it doing up there? Why?
It's like it it is just present.And I do understand and I think
that's like what I am trying tomove forward is trying to be as
inclusive, as belonging aspossible. I think I'm still a
(09:13):
person who has no idea how muchtime I have left in the world.
I'm learning to appreciate myexistence in the world. For me,
I'm just trying to make LaVarBurton's proud, I'm trying to
make mister Rogers proud, I'mtrying to make miss Rachel
proud, I'm trying to make BobRoss proud, trying to make Steve
Irwin, Dolly Parton, all thesewholesome people who raised me
through television and justthrough being themselves proud,
(09:35):
and for me, I'm just yeah.
I could never fill those shoesand I would never try because
why would I do that when I canjust say, hey, this person
raised me, mister Rogers, I talkabout mister Rogers every
conversation I did it last timeand he's always saying look to
the helpers Yeah. And those arethe shoes I'm trying to fill is
just being another helperbecause those are all the shoes
that every single one of usshould attempt to step into
(09:57):
because we're all capable ofputting on that shoe of being a
helper.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (10:08):
It's no secret that Michael is a big fan
of Dolly Parton, frequentlyreferencing online WWDPD. Oh,
Michael. His love for Dolly andthat emphasis on kindness and
helping others led me to my nextquestion.
Okay. Have you seen Steel Magnolias? And I
do not mean the TV show. Haveyou seen the movie?
Mychal Threets (10:28):
I have seen the movie. Absolutely.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (10:29):
Do you know the scene where and this is a
spoiler alert if you haven'tseen it. Okay. Julia Roberts
passes away. Shelby passes away,and they're, like, the burial.
And Sally feels her mom andshe's crying and very very angry
that her daughter has died.
And one woman, like, pushes theother kind of mean woman,
Weezer, in front of her andshe's like, punch her. It'll
(10:51):
make you feel better, you know.And then everybody starts
laughing because what are youtalking? It's absurd, you know.
And everybody's laughing andDolly Parton says, oh, laughter
through tears is my favoriteemotion.
And I feel like that when Ithink about you, part of what
makes you connect so deeply andbe, you know, somebody who, yes,
(11:13):
you're trying to make thoseother people proud, Michael, but
I think also why people feel sodrawn to you and are trying to
make you feel proud is that youhave it's joy and it's library
joy and it's joy joy joy joy,everything joy. But it's also
like joy through suffering. Andit's joy after suffering. It's
rainbow after the rain just likeyou're describing. And I think,
like, with that in mind, fromthe outside looking in right
(11:35):
now, there's like this meteoricrise.
Like, it's this magical successstory, you know? And I wanna
know, like, how you arepersonally managing if you are
having, like, still dark days.How you are, like how do you get
through that when it become moreand more public?
Mychal Threets (11:51):
Honestly, I think whenever people ask me
that, my favorite word todescribe how I'm doing, how I'm
responding to everything isoverwhelm. It's like the the the
good versions of overwhelm andalso the bad versions of
overwhelm sometimes. And I don'tthink it was a meteoric rise. I
think it definitely came out ofnowhere for a lot of people. But
I've been on social media for sovery long.
I mean, I was a Myspaceteenager. I'll age myself even
(12:14):
more by saying, when I graduatedhigh school in 2008, my main
song on Myspace was Lollipop byLil' Lane Oh, wow. Which shows
you which shows you my unhingednature of you. Because sometimes
I I'm like, oh, I'm watchingGame of Thrones and people will
comment like, oh, Michael, becareful. That shows a little bit
much.
And I'm like, I am rewatchingGame of Thrones.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (12:35):
I am a grown man.
Mychal Threets (12:37):
This is number four Yeah. That I've seen Game
of Thrones. But no, but I justsay that's how that's how long
I've been on social media. Soit's almost twenty years that
I've been in the variousplatforms. I've been talking
about things and my final say, Ithink I've gone viral a couple
times previously before I evenwent viral for libraries and I
just didn't like the response.
I still, I mean, I know it'svery funny me speaking into a
(12:58):
microphone, yapping at you allabout mental health and
libraries and belonging, but Ido not like being the center of
attention. I always joke thatpeople that people are like, did
you ever think this wouldhappen? And I'm like, no. I went
to library school so this wouldnever ever ever happen. I
thought I thought I was safe.
I thought I would just betalking to people at the local
library about books and moviesand TV shows. And then I just
(13:23):
felt so much burnout at thelibrary after an incredible
almost twelve year career.Whereas a supervising librarian,
it was just too much for me. Ialways tell people I wrote a 170
incident reports in aboutfourteen months Why? All by
myself.
Not in addition to the 10 peoplewho reported directly to me, and
not those 10 people who reportedto another person who I oversaw.
(13:45):
I was reports like things thatYeah. So it's in reports of
sexual harassment, of violence,there were library users who
pulled knives on one another.Mhmm. My life was threatened
several times.
And I talked about those thingsas much as possible, but I still
focus on joy because I think forme, I often see that like what I
talked about and what was sohard is that I believe that half
(14:06):
of the library world reallylikes what I do for libraries.
And I think the other half isvery very much against me. They
do not like my perspective, theythink it's just too nuanced,
they think I don't follow therules, which I don't, to be
fair. I am I am a rogue libraryperson. Believe only only rules
that should be followed to a teein libraries are to protect
library staff first andforemost, and then to protect
(14:28):
the library users.
Yeah. Outside of that, I amwilling to give everybody a
second, third, fourth, fifth,seventeenth chance. And I think
to this day, I mean I left thelibrary not because of cyber
bullying, which so many peoplethink that's why I left, After
some things in my life, familygetting sick, me having a hard
time, I said I can't do thisanymore. I'm going to take my
own life. In December 2023, Imade the conscious decision that
(14:51):
I knew I was eventually going totake my own life.
And I basically after a littlebit after that, I said March 1
will be my last day at thelibrary and March 2 will be my
final day in the world. And thenfast forward, that day rolled
around and I just felt so muchsupport. It's not that I didn't
feel loved, I just didn't feelworthy. Didn't feel I was doing
enough, I thought I was failingme, I thought I was failing all
(15:12):
the library people, not just mycommunity but also the social
media people I was reaching andI made the decision to take my
life. I had written my letter tomy mom and dad, and then I just
got, that last day, because Ihad talked to the Internet, I
forgot that the Internet listensto me sometimes, and I said,
this is it.
And I got so many bouquets offlowers at the library. Oh my
(15:32):
And I'm a person who lovesgetting flowers. I'm like,
sunflowers, roses, lilies, thisis a grow so great. I appreciate
it.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (15:39):
I'm like thinking now, like, oh, man,
your life your life might befilled with a lot after this
right now. Yeah. So okay. So thethe library was filled with
flowers for you?
Mychal Threets (15:47):
Yes. Absolutely. There's just so many people just
being so kind and celebrating,but also I think what really
helped is so many people werehonest. I've been talking about
mental health without mentioningit specifically, talking about
library and people are likeYeah. Thank you for reminding me
how great the library is.
Yeah. Thank you for talkingabout mental health. And it
wasn't that they talked about mylibrary, they're like, yes.
They're sending me pictures oftheir kids with library cards
(16:08):
from New York Yeah. FromMissouri, from Arkansas, from
Wyoming, from Alaska, fromAntarctica.
I didn't even know that peoplehad library cards in Antarctica.
Neither did I. I'm like, this isso great. This is so cool. And
then March 2 came around, I wasstill very down and very
depressed, but I said, you knowwhat?
Let me try to stay one more day.And now we're in October 2025,
(16:31):
and I am still alive, stilltalking about things, and it's
so it's it's it's so amazing.Mean, I think and I think not a
lot of people know they don'trecognize how difficult it is to
keep on living after you decideto stay one more day. I think
you feel so badly where youthink you're, you know what, I
said I'm doing okay today. Howcan I say I'm still not okay the
(16:54):
day after?
How can I keep going? I thinkthere are parts of me that still
believe at some point in my lifeI am going to die by suicide.
Parts of me still feel that wayvery much even though I'm very
much on a path to being okay, tolearning to like myself and to
love myself. I still have a lotof bad days. I still have panic
attacks not every day, butprobably every other day, which
(17:17):
is a huge step up from myprevious life, which is amazing.
But that's I think that's wherethe overwhelm is and that's why
I like being home so often.Yeah. That's why I love being
here. I mean, I've gotten tomeet the likes of Amy Poehler,
of Keke Palmer. The other day, Iwas so incredibly on the Today
show, and Nick Offerman was inthe next room.
And we were both standingoutside. Didn't get to talk to
(17:37):
him, but like he saw me and hesmiled. And internally, I
giggled the most Ron Swansongiggle that ever ever could be
giggled. So all those things,but even then I still love these
conversations. Talking toeverybody, seeing school
librarians is the biggest thingin the world to me.
To learn from my fellow librarypeople, that's why I went to
library school, that's why Istill have student loan debt, is
(18:00):
people have conversations and tokeep on going and to remind
people that it's okay to not beokay. 369 is okay to not be fine
and to just take it one day at atime and that's what I'm trying
to do the best And then for me,I get home to my surviving
grandparents, to my parents, tomy siblings, and to my cats,
Machine Gun Kitty, and KissingCat Barlow.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (18:25):
Thank you. How are you choosing joy,
choosing to live, which I thinkI know that we're all grateful
for that? Do you have, like, amantra? What is your method for
moving, like, day to day?
