Reading Rainbow Ends Friday

For years I watched these opening credits at least weekly, probably a lot more often. At the time, when I was young, I probably didn't think I gave Reading Rainbow as much mental clout as I gave to Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood, but looking back I realize that I really did. I certainly watched it just as much, and it was really just as integral a part of my childhood--and much longer (I was still watching it at an older age than those two shows). I would have been five or six when the show went on the air, which was just the age at which I was learning to read on my own, and Reading Rainbow was just the show to guide me into the world of books, showing me the wonderful options that were available at the library. There were lots of factors in developing my love of learning, but this show was certainly one of them.

Now the show is ending its twenty-six-year run at the end of this week. As this NPR story shows, curricular needs and educational theories have left the show behind: the vogue is now all about teaching phonics and how to read, rather than the why or the what of reading. I'll not quibble with the experts, but it does seem to me that instilling a love of books for the preliterate would motivate them to acquire the necessary skills. There has to be a source that teaches those skills, but all phonic shows all the time won't give kids that love. Of course they can get it from books themselves--that's ideal--but the whole concept of educational television as it grew out of President Johnson's Great Society was that TV was ubiquitous and could help those kids whose environments don't naturally include books and libraries (i.e. poor kids). I'm a tremendous fan of WordGirl, WordWorld, Martha Speaks, Between the Lions, The Electric Company, etc., but there should still be a space within children's television for a show with Reading Rainbow's aims: to show kids why reading is so amazing. (And that's not even mentioning all the hundreds of little segments showing kids industrial processes--how grown-ups do things: Reading Rainbow and Mr. Rogers still remain the best shows at doing this sort of thing, and I'm grateful for their modern equivalents like This is Emily Yeung, although I do think something's been lost in the modern shows. To this day I can still remember Burton explaining that when you hitch oxen to a plow or wagon, you unhitch them in the same order so that no animal spends longer under the yoke than another. I'm not sure where that kind of information is on television today.)

But all good things come to an end. LeVar Burton has had a good film and television career which often overshadows this show, but Reading Rainbow is without doubt his unsung legacy and greatest achievement. He ranks up there with Fred Rogers and the longtime Sesame Street cast members as a presenter and host, a caring adult willing to spend his on-camera career guiding children into young adulthood. He's hipper than Mr. Rogers so his love for kids may be less evident, but I think he wouldn't have spent his career in this way without a profound love for children, his viewers. I know I felt his enthusiasm for books when I was in the target demographic. Josh Selig posted a great entry about Sesame Street actor Bob McGrath today and his love for children that helped put the heart into that show, and it is only fitting to praise Burton with the same words. He gave Reading Rainbow its heart.

With the rise of digital media and the post-literate generation, let's hope that there are still avenues to help kids pick up actual books (made of ink and paper) and just love them. As we strive to impart this love for reading--as parents or television producers or in any other role--we will do well to keep LeVar Burton in mind and urge kids to go out there and try it for themselves. But don't take my word for it. Watch a few clips yourself.

Finally, here are the opening credits in their more recent manifestation: