Michelle Obama Reads Her Favorite Children’s Books in This PBS Kids YouTube Series

Grab a snack and find a comfy seat because it’s story time. Michelle Obama is the latest reader for PBS Kids’ celebrity read-along series. Over the course of four weeks, the former first lady is reading four of her favorite children’s books, and you can watch for free on YouTube.

“Mondays with Michelle” kicked off on Monday, April 20, with The Gruffalo, written by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Axel Scheffler. 

“This is a book about a little mouse who uses his wit and imagination to outsmart a snake, an owl, and a hungry fox on his stroll through a deep, dark wood,” Obama explains, before she begins reading.

As she reads (doing different voices for the various characters, which kids are sure to love), the video shows a close-up look at pages from the book.

Previous PBS Kids read-along hosts include Marc Brown (author and illustrator of the Arthur book series), Victoria Kann (author and illustrator of the Pinkalicious & Pterrific books), and Angela Santomero (creator of the show Daniel Tiger). You can find all the videos in the series here.

The videos also come with supplemental materials on the PBS Kids website, like printable finger puppets for The Gruffalo. 

This Monday, April 27, Obama will read There’s a Dragon in Your Book, written by Tom Fletcher and illustrated by Greg Abbott. Each of her storytime videos drops at 12p.m. ET. Keep an eye on the PBS Kids Twitter page to find out what she’ll read next.