Mychal Threets (18:39):
I would be lying if I said that Reading Rainbow
doesn't help. I think I wouldjoke. I'm just like, stay one
more day. And it's like, younever know. You might get to be
the host of Reading Rainbow,Which is not gonna be honest, I
think the thing that keep megoing that's staying is just the
conversations that I get to havewith people.
(18:59):
It is the hope. I think it is socool that like, the longest time
when I was telling librarystories of library kids and
library grown ups, I neverhonestly believed people when
they said, my kids love what youdo. They like what you do. I
thought they just liked what Idid and they were using their
kids as an excuse to say thatthey liked what I did because I
honestly I honestly never triedto reach kids with my content. I
(19:19):
know my excited voice seems thatway, like
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (19:22):
It's working for kids right now.
Mychal Threets (19:24):
Advisory tattoo sleeve of kids picture books.
But I just get that that excitedwhen I talk about libraries. So
I think for something like beingthe PBS resident librarian,
doing those social media videoswith PBS, being a part of
Reading Rainbow is like is thatthe first time I've honestly
gotten to see so many reactionsof kids like actually watching
what I'm doing Yeah. Talkingabout what I'm doing, being at
(19:44):
events like the Louisville BookFestival and having kids come up
to me. Some of there were someof you were there.
Good to see you again. And Iremember one one kid, I would
think this is probably one of myfavorite moments of, like, the
response, is a kid came up to meand they're, like, looking at
me, they're, like, I've seen youbefore.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (20:00):
Like, you shouldn't be on Instagram,
honey.
Mychal Threets (20:02):
Like, and then dawned in their middle, like,
you're much bigger, but I sawyou on Reading Rainbow. Oh. I
watched you with my mom.Amazing. And then they and they
went away.
We took a picture, they wentaway, and they turned around
real fast, and they're, like,I'm gonna subscribe. That's so
great. I'm gonna tell ReadingRainbow your Oh. Subscribe.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (20:20):
I love it.
Mychal Threets (20:21):
I think it's it's library stories that keep
me going. And honestly, I mean,I talk about libraries the way
that I do, not because I knowthat there aren't problems that
exist in libraries. I know forfrontline staff burnout is very
real. We need separate mentalhealth leave in addition to
physical sick leave. We need weneed we need moments to be able
(20:41):
to take care of ourselves.
People deserve to be paid whatthey're worth as library people.
We didn't get into it to berich, but we wanna survive as
library workers. And I thinkjust being able to amplify that
is to raise is try to remindpeople like this is why we
started doing what we do.Because I meet so many people
who are struggling, who are at,who are close to the edge, and I
just wanna remind them that it'sokay to not be okay, that I have
(21:02):
no idea when they're going to beokay. But I hope that they stick
around to see a day wherethey're okay.
So to me, I keep on staying justbecause I meet so many people, I
encounter so many people who arestruggling just like I did and I
do. And to have a chance just totry to help them in the simplest
ways is the greatest honor, thegreatest blessing I could ever
have. Yeah.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (21:22):
That's Thank you. Yes. I also want to
kind of acknowledge, I guess,like, you have had so much time.
Like, a lot of your reachobviously has been online.
Right?
And so there's, like, thisvirtual element. Like, I'm sure
everybody here is, oh, Michael,you know, like, no you or don't
know you. You're Mike. I knowyou. And so there's a lot of,
(21:44):
like, parasocial relationthere's so much of that.
But you have this incrediblehuge virtual online community,
but your roots are in a physicallibrary. And I wonder, like,
what is there about the physicalspace of a library in a school,
in a community that isirreplaceable, right, that you
cannot have in the online world?What is there that you feel like
(22:04):
that we need that? Can you kindof vocalize that a little for
us?
Mychal Threets (22:07):
You know what? I cherish what I do on social
media not because of any successthat I have, just because I've
always seen it way before anysuccess that I have or had as a
tool to reach people. And Ithink I love that because there
are so many people who aren'table to get to the library.
There are so many people wheretheir grown ups, their guardians
are working so hard andlibraries close at seven, 08:00
(22:28):
and they're working up untilthat time and they gotta make
dinner and there's no chance forthem to get to the library. So
for me to bother people about itonline means it's a chance for
them to remember that thelibrary exists, that they can
use Libby, that they can useKanopy, Hoopla Digital, that
they can sign up for summerreading challenge Exactly.
Beanstack, all those differentthings. But I think the physical
(22:49):
space of the library, it is sopowerful, it is so beautiful to
show people, yes, this is yoursafe place. That's what it was
for me Yeah. As a library kidbecause I had such a hard time
making friends outside of mysiblings, outside of my cousins,
outside of my neighbors. I'vesuffered from mental health
struggles all my life it seemed,least since knowingly since I
was eight.
That's the biggest reason for mepursuing autism and ADHD and
(23:12):
neurodivergence in my life, it'sjust like, how can I be mentally
ill for this long without therebeing another cause because
there's no thing that's spurnedthat? But the libraries, where I
was like, I'm I'm safe here. Idon't feel all those things. I
have friends in EncyclopediaBrown, in Junie b Jones, in
Amelia Bedelia, in StanleyYelnats, in The Great Brain, and
all these various characters. Ithink that's the beauty, that's
(23:33):
the sanctuary, the sacredness ofthat physical space is it's the
last third space.
You can stay there from open toclose, in a chair, you can read
all the books, you never have totake them home. Half the time we
override the rule and say youdon't have a library card,
that's okay, you can still takethe book, you're all good, we
want to see
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (23:51):
the whole
Mychal Threets (23:52):
point of the library and I think that's the
beauty of what it represents isthat the library as a building,
as a desk, but as a people, itrepresents anywhere where books
in the love of libraries are.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (24:07):
I wanna talk about your book.
Mychal Threets (24:09):
Yeah. So I think it may be weird to say is I am
honestly much more excited aboutbeing a published author than I
am the host of Reader Rainbow.I've tried to be very adamant
this entire time that this bookis my book and Lorraine Naum's
book because I loveillustrators. I love how hard
they work. It's the reason Ihave controversial AI views is
because of my love forillustrators.
(24:31):
And I am so excited for thispicture book. I love the
representation. I loveeverything about it. It's
essentially a day in the life oflibrary kids coming to a library
and just seeing that there isbooks, there is library cards,
but there is musicalinstruments, bakeware
collections, there's videogames, there's seaweed in
libraries, there's something foreverybody, but there's also room
(24:53):
for kids in wheelchairs, forpeople with service dogs to come
to the library. And it's soimportant.
I think what's great about thisbook is I hope that people learn
from it and they feel and theykeep on giving me more and more
advice and more and morefeedback. I've heard from some
people that are just like, oh, Iwish that there was a kid in the
picture book who has a hijab. Meand Lorraine have taken that
into account. We've had thoseconversations. And she's such a
(25:16):
kind person, she's trying todraw a kid in a similar style
because she is just that greatof a person.
I think that's just my hope fromthat picture book because I've
always loved picture books.They've been my favorite books
all my life.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (25:28):
Yeah.
Mychal Threets (25:28):
It's what got me hooked on them when I first got
my library card at the age offive. So to have one that can
say I wrote is the mostbeautiful thing in the entire
world. I think the randomizedpeople are they're still here. I
ask them constantly, are yousure we can't publish it
tomorrow? What about tomorrow ifyou're like, Michael, we're
going so fast.
(25:50):
We're already doing it muchfaster than we usually do. We're
trying because you keep onbothering us. But, no, they're
so very kind. They're sosupportive. They're so helpful,
but I'm just so happy for it.
It is a celebration of libraryjoy, and I'm just I mean, to me,
I mean, I'm very glad that mygrandmother didn't get to know
about reading Rainbow, but shedid get to know about this book.
(26:10):
She got to see the book. So nomatter what happens, I'm just
glad that she got to read it,that she got to say, Michael, I
used to read you picture books.Now you wrote a picture book.
I'm so happy for you.
So and this is why I'm sayingI'm so happy you're here and the
fact that she got to read it,that she's happy. Of course, I
hope it becomes a New Yorkbestseller, all those things,
but it's already become thebiggest success in the world for
(26:32):
me because Yeah. She got to seeit, and I've been writing books
and writing since I was a kid,so to know that it exists in the
world, that it's finally aphysical copy that I can hold
Yes. And have and can say, it'sreal, It's here. I'm so proud of
me and Lorraine Nam, and I'mjust so excited for what's to
come.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (26:48):
It's very exciting. And it's yeah. That's
such a full circle moment to getthere. To sort of close out our
conversation before we inviteothers into it, I want to ask
you, you've literally today,hundreds and hundreds of people
talked to them and heard fromthem, and I just wonder if
there's like one or two sort oflearnings, messages, things that
(27:09):
have come from other librariansthat you have taken with you and
brought into your life, intoyour work.
Mychal Threets (27:15):
You know, I think the main thing that I've
learned from my conversations,I've been on 300 planes in the
last two years. I've been allover The United States, and as
much as I love being home, Ilove learning from people. I
love well, I don't love it, I'mhonored to know that there are
almost no school libraries inArizona. There are very very few
school librarians in title inNew York City and so many
(27:38):
similar things across The UnitedStates and to know that and to
be able to fight for them, tostand up for them, to speak for
them, to take advantage of theplatform I have on social media,
it is so great. I'll never takeit for granted.
