Netflix is now in the Bookmarks business

Here’s what’s happening in the world of television for Tuesday, September 1. All times are Eastern.

Top pick

Bookmarks (Netflix, 3:01 a.m., complete first season): Welcome to September! For those of you with kids, who are kids, or who teach kids, school is back, after a fashion. That makes Bookmarks—a new Netflix series in which celebrities read children’s books by Black authors aloud—pretty damn well-timed.

Bookmarks is hosted (and executive-produced—this is an impressive kid) by author, activist, and teenager Marley Dias, who in 2015 launched a campaign called #1000BlackGirlBooks. Spurred by the realization that her required reading for school was “all about white boys or dogs… or white boys and their dogs,” Dias set out to collect 1,000 books about Black girls to donate to schools and libraries. Many thousands of books later, she’s hosting this series, which sees stars like Tiffany Haddish, Common, Lupita Nyong’o, Misty Copeland, and others read books by Black authors. What’s more, the series provides families with “a toolset to start meaningful conversations with kids about difficult topics through short-form book-based content.” The complete first season—that’s 12 five-minute episodes—drops today.

Regular coverage

Wild cards

Transplant (NBC, 10:01 p.m., U.S. premiere): This Canadian drama (already renewed for a second season up yonder) centers on a Syrian refugee (Hamza Haq) whose skills in battlefield and emergency medicine come in handy when a truck careens into a building. John Hannah (Four Weddings And A Funeral, Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D.) also stars.

Felipe Esparza: Bad Decisions and Felipe Esparza: Malas Decisiones (Netflix, 3:01 a.m, comedy special premiere): Esparza’s Netflix comedy special debut arrives twice today—once in English, once in Spanish.