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LeVar Burton gives Go the Fuck to Sleep the Reading Rainbow treatment

There are many people who could read the book Go the Fuck to Sleep without turning heads.

LeVar Burton is not one of them.

For over 20 years, Burton hosted Reading Rainbow, the show that taught children everywhere to love reading. So, hearing him read the expletive-laced parody of a children’s book is definitely a strange experience.

Written by Adam Mansbach, Go the Fuck to Sleep has been described as a “children’s book for adults.” It reached number one on Amazon’s bestseller list over a month before it went on sale.

As the New York Times explains, Mansbach’s book is the result of a Facebook status update. Mansbach was having some trouble getting his two-year-old daughter to sleep, and he sarcastically quipped that he was working on a new children’s book about bedtime woes. His friends quickly let him know that was a great idea. So he tapped his illustrator friend Ricardo Cortés, and the two created Go the Fuck to Sleep.

Burton read Go the Fuck to Sleep last week as part of Rooster Teeth’s Extra Life charity drive. All proceeds raised — almost $450,000, according to NPR — go to the Children’s Miracle Network, which supports children’s hospitals.

Burton joins the ranks of several other celebrities who have read Mansbach’s book, including Samuel L. Jackson and George Lopez, who voiced the English and Spanish audio books, respectively.

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