I learn something new everyconference I go to. I just love
taking everything in. And oddlyenough, I have so many people,
librarians, library workers, andjust regular, regular citizens
(28:01):
who come up to me and sometimesthey're just like in tears.
They're like, my kid issuffering from this. They're
suffering from what you sufferfrom, from what you're
struggling with, or sometimesit's them who are struggling.
And while it's a lot to have aperson crying at you, crying on
you, I appreciate it becausesometimes, like I don't often
check my DMs on social media,but people will reach out and
(28:22):
they're like, I'm having areally hard time. I think I'm
going to take my life. And I'veresponded to those some of those
messages sometimes and they'relike, oh, I'm sorry. I didn't
think you would ever see that.You're just a safe space to talk
to.
I don't not ready I'm not readyto talk to a therapist, to a
psychiatrist, I can't ask forhelp. So I am honored that
people see even the existence ofmy platform as a chance to ask
(28:46):
for help. So it's it's alsohelpful for me to be like, yes,
it is a lot it is a lot ofoverwhelm, but I think for me, a
person who never had that sortof role, that sort of person,
that sort of platform, eventhough now I talk to therapists,
talk to psychiatrists all thetime, I am proudly live, laugh,
Lexapro, is doing is doing allthose things. So I think I just
(29:07):
learned from people just that asmuch as I have asked for help,
people are asking for help too,that more and more people are
having the courage. And I justtake I'm I'm forever thankful
for learning from librarypeople.
I've only ever sought out toamplify library people in
library workers. I'm honored tobe a librarian for PBS, to be a
host for Reading Rainbow, tohave the platform I have, but I
(29:30):
would give it all up to fightfor the people of of Gaza, the
people of Palestine, the peopleof Sudan, the people of Congo.
It means the absolute world forme to fight for all these people
to tell Jewish stories, to tellthe stories of Ukraine, of
Yemen, of Tigray. It's somethingthat we all should do because we
have a powerful voice. And forme, that's what I'm trying to
(29:51):
amplify and just put so muchmore emphasis on because that's
what I'm supposed to do.
I was raised by mister Rogersagain saying, look to the
helpers and if I can become ahelper, I'll always do it. And
lastly, I think just being on somany planes, they always say,
put your own oxygen mask onfirst. Yeah. And I would like to
leave you with saying it is notselfish to take care of
yourselves. Please please takebreaks from a person who never
(30:14):
did.
Take your fifteen minute breaks,take your lunch breaks, take
your vacations even if it's astaycation. I love a good
staycation, staying home andwatching Grey's Anatomy and
Golden Girls, staying with catsand pets. It's the most
important thing you do becauseyou cannot help your library
kids, your library people,unless you're helping yourself.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (30:33):
Michael Threatz, y'all. Give him a big
round of applause. Thank
Mychal Threets (30:36):
you. You. Thank you.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (30:40):
I hope you enjoyed this live, nearly uncut
interview with Michael Threatz.It was so much fun to be in
front of a live audience andjust to be in a space with so
many librarians who adoreMichael and he adores them right
back. And to get to speak withhim again after our earlier
episode that was focused on thebooks that shaped him, it was
(31:02):
just an incredibly specialexperience and one that I am so
grateful that I had and that wecollectively had for those who
were there and those who arelistening today. So instead of
our usual Beanstack featuredlibrarian segment, this episode,
we are going to feature thelibrarians who were in the room
where it happened and share someof their live questions for
Michael. So let's take a
Mychal Threets (31:27):
Hi. Who is your favorite golden girl?
Speaker 4 (31:30):
Oh. Great question.
Mychal Threets (31:32):
Thank you. My fave my favorite golden girl is
Rose. I have a I have a I have atattoo of of Betty White, so I
love Rose. I love Betty White.She just anything for Saint Olaf
all the time.
One day, I'll go to some SaintOlaf libraries.
Speaker 4 (31:51):
I just wanna tell you Lorraine Nam is my friend from
elementary school, and I justtexted her to tell her that you
were shouting out her amazingillustrations. And with her
permission, she said, what? Whythe book exists because of him
to you? And my personal questionthat I have is, what are some of
(32:11):
your favorite read alouds fromall your read aloud time that
you enjoy and you love readingagain and again?
Mychal Threets (32:18):
That's a very Lorraine Lorraine Nam response.
I'm very glad that you've knownher for so long. You guys are
going back
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (32:23):
and forth.
Mychal Threets (32:24):
You what? I know. Exactly. Back and forth.
She's also this I'm not a bigperson.
She's one of the smallest humanbeings I've ever met. I am not
big, but I had to keep onbending down to hug her, and she
still sit on her toes at thesame time. So which also shows
you I'm not a huggy person, butI will hug Lorraine Nam anytime.
But to answer your question, myfavorites are Tattooed on Me is
(32:46):
the Monster at the End of ThisBook is my absolute favorite. I
love that there's I love thatthere's always one kid who does
not want you to turn the page.
And my my grandma also used toread aloud all the time. She
would do the Grover voices. Icannot do a Grover voice, but I
just had fun being like, are yousure? Are you sure you want me
to turn the page? I loveLeonardo the Terrible Monster by
(33:07):
Mo Willems.
That's also a really fun one. Ilove Crunch the Shy Dinosaur by
Sorocco Dunlap. And I reallylove The Book With No Pictures
by BJ Novak. I remember I did itrecently at a place in LA. At
the one time, they just call youboo boo butt.
And all the kids I did, all thekids are like, bye, librarian
boo boo butt. Bye, librarian booboo butt. I was like, not my
(33:31):
name. I'm not librarian boo boobutt, but that's what happens
when you read the book when nopicture's allowed to kids is
they will repeat it, they willsay those words, but they laugh
so much, they giggle so hard,and it's just so cool to see
them taking in a story andimagining so much. So I think
those are always my four go toread alouds.
Speaker 5 (33:51):
It's not really a question. I just wanted to tell
you how much I love what you'redoing, and I love that you are
here today, and thank you forspeaking with us. You're
amazing.
Mychal Threets (34:04):
Thank you so much. I'm so glad you're here.
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 6 (34:10):
Yes. Hi, Michael. Thank you for being such an
inspiration to us. I'm curiousif you could speak to a younger
version of yourself, what advicewould you give them?
Mychal Threets (34:19):
If I was talking to a younger version of myself,
I would tell my younger self tokeep saying that it's okay to be
a shy kid, that shy is not a badword, that it's not bad, that
you're quiet while your familyis loud and rambunctious and
obnoxious. It's quite okay andyou just seize a hold of new
opportunities. I think I wasjust so afraid as a kid and I
(34:40):
just my parents were sosupportive that I think that
just in trying to take care ofme, they didn't they didn't
sometimes they push me intosituations, but they didn't like
ask me to try something. Theydidn't say what would make it
okay. So I could go back in timeand talk to little me.
I think I would just listen tohim, and that's something I've
always tried to do as achildren's librarian is I think
adults, grown ups, we care somuch. We're so passionate about
(35:03):
library kids. We wanna give themmore and more advice, and I like
to listen to library kids. Ilike to listen to their unhinged
nature, their unhingedcommentary, but also their very
insightful thinking. Everythingthat I say about banned books
and most things in life is as aresult of listening to library
kids and their uniqueperspective and their approach
to life.
So I think I would do the samething to myself as a library kid
(35:25):
is give that kid who wasanxious, who had nightmares
almost every single night, isgive him a chance to just say
what was going on in his lifeand just have a chance to speak
without being interrupted.
Speaker 6 (35:37):
What is your favorite part of being a librarian and
being part of the readingcommunity?
Mychal Threets (35:43):
My favorite part is it's always been the
storytelling. I think it's sucha special part of the reading
community and being a librarianjust to see kids know they
belong in the library that ifyou're autistic, if you have
ADHD, dyslexia, if you'reanxious, if you're mentally ill,
if you're unhoused, you belongat the library and you can
receive these stories as a storyfor every single person. If
(36:05):
there's a story you don't like,you can write it yourself that
audiobooks are real books, thatgraphic novels are real books,
that manga is real books and mymy favorite thing has always
been promoting that and saying,just go to the library. Thank
the library people. They theymay have bad days, but they will
remember every bad day, theycannot wait for you to come back
(36:26):
and say, I'm sorry if you had abad day, but let's make this the
best library day you canpossibly have.
And I love that almost everysingle library person lives to
do that for every library kidand every grown library kid who
walks through those doors ordown those Libby or just speaks
about their beautiful librarycard?
Speaker 7 (36:45):
Michael, my cheeks hurt because I've been smiling
the whole time looking at you.That we say that representation
matters, and I wanna tie it tothe question that was just asked
about you speaking to youryounger self. A lot of times
when I do author visits, youngpeople ask me who's my favorite
superhero? And I say MilesMorales because he represents my
(37:08):
intersectionality. He's blackand he's Latino like myself,
like yourself.
And I'm so happy because there'sa saying, little shots are big
shots who keep on shooting. Andyou're a little shot and now a
big shot, and you're givinglittle shots their shot so that
they could keep shooting and bebig shots. My question for you
(37:31):
is what message would you giveour audience about how important
intersectionality and unity andrepresenting the rainbow of
humanity is?
