Since exploding onto the social media scene, literary ambassador, librarian, and SLJ Summit keynote speaker Mychal Threets has inspired a love of libraries and books, as well as an openness about

Mychal Threets speaks to librarians at SLJ Summit in Raleigh, NC.

discussing mental health issues. But he didn’t arrive at the 2024 Summit the first weekend in December looking to inspire, he said. He just wanted to thank the school librarians who were there.

“Thank you for everything that you all do, truly,” he told the audience as he opened the second day of programming in Raleigh, NC. “It means the absolute world to me. There are so many people in this room—people of all colors, people of all races, people of all backgrounds. I say that because, for me, that's why I love the library. It's why I love books. It’s why I love literacy. It's why I'm all about literacy joy. There was a time when I wouldn't have been able to stand up here and talk about libraries, when people who look like me, people who look like many of you, wouldn’t be able to be literate. You'd be forbidden to be literate. And that is such a privilege. It is such a right to be literate, to be able to seize hold of library joy, of book joy.”

Threets shared his own library story, from getting his first card at age five to resigning as a public library supervisor in March, and he openly discussed his struggles with mental health issues, as he has on his social media channels.

“I've done some amazing things in 11 years [as a] library person, [and] even more so being chronically online the last year; but my favorite thing is still to talk to my beloved library people, the people who raise the library kids, the people who are creating the future—a future where hopefully there aren't going to be as many banned books, where they're not going to want to take down the Department of Education,” he said. “Every one of us has the opportunity to learn to be the best version of ourselves, and I think the best version is a library version.”

He then took questions from the librarians in attendance. The first one asked Threets about his favorite books as a kid. After admitting that he could never just pick one, Threets said that when pinned down, he says his favorite authors were Louis Sachar and Beverly Clearly.

“Beverly Cleary’s characters were my first friends as an anxious, shy kid who didn’t have any friends,” Threets said. “But I also loved Louis Sachar so much. Holes was the first book ever gifted to me as a kid for my birthday. I also love Wayside School and love Small Steps, the sequel to Holes.”

He continued to talk about Amelia Bedelia and The Monster at the End of This Book by Jon Stone, as well as The Giver by Lois Lowry and Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis, which he said was the first book he read where he saw a character that looked like him.

“That author is my hero,” he said of Curtis.

Another attendee asked for help with a response to someone in her town who didn’t think it was worth it to pay a neighboring town for full access to its library because it doesn’t have one of its own. Instead of

Mychal Threets with SLJ associate editor Florence Simmons.

suggesting a retort, Threets wanted more information and offered to create a video about the library on his social media, to visit and help get more people to sign up for library cards and learn about all of its services.

Someone then sought advice on how to approach discussions of mental health struggles with supervisors and students.

“A big part of our job is creating relationships with our students, and they totally see through the BS, and they know when we are not being completely honest with them,” the attendee said.

Threets agreed and said it’s important to be honest with kids and tell them when you aren’t OK. A lot of people think of these issues as adult issues, he said, but anxiety and depression is a kid problem and a teen problem, too. “It’s a human being problem,” he said. “We all suffer from these things, so why can’t we talk about those things together. . . . Let them see that you’re a real person. Talk about your anxiety, talk about your depression. You never know what they’re going to open up and talk about too.”

Lastly, Threets was asked what strategies he has used to encourage, inspire, and empower young Black students, particularly young Black boys.

“I think it's also just having conversation, being able to say, 'I'm having a bad day, I'm about to cry,' and showing your students exactly who you are,” he said. “Just being the best version of yourself, and you hope that they see it is about simply trying your best. It's letting them know that failure is okay. It's OK to make mistakes.”

Threets talked about the importance, too, of talking to them about possibilities and choices they have in life and having them see Black men as teachers, librarians, and in an array of other professions.

“Administrators, managers, leaders—you have to hire not always what it does look like, but what it should look like, [by] having Black people on staff, Asian people on staff, Latinx people on staff, plus disabled people and neurodivergent people,” he said. “You have to reflect [students], so they know that it's possible.”