LeVar Burton’s New Memoir Connects Reading Rainbow, Roots and Star Trek

LeVar Burton has helped audiences encounter the past, imagine the future and discover their next book. His upcoming memoir, Take My Word for It, brings those parts of his life together.

Written with Tracey Michae’l Lewis-Giggetts, the book arrives from Random House on November 10, 2026. For readers who know Burton through Reading Rainbow, Roots or Star Trek: The Next Generation, it offers an opportunity to learn about the person whose work connects all three.

Take My Word for It at a Glance

Publication details refer to the listed U.S. editions.

From Roots to Star Trek: A Career Across Past and Future

Burton played Kunta Kinte in the 1977 television miniseries Roots and later portrayed Geordi La Forge in Star Trek: The Next Generation. Those performances provide a striking way to consider his career: one looks toward the history of enslavement, while the other imagines a future in space.

Burton himself has drawn that connection. In a July 2026 AARP interview about the memoir, he described the sweep of those roles as “from our enslavement to space flight.”

That observation supplies a compelling reason to be interested in the book. A career can look like a sequence of unrelated jobs when reduced to a list of credits. Burton’s perspective invites readers to consider what those performances mean alongside one another—and what it means for an actor to become part of how audiences understand both history and possibility.

Why Reading Rainbow Belongs in That Story

For many readers, Burton’s most personal connection to their lives began with Reading Rainbow. He served as its host and contributing producer, using storytelling to encourage children’s curiosity and interest in books. The American Library Association identifies that educational work as a central part of his career.

Placed beside Roots and Star Trek, the program gives this memoir a particular appeal for a book website’s audience. Reading can help us understand experiences beyond our own, and fiction can expand what we believe is possible. Burton’s work offers a useful starting point for thinking about both.

That is our editorial reading of the connection, rather than a judgment on the memoir’s execution. The interest here comes from the questions his career raises: Who gets to tell a story? Who sees themselves in it? And who helps a child discover that books can belong to them?

What Does the Memoir Cover Beyond Television?

According to the publisher, Burton discusses his childhood during the Civil Rights Movement, his mother’s influence and his development as a storyteller. The announced scope also includes marriage, parenthood and the responsibilities he feels toward earlier generations. Personal family photographs accompany the text.

Those subjects give readers reason to expect a life story with substantial attention to family. Familiar television roles provide an entry point, while the personal material may help explain the values behind the public work.

This is a publication preview based on the publisher’s information and Burton’s public comments, rather than a review of an advance copy.

Who Might Want to Read It?

Take My Word for It is worth considering if you are interested in Burton’s acting, the cultural influence of children’s television or the relationship between storytelling and education.

There is also an obvious companion read for Next Generation fans: Patrick Stewart’s autobiography. Our guide to Making It So explores its focus on childhood, theater and screen work.

Affiliate disclosure: As an Amazon Associate, Books of Brilliance earns from qualifying purchases.

Interested in Burton’s story? Preorder Take My Word for It on Amazon.

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