Mychal Threets (37:45):
Unity is everything. That's what Reading
Rainbow is seeking to do is toremind every person that they
are a reader, that they areworthy of being a reader, and
they always have if they knew itor not. And I think the best way
for me to answer that questionabout what it means, unity and
representation, is when I was achildren's librarian at the
Vallejo SpringSound Library,again, I would visit all these
schools. I remember going tothis one of the schools, one of
(38:07):
the sites one day, and a kidcame in a little bit late, and
they had come in just to saygoodbye to me because they were
moving away from the area, andthey came up to me and they
said, mister Michael, I can'tstay. My dad just told me I
could come by and say bye toyou.
We're moving. This is my lastday, but I wanna let you know I
wanna be a Brown librarian,which is just so special. And
(38:30):
then there was another kid whois a again, I don't always
identify who the kids are, butthis other kid is a little
little little white kid, littlewhite boy. And they hear that
and they come up to us and theygo they stand because they're
sitting crisscross applesauceand they go, I wanna be a brown
librarian too. And the littlekid who is fully capable of
being a brown librarian sayspats him on the shoulders, goes,
(38:53):
we can all be a brown librarian.
And to me, that's the mostbeautiful thing in the world
because it shows you that kidsare not color blind, they see in
crayon colors and they're justsaying, we can all be this. So
the kid isn't like, yes, you canbe a brown librarian, it's
saying we can all be a librarianwithout knowing and that's what
I always think about is allthese kids, they see so much,
(39:16):
they see the rainbow, they seehope, they see library joy, they
see belonging, and I just I'vealways remembered that story.
I've never seen that kid again,but I will never forget them
because that range true becauseI'm a I'm a person who didn't
I'm black, Mexican, and white. Ididn't know I was black for the
longest time. I identified asbrown because of the crayon
color, and that's it.
(39:37):
It's saying, yes. We're allexisting. We all have a chance
to be the best version ofourselves, and the best way to
be the best version of ourselvesis together. And I think even
better is to be together, to beourselves amongst the most
wonderful people in the world,librarians and library workers.
Speaker 7 (39:54):
Thank you, Michael.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (40:03):
I just wanna close this by saying that
as Michael and I got here, wewere super early after his
selfie line. We were justsitting there talking and I was
asking him, like, so, you know,now your life is changing in all
these ways. Have you are youdoing anything different? Like,
do you go to, like, nicerrestaurants? What's this, you
know, what what's like yourindulgence, you know?
And he was like, I'm a pizzaguy. And I I would rather give
(40:25):
to these other things. Like, Idon't need for much and I want
to keep it that way. And I justfeel I want to give to
libraries. I want to be in thisspace and that's like the big
gift for you.
So it's utterly refreshing to bewith a person who truly has like
lived a life of purpose and iswalking in their purpose and
bringing all these other people,librarians in this room, but
(40:46):
also just millions of people whodon't necessarily know the love
and the joy in a library. And sofor you to spread that and to be
about that and to live thosevalues is just it's a gift and
we, I think, are you can hearfrom everybody in here. So
grateful for you. So thank youfor being here and thank you all
for being such a wonderfulaudience. Thanks.
Mychal Threets (41:05):
Yeah. Thank you. And if you could please give a
huge huge round of applause forJordan and Beanstack for this
conversation. It's so important.And yes.
No. I I'm always trying to giveback, and I would just like to
remind you as we as we leave, asyou all get to go back to your
planes, in your homes, in yourlibraries, just to please stay
one more day. You never know whoyou're gonna meet. You haven't
(41:25):
met all the people who are goingto love you yet in the words of
Jaz Thornton and I've got tomeet you all today And I love
you so very much. I'm so gladthat you're in the world, and
I'm just so thankful to havebeen amongst you today.
I do hope you keep on watchingReading Rainbow. It is out now
on YouTube on Kidzuko, and Ialso hope that you get a chance
to read. I am so happy you'rehere, a celebration of Library
(41:47):
Joy. But most of all, I hopethat you guys take it one day at
a time and just remember howvaluable you are, how worthy you
are of life, and of Library Joy.Library Joy and I would not
exist if it weren't for everysingle one of you.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (42:00):
Thank you.
This has been the reading culture, and
you've been listening to my liveconversation with Michael
Threatz. Again, I'm your host,Jordan Lloyd Bookie, and
currently, I'm reading TheCorrespondent by Virginia Evans,
so good, and Mighty Macie byKwame Alexander, which I adore
(42:24):
and wish that my daughter hadwhen she was younger, but it's
so good, y'all. If you enjoyedtoday's episode, please show
some love and give us a fivestar or a written review. It
just takes a second, it reallyhelps ensure that this podcast
gets shared with others who weknow are going to love it. To
learn more about how you canhelp grow your community's
reading culture, you can checkout all of our resources at
(42:44):
feedstack.com, and remember tosign up for our newsletter at
the readingculturepod.comforward slash newsletter for
special offers and bonuscontent.
This episode was produced by MelWebb and lower street media and
script edited by Josiah LambertoEgan thanks for listening and
keep reading
Libraries where I was like, I'm I'm safe here. I
don't feel all those things. Ihave friends in Encyclopedia
Brown, in Junie B. Jones, inAmelia Bedelia, in Stanley
Yelnats, in The Great Brain, andall these various characters. I
think that's the beauty, that'sthe sanctuary, the sacredness of
that physical space is it's thelast third space.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (00:25):
The library is a sanctuary, and today's
guest, Michael Threatz, knowsthat to his core. Raised among
the stacks, Michael is alibrarian, a storyteller, a
mental health advocate, and ajoyful force both online and in
the real world. And now he'salso the host of the beloved
show Reading Rainbow. In thisepisode, recorded live on stage
(00:48):
at AASL, which just in case,that's American Association of
School Librarians in SaintLouis, Michael talks about
carrying forward LaVar Burton'slegacy and keeping the spirit of
reading Rainbow alive for a newgeneration of readers. You'll
hear Michael talk about steppinginto his own rainbow colored
shoes, how he turned pain intopurpose, and the day he chose to
(01:12):
stay one more day, andeverything that's happened
since.
Plus, Michael shares about thepower of library joy, the books
that raised him, and the funnynew cosplay that kids everywhere
are embracing. My name is JordanLloyd Bookie, and this is a
special episode of the readingculture, a show where we speak
with diverse authors about waysto build a stronger culture of
(01:35):
reading in our communities. Wedive deep into their personal
experiences and inspirations.This show is made possible by
Beanstack, the leading solutionfor motivating people to read
more. Learn more atbeanstack.com, and make sure to
check us out on Instagram thereading culture pod and
subscribe to our newsletter forbonus content at the
(01:56):
readingculturepod.com forwardslash newsletter.
Alright. Let's head back toSaint Louis and everybody please
give it up for the people'slibrarian, Michael Threatz.
Mychal Threets (02:13):
Hi, Michael. Hello. Hello, everybody. I'm
glad that it was not the ReadingRainbow theme song that we came
out to. I've always been like,let's play let's play Golden
Girls.
Let's play Selena. Let's playGolden Girls. Writers of Rohan.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (02:27):
Okay. Oh, yeah. Alright. Next time.
Michael, I'd I like to startconversations, as you know, with
kind of, like, what I call agrounding, thinking about things
that are a little bit bigger,and then we can get into the the
details.
But in your most well, for me,it was most recent, although you
said there were three that theanother episode came out. But
the most recent one that Iwatched was about purpose. I
(02:49):
guess I wanna know what or whois guiding you in your life's
purpose.
Mychal Threets (02:56):
No. I I love the question of purpose. Yes.
Purpose was the last episode.There are now three episodes out
in this new season of ReadingRainbow.
I love Purple. I think theperson who guides me most is my
parents and my grandparents. I Irecently made a post about
episode number two about thesegment where I'm making bee
buffets with the library kids,where we're making sure that
(03:17):
bees can have a place to land inour egg cartons with all the
flowers and all the soil. Andthat segment is just so
important to me because it isrepresentative of my
grandmother. My dad's mom passedaway about a year ago and that
thank you, and that and she'sjust the the greatest woman of
all time.
I love all my my grandparents,but that grief is just very
fresh in my mind. Mhmm. And Ithink that segment when I talk
(03:39):
about purpose, my purpose is tolive for her, to live for my
grandparents. So that b segmentis so special to me because her
name is William Threes. To some,she went by Bill, but she often
went by b, b Brown.
It's William Threes, she went byb Brown. I never actually heard
my dad call her mom or evengrandma. Grammy was always b
Brown. And ever since she passedaway, I've seen bees every
(04:00):
single day. I saw bees today inpeople's phone cases, in their
little pop sockets, and it justmakes me happy every single time
because it means she's with me.
So my purpose in life is just tokeep on living her legacy, she's
a person who came from Arkansasand she wasn't allowed to have a
library card, she and mygrandfather had to ride at the
back of the bus, they had thedogs sicced on them, all those
(04:22):
things. Literacy had no chancein their lives and now I'm a
person who's on this very stagetalking to a bunch of school
librarians about books andlibraries and literacy and
reading Rainbow and So so muchmy purpose is really just to
make her proud, to make my othergrandparents proud, to make my
parents proud, and I'm just soso proud that I'm alive to be
(04:43):
able to do my very best tofulfill that purpose. And I know
my my grandmother always toldme, I'm proud of you no matter
what. Okay.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (04:49):
Best answer ever. I call that the grounding,
and now we'll go to thebutterfly in the sky. I know you
told me you've known for awhile, but you're the new host
of Reading Rainbow, is prettynew for most of us in the room
and very exciting news. And Idon't know. Are you, like, you
pinching yourself?
