Burton’s love for reading started when he was just a young boy.
“I was 4 or 5, sitting next to my aunt, reading, and I got stuck on the word pretty. I wouldn’t say it; I didn’t want to be wrong. So I sat there. My aunt was very patient, but finally, she said, ‘The word is pretty.’ I knew I was right in my mind and my heart. I just didn’t have the courage to say it.”
One of LaVar’s favorite books is, Amazing Grace, by Mary Hoffman.
“It’s the story of a girl who wants to play Peter Pan in her school play,” explains Burton. “But is told by her classmates that she can’t because she’s a girl and she’s black. It’s Grace’s story of believing in herself and learning that she can be anything she wants using the power of her imagination.”