Reading Rainbow

1983-06-06 | TV-Y | en

LeVar Burton

Kids

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Seasons & Episodes

EP1 The Biggest Test in the Universe

Nov. 06,2006

In addition to discussing accomplishing difficult tasks, LeVar profiles the New York children's theater group Tada, as they prepare auditions for their newest show. Richard Gear reads The Biggest Test in the Universe, a story about a grade school class having anxiety over an annual aptitude test.

EP2 I Lost My Tooth in Africa

Nov. 07,2006

LeVar discusses different rites of passage in growing up. The book "I Lost My Tooth in Africa" is read about a young girl who loses her first tooth while visiting her father's family in Africa, and how the tooth fairy tradition is different in other countries. We visit with some young people who are having their first dental appointment, and LeVar discusses other culture's customs regarding loose teeth. In another rite of passage, a friend of LeVar's celebrates her 15th birthday with a Quincenara ceremony.

EP3 Boxes for Katje

Nov. 08,2006

LeVar profiles Children For Children, a New York based youth organization that creates care packages for relief to children affected by Hurricane Katrina in August 2005. Elizabeth Jute reads a story about a US penpal who sends care packages to her friend in war-torn Holland after WWII.

EP4 Game Day

Nov. 09,2006

James Avery reads a story written by identical twin brothers Tiki and Ronde Barber, who became professional football players, and how they learned the importance of teamwork when they played together in junior high.

EP5 Show Way

Nov. 10,2006

As LeVar helps his wife and daughter construct his family tree, Diahann Carroll narrates Show Way, in which the author chronicles her family back to her Great, Great, Great, Great Grandmother, who was a slave in the South. Through traditions passed down to each generation, her family learned to sew "Show Way" quilts that were secretly maps designed to help slaves escape to the north to freedom, and how her relatives taught her to keep up with the love of quilting to retain family history.

Reading Rainbow Trailers

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Journey to exciting places and build a lasting connection with your favorite books. Each episode centers on a theme from a book, or other children's literature, which is explored through a number of segments or stories.

Reading Rainbow Audience Reviews

Interesteg What makes it different from others?

LouHomey From my favorite movies..

Keira Brennan The movie is made so realistic it has a lot of that WoW feeling at the right moments and never tooo over the top. the suspense is done so well and the emotion is felt. Very well put together with the music and all.

Kayden This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

AsifZamir I was recently told that I shouldn't push reading so much, because that can be very intolerant of those who have trouble reading. I have moderate dyslexia, which sometimes makes it a struggle to read properly. I was several grades behind in my reading abilities and the solution to that wasn't to be tolerant of my lack of skills, but rather to read much more. I read at least one book per week and watched Reading Rainbow.Reading Rainbow is a children's television series. Reading Rainbow was aired by PBS in 1983-2009. The series encourages a theme from a children's book in each of it's episodes and explores this theme through a series of segments/stories.Actor LeVar Burton (ROOTS, TNG and Star Trek) acted in each of the 155 episodes produced in 23 years. Awards for Reading Rainbow include 26 Emmy Awards, the Peabody Award and over 200 broadcasting awards and was created by Lancit Media Productions.The world of reading is a whole new world for children, it helps them explore their creativity, takes them on untold adventures through imagination and provides educational assets. Reading Rainbow is a valuable treasure for any child.

Michael DeZubiria I should admit that I haven't seen Reading Rainbow for probably 15 years, but it is such a milestone in my development that I have to say something about it. I only stumbled on the series on the IMDb when I was looking up a mediocre thriller starring Hillary Swank, and even after all these years just the title of the show brought a smile to my face. I remember being enraptured with all the new books and stories and illustrations and everything, and while I don't watch the show anymore, I have become a voracious reader in my adult life, probably in no small part because of this show. I don't think we have shows as healthy and fun and well made as this one much anymore, this one seems to continue to be the only major broadcast show that encourages kids to read, which is really sad. Then again, I watch so little TV that there could be others that I don't know about.Either way, I doubt very much that many modern shows have the same kind of appeal to the young and old alike as the Reading Rainbow, which makes me wish there was some kind of TV forum like this geared more towards maturer readers. I have a feeling that there are plenty of authors who would bring a pretty big audience were they to give interviews and talk about their books the way they are discussed on this show.Bravo!!

Pepper Anne While it has been years since I used to religiously watch 'Reading Rainbow,' I do remember how much I loved it. Each episode had a particular theme such as teaching kids about different occuptaions or perhaps places. The show's charismatic host, LaVar Burton might travel to a factory to show kids how cheese is made, or play co-pilot in an airplane. So, each episode, provided something different about the world and the people in it to kids, giving them a very diversified and educational show. Additionally, the show would end with suggested reading for people interested in the show's themes. And these books were usually presented with a brief review from kids. I remember our library even had a section of books that had appeared on Reading Rainbow. LaVar Burton's educational journeys were not the only part of the show. They also read a book during each episode, which was read either by Mr. Burton or by some celebrity reader (I remember James Earl Jones read one of my favorite books about a young African boy who was a rainmaker, though the name escapes me), and they displayed the pictures on the screen. I think they displayed it with the words so you could read along, but I don't remember. I know it wasn't like watching a storyteller sit and read the book to a bunch of kids and showing them the book. You actually got to see the book yourself while the voice was dubbed along. It was a good show that encouraged reading and interest in a whole lot of things. Then again, PBS had a lot of shows like that at the time--Math Net (a take on Dragnet in which the detectives used math to solve each mystery); Square One (a variety educational program); 3-2-1 Contact (which I don't remember much, except for the name); and so forth. If they don't run the reruns or if Reading Rainbow has retired long ago, I wish that they would try to get kids interested in that again. It did more than just trying to encourage kids to read, it tried to teach them about a lot of different things. I still remember the show that took you inside of a macaroni manufacturing plant and a crayon manufacturing plant. It was cool.

strid333 This was such a great show. I especially loved the story book time. I also really liked the showing how things are done. I think my favorite of all the episodes would be visiting LeVar's other workplace - the set of Star Trek TNG in its first season. It was one of the first times that they actually showed how they did all the special effects (I only wish that they waited a couple more seasons to make this episode because they might've had some Borg makeup). Now, with DVDs, this episode is pointless, but I still don't care. On a personal note, one of my friends briefly appeared in an episode. He was 6 (like me) at the time. It was the episode of the Library of Congress and he and his mom are seen running up the stairs. He told me that if he knew better, he would've gone over to LeVar because he would've met Geordi LaForge (but this was a year before TNG even started and there are still ST conventions). Yeah, we are both geeks at heart.

Reading Rainbow

Seasons & Episodes

Reading Rainbow Trailers

Reading Rainbow Audience Reviews

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