I wanna know about, like, thelevel of excitement and who you
(05:12):
told first. You know? Who waswho did you call or who's with
you? Yeah. Like, what happened?
Mychal Threets (05:16):
No. I'm so excited to be the host of
Reading Rainbow. I think I'vemet so many people who were
like, it must be a dream cometrue, it must be so cool, and
I'm like, it is. It is so cool,but it was never a dream come
true. I don't even honestly, Idon't even think it's a
subconscious dream come true.
It's never something that Ithought would ever happen. It
definitely is a pinch me momentevery single morning. I wake up,
I'm like, oh, I guess it's stillhappening. I'm still involved
(05:37):
with this. So it already havethree episodes in the air.
I think the first episode hasbeen watched almost 500,000
times.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (05:45):
Yeah.
Mychal Threets (05:45):
Episode two has been almost seen 250,000 times,
which to me means it justthere's so many more kids who
are being introduced to ReadingRainbow because it's been almost
twenty years since it went offthe air with LeVar Burton. So if
you're 20, there's so many kidswho don't know about this.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (06:00):
That's right.
Mychal Threets (06:01):
And they have a chance to be exposed to things.
So to see these videos of peopleof kids watching Reading Rainbow
saying, I wanna go to thelibrary. I wanna go to the
bookstore. I wanna borrow TinyTroubles, Nelly's Purpose. Yes.
I wanna I wanna get no cats inthe library. I met somebody else
the other day in New York Cityand they're like, you know what?
My kid doesn't have a cat, sothey're reading books to their
(06:22):
goldfish. And that means so muchto me that all these kids are
reading along. There's peoplewho are like, oh, my kid is
playing librarian in theirbedroom.
They're playing Charlie thelibrarian. They're playing Roger
the librarian. So it just to me,I'm I'm not the star of Reading
Rainbow at all. It's the kidswho are the stars. There's still
library kids.
There's still kid bookreviewers. And most importantly
because it's always going to behoning to me as a PBS resident
(06:45):
librarian, is still viewers likeeverybody in this room who are
at home watching it on theircomputers, on their phones Mhmm.
Just tuning in and justcelebrating literature,
celebrating literacy, knowingthat they have a chance to be
seen in literature and celebratethe fact that everybody can be a
reader, and that's what ReadingRainbow still seeks to do.
That's what LeVar Burton did. Hedidn't teach us how to read.
(07:06):
Right. He encouraged us to read.He made it fun. Yeah. And I'm
just trying to continue thatlegacy.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (07:11):
I've heard people say, don't know about
you, but like, oh, it's he's anew LeVar Burton, you know,
which is you're like, no. I'mI'm Michael of the Library, and
that's my but you are. You areyour own person, but there is
this obvious show and years andyears of love for it. So how are
you kinda carving out your spaceand adding your colors to the
rainbow, so to speak? Like, howare you thinking about the
(07:31):
legacy and the future of theshow?
Mychal Threets (07:33):
Honestly, it's not even that I'm just like, I'm
Michael Librarian. I am me. It'sjust that I am such a fan of
Read Your Rainbow. I'm like, I II call myself library's number
one fan, but I am also Read YourRainbow's number one fan. I'm so
sorry if you all thought youwere both of those things.
I am the number one fan of bothof those. I refuse to give up
the title. No. I I think one, Ijust think that I can't fill
(07:55):
those shoes. I just feel itwould be a disservice to
everything that he did forLiteracy and still does to this
day Mhmm.
To try to fill his shoes and saylike like those people who I
think accidentally say I'mreplacing LeVar Burton. I'm not
replacing LeVar Burton. I amcontinuing the legacy. I am the
Reading Rainbow kid that heraised, and now LeVar Burton is
(08:15):
cussing up a storm for bannedbooks. But it is important.
I think in a day where like therainbow is under attack and I
think it's so funny with a showlike Reading Rainbow, the I
mean, the rainbow is yes, it isoften correlated with LGBTQIA
plus and there's nothing wrongwith that. Oh. But the rainbow
is not just that. The rainbow isso much more. It's looking
towards hope.
(08:35):
It's seizing hold of theimpossible. I like to think of
people who are like, rainbows,what? It's going was going woke.
And it's just like, you knowwhat? We've had so much rain
today, which Saint Louis did notissue any warnings when I
checked the weather coming fromknow.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (08:50):
Like, raise your hand
Mychal Threets (08:51):
if you packed
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (08:51):
a rain jacket.
Mychal Threets (08:52):
Bought one hoodie. Yeah. But it's just
like, what do you what do youdo, like, when you if you if you
think that way and you see arainbow in the sky after the
rain, are you like, gross. Whatis it doing up there? Why?
It's like it it is just present.And I do understand and I think
that's like what I am trying tomove forward is trying to be as
inclusive, as belonging aspossible. I think I'm still a
(09:13):
person who has no idea how muchtime I have left in the world.
I'm learning to appreciate myexistence in the world. For me,
I'm just trying to make LaVarBurton's proud, I'm trying to
make mister Rogers proud, I'mtrying to make miss Rachel
proud, I'm trying to make BobRoss proud, trying to make Steve
Irwin, Dolly Parton, all thesewholesome people who raised me
through television and justthrough being themselves proud,
(09:35):
and for me, I'm just yeah.
I could never fill those shoesand I would never try because
why would I do that when I canjust say, hey, this person
raised me, mister Rogers, I talkabout mister Rogers every
conversation I did it last timeand he's always saying look to
the helpers Yeah. And those arethe shoes I'm trying to fill is
just being another helperbecause those are all the shoes
that every single one of usshould attempt to step into
(09:57):
because we're all capable ofputting on that shoe of being a
helper.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (10:08):
It's no secret that Michael is a big fan
of Dolly Parton, frequentlyreferencing online WWDPD. Oh,
Michael. His love for Dolly andthat emphasis on kindness and
helping others led me to my nextquestion.
Okay. Have you seen Steel Magnolias? And I
do not mean the TV show. Haveyou seen the movie?
Mychal Threets (10:28):
I have seen the movie. Absolutely.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (10:29):
Do you know the scene where and this is a
spoiler alert if you haven'tseen it. Okay. Julia Roberts
passes away. Shelby passes away,and they're, like, the burial.
And Sally feels her mom andshe's crying and very very angry
that her daughter has died.
And one woman, like, pushes theother kind of mean woman,
Weezer, in front of her andshe's like, punch her. It'll
(10:51):
make you feel better, you know.And then everybody starts
laughing because what are youtalking? It's absurd, you know.
And everybody's laughing andDolly Parton says, oh, laughter
through tears is my favoriteemotion.
And I feel like that when Ithink about you, part of what
makes you connect so deeply andbe, you know, somebody who, yes,
(11:13):
you're trying to make thoseother people proud, Michael, but
I think also why people feel sodrawn to you and are trying to
make you feel proud is that youhave it's joy and it's library
joy and it's joy joy joy joy,everything joy. But it's also
like joy through suffering. Andit's joy after suffering. It's
rainbow after the rain just likeyou're describing. And I think,
like, with that in mind, fromthe outside looking in right
(11:35):
now, there's like this meteoricrise.
Like, it's this magical successstory, you know? And I wanna
know, like, how you arepersonally managing if you are
having, like, still dark days.How you are, like how do you get
through that when it become moreand more public?
Mychal Threets (11:51):
Honestly, I think whenever people ask me
that, my favorite word todescribe how I'm doing, how I'm
responding to everything isoverwhelm. It's like the the the
good versions of overwhelm andalso the bad versions of
overwhelm sometimes. And I don'tthink it was a meteoric rise. I
think it definitely came out ofnowhere for a lot of people. But
I've been on social media for sovery long.
I mean, I was a Myspaceteenager. I'll age myself even
(12:14):
more by saying, when I graduatedhigh school in 2008, my main
song on Myspace was Lollipop byLil' Lane Oh, wow. Which shows
you which shows you my unhingednature of you. Because sometimes
I I'm like, oh, I'm watchingGame of Thrones and people will
comment like, oh, Michael, becareful. That shows a little bit
much.
And I'm like, I am rewatchingGame of Thrones.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (12:35):
I am a grown man.
Mychal Threets (12:37):
This is number four Yeah. That I've seen Game
of Thrones. But no, but I justsay that's how that's how long
I've been on social media. Soit's almost twenty years that
I've been in the variousplatforms. I've been talking
about things and my final say, Ithink I've gone viral a couple
times previously before I evenwent viral for libraries and I
just didn't like the response.
I still, I mean, I know it'svery funny me speaking into a
(12:58):
microphone, yapping at you allabout mental health and
libraries and belonging, but Ido not like being the center of
attention. I always joke thatpeople that people are like, did
you ever think this wouldhappen? And I'm like, no. I went
to library school so this wouldnever ever ever happen. I
thought I thought I was safe.
I thought I would just betalking to people at the local
library about books and moviesand TV shows. And then I just
(13:23):
felt so much burnout at thelibrary after an incredible
almost twelve year career.Whereas a supervising librarian,
it was just too much for me. Ialways tell people I wrote a 170
incident reports in aboutfourteen months Why? All by
myself.
Not in addition to the 10 peoplewho reported directly to me, and
not those 10 people who reportedto another person who I oversaw.
(13:45):
I was reports like things thatYeah. So it's in reports of
sexual harassment, of violence,there were library users who
pulled knives on one another.Mhmm. My life was threatened
several times.
