The program’s 26-year run ended in 2009, its host LeVar Burton continues to champion the joys of reading and the importance of literacy. Burton said after a few years, teachers started noticing that kids were coming back in the Fall with improved reading and comprehension skills, and publishers were seeing their featured books flying off the shelves. It became a summer staple for a generation of children growing up in the ‘80s, ‘90s and the early 2000s. We need to bring this back for the future of our kids' literacy rates in this country.