The PBS Kids’ “resident librarian” and TikTok sensation is adding a picture book to his resume. In I’m So Happy You’re Here: A Celebration of Library Joy (Random House, Feb. 2026), illustrated by Lorraine Nam, librarians introduce neighborhood children to the magic of the library. We spoke with Threets about his passionate advocacy for literacy and mental health, his publishing journey, and collaborations between libraries and bookstores.
Early last year, you resigned from your public library position to prioritize your mental health and intensify your advocacy. How did these choices lead to your book project?
I left the library because of things going on in my personal life, my struggles with mental health, and the difficult job. As a supervising librarian, you’re the bad guy. You have to kick people out for not following the rules. I had to write up 170 incidents in a little over a year, and I was struggling mightily with anxiety, depression, and panic attacks. Since I wasn’t able to care for myself, I couldn’t take care of my team or the community’s library kids. I took a step back, and people now know that I wanted to leave the world.
I made all those decisions, and some very kind people reached out, including Penguin Random House and PBS. PRH actually reached out to me in December 2023, even before I had left the library. They had seen some of my videos and posts, and they thought that perhaps I had a story to tell in picture book form. And I definitely did. I wrote the book and pitched it to them, and I was very glad they were happy to accept it. Soon after that, some author friends put me in touch with Lara Perkins at the Andrea Brown Literacy Agency. She’s been extraordinary, helping me with the publishing world.
How did your support of library joy and your concern for young people’s mental health shape your book?
I’m So Happy You’re Here is a celebration of the library being for everyone, no matter where they’re at in life. Even if you’re not ready, or if you don’t believe that the library is for you, the library always is ready to emphasize that message. Whenever you walk through those doors, the library people are going to be happy that you’re there.
How can bookstores and libraries collaborate on programming or work toward a common goal without seeming to compete?
Libraries and bookstores gravitate toward one another. Maybe it’s an author talk or an art workshop or a cooking demo at the bookstore, presented by the library, and vice versa, having the bookstore come to the library and say, If you’ve read Dog Man 1,000 times, here are some books that we have at the bookstore that you might want to keep forever instead of having to give them back to the library. The library’s whole intent is to let you fall in love with a book and then say, You know what, I loved it so much I need it at my home. There’s a multitude of ways for libraries and bookstores to come together and show the world that we’re having fun with our love of books.
What’s your message to booksellers and librarians whose work is often under siege in our current political and social climate?
We are indeed in such trying times as librarians, as booksellers, as bookworms and book-loving people. I would encourage them to look for joy in the smallest places: a kid getting their first library card and doing their library card dance; explaining to kids how the library works, that you can borrow the books and no one’s going to tackle you when you leave; finding that perfect book, and just observing all the people who come into bookstores and libraries. We always look for joy in big, unexpected ways, but it’s there in the ordinary.
Mychal Threets will give the opening keynote in the Oregon Ballroom, 203-204, Floor 2, on Thursday, June 12, 4–5 p.m.