And I talked about those thingsas much as possible, but I still
focus on joy because I think forme, I often see that like what I
talked about and what was sohard is that I believe that half
(14:06):
of the library world reallylikes what I do for libraries.
And I think the other half isvery very much against me. They
do not like my perspective, theythink it's just too nuanced,
they think I don't follow therules, which I don't, to be
fair. I am I am a rogue libraryperson. Believe only only rules
that should be followed to a teein libraries are to protect
library staff first andforemost, and then to protect
(14:28):
the library users.
Yeah. Outside of that, I amwilling to give everybody a
second, third, fourth, fifth,seventeenth chance. And I think
to this day, I mean I left thelibrary not because of cyber
bullying, which so many peoplethink that's why I left, After
some things in my life, familygetting sick, me having a hard
time, I said I can't do thisanymore. I'm going to take my
own life. In December 2023, Imade the conscious decision that
(14:51):
I knew I was eventually going totake my own life.
And I basically after a littlebit after that, I said March 1
will be my last day at thelibrary and March 2 will be my
final day in the world. And thenfast forward, that day rolled
around and I just felt so muchsupport. It's not that I didn't
feel loved, I just didn't feelworthy. Didn't feel I was doing
enough, I thought I was failingme, I thought I was failing all
(15:12):
the library people, not just mycommunity but also the social
media people I was reaching andI made the decision to take my
life. I had written my letter tomy mom and dad, and then I just
got, that last day, because Ihad talked to the Internet, I
forgot that the Internet listensto me sometimes, and I said,
this is it.
And I got so many bouquets offlowers at the library. Oh my
(15:32):
And I'm a person who lovesgetting flowers. I'm like,
sunflowers, roses, lilies, thisis a grow so great. I appreciate
it.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (15:39):
I'm like thinking now, like, oh, man,
your life your life might befilled with a lot after this
right now. Yeah. So okay. So thethe library was filled with
flowers for you?
Mychal Threets (15:47):
Yes. Absolutely. There's just so many people just
being so kind and celebrating,but also I think what really
helped is so many people werehonest. I've been talking about
mental health without mentioningit specifically, talking about
library and people are likeYeah. Thank you for reminding me
how great the library is.
Yeah. Thank you for talkingabout mental health. And it
wasn't that they talked about mylibrary, they're like, yes.
They're sending me pictures oftheir kids with library cards
(16:08):
from New York Yeah. FromMissouri, from Arkansas, from
Wyoming, from Alaska, fromAntarctica.
I didn't even know that peoplehad library cards in Antarctica.
Neither did I. I'm like, this isso great. This is so cool. And
then March 2 came around, I wasstill very down and very
depressed, but I said, you knowwhat?
Let me try to stay one more day.And now we're in October 2025,
(16:31):
and I am still alive, stilltalking about things, and it's
so it's it's it's so amazing.Mean, I think and I think not a
lot of people know they don'trecognize how difficult it is to
keep on living after you decideto stay one more day. I think
you feel so badly where youthink you're, you know what, I
said I'm doing okay today. Howcan I say I'm still not okay the
(16:54):
day after?
How can I keep going? I thinkthere are parts of me that still
believe at some point in my lifeI am going to die by suicide.
Parts of me still feel that wayvery much even though I'm very
much on a path to being okay, tolearning to like myself and to
love myself. I still have a lotof bad days. I still have panic
attacks not every day, butprobably every other day, which
(17:17):
is a huge step up from myprevious life, which is amazing.
But that's I think that's wherethe overwhelm is and that's why
I like being home so often.Yeah. That's why I love being
here. I mean, I've gotten tomeet the likes of Amy Poehler,
of Keke Palmer. The other day, Iwas so incredibly on the Today
show, and Nick Offerman was inthe next room.
And we were both standingoutside. Didn't get to talk to
(17:37):
him, but like he saw me and hesmiled. And internally, I
giggled the most Ron Swansongiggle that ever ever could be
giggled. So all those things,but even then I still love these
conversations. Talking toeverybody, seeing school
librarians is the biggest thingin the world to me.
To learn from my fellow librarypeople, that's why I went to
library school, that's why Istill have student loan debt, is
(18:00):
people have conversations and tokeep on going and to remind
people that it's okay to not beokay. 369 is okay to not be fine
and to just take it one day at atime and that's what I'm trying
to do the best And then for me,I get home to my surviving
grandparents, to my parents, tomy siblings, and to my cats,
Machine Gun Kitty, and KissingCat Barlow.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (18:25):
Thank you. How are you choosing joy,
choosing to live, which I thinkI know that we're all grateful
for that? Do you have, like, amantra? What is your method for
moving, like, day to day?
Mychal Threets (18:39):
I would be lying if I said that Reading Rainbow
doesn't help. I think I wouldjoke. I'm just like, stay one
more day. And it's like, younever know. You might get to be
the host of Reading Rainbow,Which is not gonna be honest, I
think the thing that keep megoing that's staying is just the
conversations that I get to havewith people.
(18:59):
It is the hope. I think it is socool that like, the longest time
when I was telling librarystories of library kids and
library grown ups, I neverhonestly believed people when
they said, my kids love what youdo. They like what you do. I
thought they just liked what Idid and they were using their
kids as an excuse to say thatthey liked what I did because I
honestly I honestly never triedto reach kids with my content. I
(19:19):
know my excited voice seems thatway, like
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (19:22):
It's working for kids right now.
Mychal Threets (19:24):
Advisory tattoo sleeve of kids picture books.
But I just get that that excitedwhen I talk about libraries. So
I think for something like beingthe PBS resident librarian,
doing those social media videoswith PBS, being a part of
Reading Rainbow is like is thatthe first time I've honestly
gotten to see so many reactionsof kids like actually watching
what I'm doing Yeah. Talkingabout what I'm doing, being at
(19:44):
events like the Louisville BookFestival and having kids come up
to me. Some of there were someof you were there.
Good to see you again. And Iremember one one kid, I would
think this is probably one of myfavorite moments of, like, the
response, is a kid came up to meand they're, like, looking at
me, they're, like, I've seen youbefore.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (20:00):
Like, you shouldn't be on Instagram,
honey.
Mychal Threets (20:02):
Like, and then dawned in their middle, like,
you're much bigger, but I sawyou on Reading Rainbow. Oh. I
watched you with my mom.Amazing. And then they and they
went away.
We took a picture, they wentaway, and they turned around
real fast, and they're, like,I'm gonna subscribe. That's so
great. I'm gonna tell ReadingRainbow your Oh. Subscribe.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (20:20):
I love it.
Mychal Threets (20:21):
I think it's it's library stories that keep
me going. And honestly, I mean,I talk about libraries the way
that I do, not because I knowthat there aren't problems that
exist in libraries. I know forfrontline staff burnout is very
real. We need separate mentalhealth leave in addition to
physical sick leave. We need weneed we need moments to be able
(20:41):
to take care of ourselves.
People deserve to be paid whatthey're worth as library people.
We didn't get into it to berich, but we wanna survive as
library workers. And I thinkjust being able to amplify that
is to raise is try to remindpeople like this is why we
started doing what we do.Because I meet so many people
who are struggling, who are at,who are close to the edge, and I
just wanna remind them that it'sokay to not be okay, that I have
(21:02):
no idea when they're going to beokay. But I hope that they stick
around to see a day wherethey're okay.
So to me, I keep on staying justbecause I meet so many people, I
encounter so many people who arestruggling just like I did and I
do. And to have a chance just totry to help them in the simplest
ways is the greatest honor, thegreatest blessing I could ever
have. Yeah.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (21:22):
That's Thank you. Yes. I also want to
kind of acknowledge, I guess,like, you have had so much time.
Like, a lot of your reachobviously has been online.
Right?
And so there's, like, thisvirtual element. Like, I'm sure
everybody here is, oh, Michael,you know, like, no you or don't
know you. You're Mike. I knowyou. And so there's a lot of,
(21:44):
like, parasocial relationthere's so much of that.
But you have this incrediblehuge virtual online community,
but your roots are in a physicallibrary. And I wonder, like,
what is there about the physicalspace of a library in a school,
in a community that isirreplaceable, right, that you
cannot have in the online world?What is there that you feel like
(22:04):
that we need that? Can you kindof vocalize that a little for
us?
Mychal Threets (22:07):
You know what? I cherish what I do on social
media not because of any successthat I have, just because I've
always seen it way before anysuccess that I have or had as a
tool to reach people. And Ithink I love that because there
are so many people who aren'table to get to the library.
There are so many people wheretheir grown ups, their guardians
are working so hard andlibraries close at seven, 08:00
(22:28):
and they're working up untilthat time and they gotta make
dinner and there's no chance forthem to get to the library. So
for me to bother people about itonline means it's a chance for
them to remember that thelibrary exists, that they can
use Libby, that they can useKanopy, Hoopla Digital, that
they can sign up for summerreading challenge Exactly.
Beanstack, all those differentthings. But I think the physical
(22:49):
space of the library, it is sopowerful, it is so beautiful to
show people, yes, this is yoursafe place. That's what it was
for me Yeah. As a library kidbecause I had such a hard time
making friends outside of mysiblings, outside of my cousins,
outside of my neighbors. I'vesuffered from mental health
struggles all my life it seemed,least since knowingly since I
was eight.
