Reading Rainbow

Back when I was a toddler and maybe up to 2nd grade, these shows were honestly what I watched everyday and this is one of them. I was honestly hooked to this show even if it did seem a little outdated for it's time. I loved the stories LeVar would read since it filled my imagination.

Nowadays, there's no shows that are like this anymore to be honest with you. Except for maybe Sesame Street (but that show is probably never going to end), and maybe a few others. To the parents that want to show their kids a classic TV show, then I definitely recommend this one.

I grew up watching this show, it first appeared when I was 4 years old. I watched it as I learned to read and as I progressed through school. I still watch it on the occasions I find it on PBS, and I'm now a 22 year old grad student in Literature. I think this show really helps instill the value of reading in young kids--values that will follow them throughout life. I can't think of a better show for kids. And unlike most children's programs, it doesn't lose its charm no matter how old you get. A great great show, one of my personal favorites and a big reason I'm studying English and Literature today.

I used to love this show! I watched it religiously for years, and wish I had time to watch it now. This show really turned me on to reading as a kid, and we need more shows like this to get kids who have 100+ channels, computers and multiple video games back to the basics of reading. While the theme song was trite, it was catchy & easy to remember. And even though some aspects of the program on the overdone side, this show has wonderful "bones", & contributed overwhelmingly to my childhood, and the childhoods of many others as well.

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.

This show, at least in it's current state, is better than 99% of the crap one will find on network tv. I've seen up close pottery making by Indians in the mid-west, examined the inner workings of the largest galactic telescope in the world in Puerto Rico, and otherwise been very entertained and informed from the times I've caught this show just before Charlie Rose came on.

Levar does a nice job of imparting important virtues to kids - RESPECT for creativity and craft, your elders, the environment... what more could you ask for, in an age when parents take NO responsibility for raising kids and kids have no respect even for human life??

As far as the books reviewed, I can't vouch for this, but I've always left with a good, warm feeling about people every time I watch this show, (and I usually feel like heaving when I see the other crap on tv).

I say, 'KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK!!'