Bay Ridge kid goes on ‘Live with Kelly and Ryan’ to discuss reading channel

July 16, 2020 Jaime DeJesus

Photo: ABC

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A Bay Ridge kid is a rising star thanks to his love of books.

Earlier this year, 7-year-old Bryan Rumfelt created a Facebook channel, “Bryan’s Book Corner,” after schools closed down due to COVID-19. His idea was to read to younger kids who were stuck indoors.

He has since been featured on Yahoo, Fox 5, “CBS Morning News,” CNN’s “Cuomo Primetime” and “Inside Edition.” On Thursday, he appeared on “Live with Kelly and Ryan,” starring Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest.

“It has been really exciting and overwhelming,” said Bryan’s mother, Jennifer Rumfelt. “All of a sudden, we got a big wave of people that wanted to join the group.”

During the school year, Bryan released videos nearly every day. Now that it’s the summer, he’s doing it once a week.

“I love reading to other people because it’s fun,” Bryan said. “My dad has a friend that has two boys who didn’t like reading. Then when they watched my video and they loved reading.”

Several authors have contacted Bryan and his family, asking him to read their books.

“He’s been pretty excited about being on TV,” said Jennifer, “but with Ryan and Kelly was the first time where he was a bit starstruck and nervous.”

The process of getting on the show was exciting for the family.

“For the Facebook group, members must be approved by us,” said Jennifer. “My husband weaves through different people that ask to join and he noticed the producer from ‘Kelly and Ryan’ asked to join. Within an hour, they were on the phone with the producer saying they were interested in him. They loved watching the videos.”

The producers were impressed with Bryan’s responses during a pre-screening interview and wanted him on the show.

“He watches them on TV and thinks they’re really funny,” she said. “He likes Ryan Seacrest because he likes watching ‘The Disney Family Singalong.’ He was so excited.”