That's the biggest reason for mepursuing autism and ADHD and
(23:12):
neurodivergence in my life, it'sjust like, how can I be mentally
ill for this long without therebeing another cause because
there's no thing that's spurnedthat? But the libraries, where I
was like, I'm I'm safe here. Idon't feel all those things. I
have friends in EncyclopediaBrown, in Junie b Jones, in
Amelia Bedelia, in StanleyYelnats, in The Great Brain, and
all these various characters. Ithink that's the beauty, that's
(23:33):
the sanctuary, the sacredness ofthat physical space is it's the
last third space.
You can stay there from open toclose, in a chair, you can read
all the books, you never have totake them home. Half the time we
override the rule and say youdon't have a library card,
that's okay, you can still takethe book, you're all good, we
want to see
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (23:51):
the whole
Mychal Threets (23:52):
point of the library and I think that's the
beauty of what it represents isthat the library as a building,
as a desk, but as a people, itrepresents anywhere where books
in the love of libraries are.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (24:07):
I wanna talk about your book.
Mychal Threets (24:09):
Yeah. So I think it may be weird to say is I am
honestly much more excited aboutbeing a published author than I
am the host of Reader Rainbow.I've tried to be very adamant
this entire time that this bookis my book and Lorraine Naum's
book because I loveillustrators. I love how hard
they work. It's the reason Ihave controversial AI views is
because of my love forillustrators.
(24:31):
And I am so excited for thispicture book. I love the
representation. I loveeverything about it. It's
essentially a day in the life oflibrary kids coming to a library
and just seeing that there isbooks, there is library cards,
but there is musicalinstruments, bakeware
collections, there's videogames, there's seaweed in
libraries, there's something foreverybody, but there's also room
(24:53):
for kids in wheelchairs, forpeople with service dogs to come
to the library. And it's soimportant.
I think what's great about thisbook is I hope that people learn
from it and they feel and theykeep on giving me more and more
advice and more and morefeedback. I've heard from some
people that are just like, oh, Iwish that there was a kid in the
picture book who has a hijab. Meand Lorraine have taken that
into account. We've had thoseconversations. And she's such a
(25:16):
kind person, she's trying todraw a kid in a similar style
because she is just that greatof a person.
I think that's just my hope fromthat picture book because I've
always loved picture books.They've been my favorite books
all my life.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (25:28):
Yeah.
Mychal Threets (25:28):
It's what got me hooked on them when I first got
my library card at the age offive. So to have one that can
say I wrote is the mostbeautiful thing in the entire
world. I think the randomizedpeople are they're still here. I
ask them constantly, are yousure we can't publish it
tomorrow? What about tomorrow ifyou're like, Michael, we're
going so fast.
(25:50):
We're already doing it muchfaster than we usually do. We're
trying because you keep onbothering us. But, no, they're
so very kind. They're sosupportive. They're so helpful,
but I'm just so happy for it.
It is a celebration of libraryjoy, and I'm just I mean, to me,
I mean, I'm very glad that mygrandmother didn't get to know
about reading Rainbow, but shedid get to know about this book.
(26:10):
She got to see the book. So nomatter what happens, I'm just
glad that she got to read it,that she got to say, Michael, I
used to read you picture books.Now you wrote a picture book.
I'm so happy for you.
So and this is why I'm sayingI'm so happy you're here and the
fact that she got to read it,that she's happy. Of course, I
hope it becomes a New Yorkbestseller, all those things,
but it's already become thebiggest success in the world for
(26:32):
me because Yeah. She got to seeit, and I've been writing books
and writing since I was a kid,so to know that it exists in the
world, that it's finally aphysical copy that I can hold
Yes. And have and can say, it'sreal, It's here. I'm so proud of
me and Lorraine Nam, and I'mjust so excited for what's to
come.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (26:48):
It's very exciting. And it's yeah. That's
such a full circle moment to getthere. To sort of close out our
conversation before we inviteothers into it, I want to ask
you, you've literally today,hundreds and hundreds of people
talked to them and heard fromthem, and I just wonder if
there's like one or two sort oflearnings, messages, things that
(27:09):
have come from other librariansthat you have taken with you and
brought into your life, intoyour work.
Mychal Threets (27:15):
You know, I think the main thing that I've
learned from my conversations,I've been on 300 planes in the
last two years. I've been allover The United States, and as
much as I love being home, Ilove learning from people. I
love well, I don't love it, I'mhonored to know that there are
almost no school libraries inArizona. There are very very few
school librarians in title inNew York City and so many
(27:38):
similar things across The UnitedStates and to know that and to
be able to fight for them, tostand up for them, to speak for
them, to take advantage of theplatform I have on social media,
it is so great. I'll never takeit for granted.
I learn something new everyconference I go to. I just love
taking everything in. And oddlyenough, I have so many people,
librarians, library workers, andjust regular, regular citizens
(28:01):
who come up to me and sometimesthey're just like in tears.
They're like, my kid issuffering from this. They're
suffering from what you sufferfrom, from what you're
struggling with, or sometimesit's them who are struggling.
And while it's a lot to have aperson crying at you, crying on
you, I appreciate it becausesometimes, like I don't often
check my DMs on social media,but people will reach out and
(28:22):
they're like, I'm having areally hard time. I think I'm
going to take my life. And I'veresponded to those some of those
messages sometimes and they'relike, oh, I'm sorry. I didn't
think you would ever see that.You're just a safe space to talk
to.
I don't not ready I'm not readyto talk to a therapist, to a
psychiatrist, I can't ask forhelp. So I am honored that
people see even the existence ofmy platform as a chance to ask
(28:46):
for help. So it's it's alsohelpful for me to be like, yes,
it is a lot it is a lot ofoverwhelm, but I think for me, a
person who never had that sortof role, that sort of person,
that sort of platform, eventhough now I talk to therapists,
talk to psychiatrists all thetime, I am proudly live, laugh,
Lexapro, is doing is doing allthose things. So I think I just
(29:07):
learned from people just that asmuch as I have asked for help,
people are asking for help too,that more and more people are
having the courage. And I justtake I'm I'm forever thankful
for learning from librarypeople.
I've only ever sought out toamplify library people in
library workers. I'm honored tobe a librarian for PBS, to be a
host for Reading Rainbow, tohave the platform I have, but I
(29:30):
would give it all up to fightfor the people of of Gaza, the
people of Palestine, the peopleof Sudan, the people of Congo.
It means the absolute world forme to fight for all these people
to tell Jewish stories, to tellthe stories of Ukraine, of
Yemen, of Tigray. It's somethingthat we all should do because we
have a powerful voice. And forme, that's what I'm trying to
(29:51):
amplify and just put so muchmore emphasis on because that's
what I'm supposed to do.
I was raised by mister Rogersagain saying, look to the
helpers and if I can become ahelper, I'll always do it. And
lastly, I think just being on somany planes, they always say,
put your own oxygen mask onfirst. Yeah. And I would like to
leave you with saying it is notselfish to take care of
yourselves. Please please takebreaks from a person who never
(30:14):
did.
Take your fifteen minute breaks,take your lunch breaks, take
your vacations even if it's astaycation. I love a good
staycation, staying home andwatching Grey's Anatomy and
Golden Girls, staying with catsand pets. It's the most
important thing you do becauseyou cannot help your library
kids, your library people,unless you're helping yourself.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (30:33):
Michael Threatz, y'all. Give him a big
round of applause. Thank
Mychal Threets (30:36):
you. You. Thank you.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (30:40):
I hope you enjoyed this live, nearly uncut
interview with Michael Threatz.It was so much fun to be in
front of a live audience andjust to be in a space with so
many librarians who adoreMichael and he adores them right
back. And to get to speak withhim again after our earlier
episode that was focused on thebooks that shaped him, it was
(31:02):
just an incredibly specialexperience and one that I am so
grateful that I had and that wecollectively had for those who
were there and those who arelistening today. So instead of
our usual Beanstack featuredlibrarian segment, this episode,
we are going to feature thelibrarians who were in the room
where it happened and share someof their live questions for
Michael. So let's take a
Mychal Threets (31:27):
Hi. Who is your favorite golden girl?
Speaker 4 (31:30):
Oh. Great question.
Mychal Threets (31:32):
Thank you. My fave my favorite golden girl is
Rose. I have a I have a I have atattoo of of Betty White, so I
love Rose. I love Betty White.She just anything for Saint Olaf
all the time.
One day, I'll go to some SaintOlaf libraries.
Speaker 4 (31:51):
I just wanna tell you Lorraine Nam is my friend from
elementary school, and I justtexted her to tell her that you
were shouting out her amazingillustrations. And with her
permission, she said, what? Whythe book exists because of him
to you? And my personal questionthat I have is, what are some of
(32:11):
your favorite read alouds fromall your read aloud time that
you enjoy and you love readingagain and again?
Mychal Threets (32:18):
That's a very Lorraine Lorraine Nam response.
I'm very glad that you've knownher for so long. You guys are
going back
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (32:23):
and forth.
Mychal Threets (32:24):
You what? I know. Exactly. Back and forth.
She's also this I'm not a bigperson.
She's one of the smallest humanbeings I've ever met. I am not
big, but I had to keep onbending down to hug her, and she
still sit on her toes at thesame time. So which also shows
you I'm not a huggy person, butI will hug Lorraine Nam anytime.
But to answer your question, myfavorites are Tattooed on Me is
(32:46):
the Monster at the End of ThisBook is my absolute favorite. I
love that there's I love thatthere's always one kid who does
not want you to turn the page.
