LeVar Burton Book Club and LeVar Burton Book Recommendations - Only on Fable!

Padma WarriorMay 11, 2021

I am thrilled to welcome the incomparable LeVar Burton to the Fable community. LeVar has dedicated his life to bringing the power of storytelling to people of all ages, and he’ll be sharing his personal book recommendations and literary insights with our readers.LeVar Burton book recommendations will be featured in a series of Fable Folios, starting with the theme he is most passionate about, The Power of Storytelling. “Stories have been a central part of my life since I was a child. They have the power to feed our imaginations and explore the very nature of our existence here on earth and beyond. Stories can even bring us closer together as human beings. For me, books are more than words strung together. They are portals into existences of every variety, stripe and hue; the universe and all there is, captured in the pages of good books!”, says LeVar Burton. LeVar Burton Book Club gives Fable readers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to read great books along with LeVar. They read together with James Baldwin’s immortal novel “Go Tell It on the Mountain,” exploring the abundance of resources that surround this timely novel, and Fable will surface the most relevant body of knowledge members in the Reading Club. With LeVar’s guidance, you can listen to the gospel music that flows through the pages, watch vintage interviews with the great novelist, and meet TikTok and YouTube book reviewers as they discover this book for the first time. Club members can join this lively conversation, sharing their own thoughts about Baldwin’s semi-autobiographical novel as they read with LeVar Burton. Watch LeVar talk about his new Fable Book Club and Folio!https://youtu.be/GuQnNQSaFxk

Read with LeVar Burton - A dream come true

I have admired LeVar’s work for many years (along with millions of others). I watched LeVar Burton’s “Reading Rainbow” on PBS with my son, sharing the joy of reading. I obsess over “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” one of my favorite television series of all time with LeVar Burton as the inspiring engineer, Geordi La Forge. Needless to say, I was a bit star-struck when I called LeVar to tell him about Fable. He was in the middle of a shoot in New Orleans. Yet he took the time to call me back personally, in the middle of a storm! He grew more and more excited as I told him about Fable, because our missions aligned perfectly.I’ve always been in awe of how LeVar’s work built community and fostered empathy, two core values of Fable’s mission to deliver exceptional stories in service of mental wellness. Research has proven the benefits of reading. Stories promote empathy, social perception, emotional intelligence, and other cognitive abilities that can lead to better mental health. Reading can even alleviate anxiety, depression, and phobias.From the time we are children, we are taught to think of reading as something that’s hard to do. At Fable, our goal is to break that stigma and get everyone to read a little every day. No one has worked harder at making reading fun and easy than LeVar Burton, who has dedicated his life to encouraging everyone to read more. “Reading Rainbow” ran for 23 seasons around the country, one of the longest-running children's programs in history. The series won 200 broadcast awards, including a Peabody Award and 26 Emmy Awards. From “Roots” to “Reading Rainbow” to “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” LeVar has been captivating audiences around the world with his authentic charm and passion for storytelling, for over forty years. He is an accomplished producer, director, and podcaster. His globally popular podcast “LeVar Burton Reads" is now in its ninth season. We can count on LeVar to pick the best stories, including work by some of my personal favorites like Haruki Murakami and Octavia Butler. I always tell people to set micro-goals for their reading, and LeVar Burton book recommendations in Fable Folios are perfect for reading on the go, helping our community add reading to their daily lives. For more than 30 years, LeVar Burton has taught generations of fans around the world to love stories and reap all the wellness benefits of reading. We are so honored to continue that mission with LeVar on Fable. Please join me in giving LeVar a warm welcome and let’s... Read with LeVar Burton!

Padma Warrior