“Take a look, it’s in a book…” It only takes a few words to stir feelings of nostalgia, and nothing reaches my heart quite like the theme song from Reading Rainbow. The series hosted by LeVar Burton was a fundamental part of my childhood and undoubtedly contributed to my lifelong obsession with reading. New episodes of the educational show aired on PBS from 1983 until 2006; it was unfortunately canceled because they couldn’t renew the show’s broadcast rights. Burton launched a Reading Rainbow iPad app a couple of years ago, but now, thanks to crowdfunding, there’s a chance to revive the beloved show.
Burton and his team have just launched a Kickstarter project to put Reading Rainbow on the web and to offer specialized classroom versions of the program for free to schools. They want to reach children everywhere and make Reading Rainbow as accessible as possible. While I’d love to see the series back on the air, this is a solution that will spread the message about the importance of literacy and reading. Let LeVar Burton tell you all about it:
The goal for the campaign is $1,000,000, and contributions are already rolling in. Backers can donate anywhere from $5 to $10,000, and rewards range from a thank you tweet from @ReadingRainbow to a chance to be an extra in a Reading Rainbow video field trip to a private dinner with Burton. And yes, there are more than a few Star Trek related rewards sprinkled in the mix.
You have 35 days to support the Reading Rainbow Kickstarter.
Jump to the comments and share some of your favorite Reading Rainbow memories with us!
I loved Reading Rainbow! I wish our children would be able to see it once again.
Thank you for posting about this Nerdist! I was able to donate some money to this project this morning because I saw this post.
Kickstarter now has $1.4m!
Loved this show! Would awesome to watch with my kids! Put if back on the air.:-)
…and WISHBONE. My best friend and I both realized after one of our college courses (both lit. majors, went on to grad. school, too) that we passed one of our tests based solely off of what we knew about the book from watching Wishbone…we laughed so hard.
Definitely have to donate to this. Crossing my fingers for Magic School Bus as well!
If this doesn’t get backed something is sooo wrong. What a great idea!
I loved reading rainbow. I got me into reading and I have not stopped since. I am sad that my children can’t see the show, but I will definitely donate so they can have an experience. See you next time…
So little children’s programming of value left anymore (even Sesame Street has too much pop culture). I am all for bringing back a classic.
My sister and I would go to our local library and rent the Reading Rainbow videos. We were obsessed with the one where LeVar visits a cake shop and the one where he goes to a magical hat shop. Reading Rainbow is the greatest thing ever.
Butterfly in the sky. I can go twice as high. Take a look, it’s on Google. Reading the Internet.