And my my grandma also used toread aloud all the time. She
would do the Grover voices. Icannot do a Grover voice, but I
just had fun being like, are yousure? Are you sure you want me
to turn the page? I loveLeonardo the Terrible Monster by
(33:07):
Mo Willems.
That's also a really fun one. Ilove Crunch the Shy Dinosaur by
Sorocco Dunlap. And I reallylove The Book With No Pictures
by BJ Novak. I remember I did itrecently at a place in LA. At
the one time, they just call youboo boo butt.
And all the kids I did, all thekids are like, bye, librarian
boo boo butt. Bye, librarian booboo butt. I was like, not my
(33:31):
name. I'm not librarian boo boobutt, but that's what happens
when you read the book when nopicture's allowed to kids is
they will repeat it, they willsay those words, but they laugh
so much, they giggle so hard,and it's just so cool to see
them taking in a story andimagining so much. So I think
those are always my four go toread alouds.
Speaker 5 (33:51):
It's not really a question. I just wanted to tell
you how much I love what you'redoing, and I love that you are
here today, and thank you forspeaking with us. You're
amazing.
Mychal Threets (34:04):
Thank you so much. I'm so glad you're here.
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 6 (34:10):
Yes. Hi, Michael. Thank you for being such an
inspiration to us. I'm curiousif you could speak to a younger
version of yourself, what advicewould you give them?
Mychal Threets (34:19):
If I was talking to a younger version of myself,
I would tell my younger self tokeep saying that it's okay to be
a shy kid, that shy is not a badword, that it's not bad, that
you're quiet while your familyis loud and rambunctious and
obnoxious. It's quite okay andyou just seize a hold of new
opportunities. I think I wasjust so afraid as a kid and I
(34:40):
just my parents were sosupportive that I think that
just in trying to take care ofme, they didn't they didn't
sometimes they push me intosituations, but they didn't like
ask me to try something. Theydidn't say what would make it
okay. So I could go back in timeand talk to little me.
I think I would just listen tohim, and that's something I've
always tried to do as achildren's librarian is I think
adults, grown ups, we care somuch. We're so passionate about
(35:03):
library kids. We wanna give themmore and more advice, and I like
to listen to library kids. Ilike to listen to their unhinged
nature, their unhingedcommentary, but also their very
insightful thinking. Everythingthat I say about banned books
and most things in life is as aresult of listening to library
kids and their uniqueperspective and their approach
to life.
So I think I would do the samething to myself as a library kid
(35:25):
is give that kid who wasanxious, who had nightmares
almost every single night, isgive him a chance to just say
what was going on in his lifeand just have a chance to speak
without being interrupted.
Speaker 6 (35:37):
What is your favorite part of being a librarian and
being part of the readingcommunity?
Mychal Threets (35:43):
My favorite part is it's always been the
storytelling. I think it's sucha special part of the reading
community and being a librarianjust to see kids know they
belong in the library that ifyou're autistic, if you have
ADHD, dyslexia, if you'reanxious, if you're mentally ill,
if you're unhoused, you belongat the library and you can
receive these stories as a storyfor every single person. If
(36:05):
there's a story you don't like,you can write it yourself that
audiobooks are real books, thatgraphic novels are real books,
that manga is real books and mymy favorite thing has always
been promoting that and saying,just go to the library. Thank
the library people. They theymay have bad days, but they will
remember every bad day, theycannot wait for you to come back
(36:26):
and say, I'm sorry if you had abad day, but let's make this the
best library day you canpossibly have.
And I love that almost everysingle library person lives to
do that for every library kidand every grown library kid who
walks through those doors ordown those Libby or just speaks
about their beautiful librarycard?
Speaker 7 (36:45):
Michael, my cheeks hurt because I've been smiling
the whole time looking at you.That we say that representation
matters, and I wanna tie it tothe question that was just asked
about you speaking to youryounger self. A lot of times
when I do author visits, youngpeople ask me who's my favorite
superhero? And I say MilesMorales because he represents my
(37:08):
intersectionality. He's blackand he's Latino like myself,
like yourself.
And I'm so happy because there'sa saying, little shots are big
shots who keep on shooting. Andyou're a little shot and now a
big shot, and you're givinglittle shots their shot so that
they could keep shooting and bebig shots. My question for you
(37:31):
is what message would you giveour audience about how important
intersectionality and unity andrepresenting the rainbow of
humanity is?
Mychal Threets (37:45):
Unity is everything. That's what Reading
Rainbow is seeking to do is toremind every person that they
are a reader, that they areworthy of being a reader, and
they always have if they knew itor not. And I think the best way
for me to answer that questionabout what it means, unity and
representation, is when I was achildren's librarian at the
Vallejo SpringSound Library,again, I would visit all these
schools. I remember going tothis one of the schools, one of
(38:07):
the sites one day, and a kidcame in a little bit late, and
they had come in just to saygoodbye to me because they were
moving away from the area, andthey came up to me and they
said, mister Michael, I can'tstay. My dad just told me I
could come by and say bye toyou.
We're moving. This is my lastday, but I wanna let you know I
wanna be a Brown librarian,which is just so special. And
(38:30):
then there was another kid whois a again, I don't always
identify who the kids are, butthis other kid is a little
little little white kid, littlewhite boy. And they hear that
and they come up to us and theygo they stand because they're
sitting crisscross applesauceand they go, I wanna be a brown
librarian too. And the littlekid who is fully capable of
being a brown librarian sayspats him on the shoulders, goes,
(38:53):
we can all be a brown librarian.
And to me, that's the mostbeautiful thing in the world
because it shows you that kidsare not color blind, they see in
crayon colors and they're justsaying, we can all be this. So
the kid isn't like, yes, you canbe a brown librarian, it's
saying we can all be a librarianwithout knowing and that's what
I always think about is allthese kids, they see so much,
(39:16):
they see the rainbow, they seehope, they see library joy, they
see belonging, and I just I'vealways remembered that story.
I've never seen that kid again,but I will never forget them
because that range true becauseI'm a I'm a person who didn't
I'm black, Mexican, and white. Ididn't know I was black for the
longest time. I identified asbrown because of the crayon
color, and that's it.
(39:37):
It's saying, yes. We're allexisting. We all have a chance
to be the best version ofourselves, and the best way to
be the best version of ourselvesis together. And I think even
better is to be together, to beourselves amongst the most
wonderful people in the world,librarians and library workers.
Speaker 7 (39:54):
Thank you, Michael.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (40:03):
I just wanna close this by saying that
as Michael and I got here, wewere super early after his
selfie line. We were justsitting there talking and I was
asking him, like, so, you know,now your life is changing in all
these ways. Have you are youdoing anything different? Like,
do you go to, like, nicerrestaurants? What's this, you
know, what what's like yourindulgence, you know?
And he was like, I'm a pizzaguy. And I I would rather give
(40:25):
to these other things. Like, Idon't need for much and I want
to keep it that way. And I justfeel I want to give to
libraries. I want to be in thisspace and that's like the big
gift for you.
So it's utterly refreshing to bewith a person who truly has like
lived a life of purpose and iswalking in their purpose and
bringing all these other people,librarians in this room, but
(40:46):
also just millions of people whodon't necessarily know the love
and the joy in a library. And sofor you to spread that and to be
about that and to live thosevalues is just it's a gift and
we, I think, are you can hearfrom everybody in here. So
grateful for you. So thank youfor being here and thank you all
for being such a wonderfulaudience. Thanks.
Mychal Threets (41:05):
Yeah. Thank you. And if you could please give a
huge huge round of applause forJordan and Beanstack for this
conversation. It's so important.And yes.
No. I I'm always trying to giveback, and I would just like to
remind you as we as we leave, asyou all get to go back to your
planes, in your homes, in yourlibraries, just to please stay
one more day. You never know whoyou're gonna meet. You haven't
(41:25):
met all the people who are goingto love you yet in the words of
Jaz Thornton and I've got tomeet you all today And I love
you so very much. I'm so gladthat you're in the world, and
I'm just so thankful to havebeen amongst you today.
I do hope you keep on watchingReading Rainbow. It is out now
on YouTube on Kidzuko, and Ialso hope that you get a chance
to read. I am so happy you'rehere, a celebration of Library
(41:47):
Joy. But most of all, I hopethat you guys take it one day at
a time and just remember howvaluable you are, how worthy you
are of life, and of Library Joy.Library Joy and I would not
exist if it weren't for everysingle one of you.
Jordan Lloyd Bookey (42:00):
Thank you.
This has been the reading culture, and
you've been listening to my liveconversation with Michael
Threatz. Again, I'm your host,Jordan Lloyd Bookie, and
currently, I'm reading TheCorrespondent by Virginia Evans,
so good, and Mighty Macie byKwame Alexander, which I adore
(42:24):
and wish that my daughter hadwhen she was younger, but it's
so good, y'all. If you enjoyedtoday's episode, please show
some love and give us a fivestar or a written review. It
just takes a second, it reallyhelps ensure that this podcast
gets shared with others who weknow are going to love it. To
learn more about how you canhelp grow your community's
reading culture, you can checkout all of our resources at
(42:44):
feedstack.com, and remember tosign up for our newsletter at
the readingculturepod.comforward slash newsletter for
special offers and bonuscontent.
This episode was produced by MelWebb and lower street media and
script edited by Josiah LambertoEgan thanks for listening and
keep reading
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