Guest written by our friend Mario Reed
Reading Rainbow has been one of the most lively classical educational programs I’ve ever seen since my childhood or anyone’s around the 80’s through 90’s. I still get glimpses of all of its episodes on public television, even through new and improved satellite TV(expertsatellite.com!).
You have this guy, LeVar Burton, instilling in young and old viewers the joys of reading. He went to all sorts of places and did all sorts of cool things. He would always remember to bring in something to read that would be relevant to the episode, vividly narrated and illustrated on-screen.
A few of my favorite Reading Rainbow moments? I think I’d have to give that to Run DMC’s performance on the show, and the one episode where LeVar went to a renaissance faire.
One of the more memorable moments of the show included children recommending books to read. Their reviews were adorable and concise, followed with the three-note musical hit that somehow had that hypnotic effect on me while I was watching it.
Reading Rainbow is still classic today, and always will be, at least for me. The show got cancelled, can you believe it, and now I wait for something better to appear that I know will succeed Reading Rainbow in teaching kids the joys of reading.