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LeVar Burton wants to bring Reading Rainbow back


RIPPA

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I think it's interesting that all of us that grew up in the '90s are determined to make sure this young generation experiences it.

 

It was like the Golden Age of Kids/Cartoon Television.

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Me and Reading Rainbow were born the same year, and I'm pretty sure my love for reading stemmed from watching kids my age talk about how fucking awesome their books were every day on TV.

 

Reading Rainbow related content from books to the real world in a fun and exciting way. Nowadays most shows about reading are just telling kids how to sound words out, most of which are pretty fucking boring, and they can get super repetitive. Like Super Why. Reading Rainbow isn't just a nostalgia entertainment, it's a legit tool that makes reading fun for kids. It's probably one of the greatest utilization of the television medium for GOOD.

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Afraid that I'm way too old to have experienced Reading Rainbow, but everything I've heard says it was a great thing. Burton's one of the good guys and so is everyone that has helped out. Anything that encourages kids to read is cool by me.

 

As a side note, my next door neighbor's son is 19 and reads voraciously, really smart kid. I turned him on to Harry Crews and he loves the stuff. I asked if any of his friends would be interested as I have some extra paperbacks, and he said no, none of his friends read. That's so sad. Of course, in ten years his friends are going to be mowing his lawn and pouring his espresso... 

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Reading Rainbow related content from books to the real world in a fun and exciting way. Nowadays most shows about reading are just telling kids how to sound words out, most of which are pretty fucking boring, and they can get super repetitive. Like Super Why.

This. Having watched my fair share of newer PBS programming while babysitting my 7 year old niece, you couldn't imagine how frustrated and annoyed I would get watching Super Why and the repitition of "alphabet power" and sounding out words. Hell, half the time I could solve the "puzzle" of the day as soon as it was introduced. You don't need to prance around for half an hour trying to figure that stuff out. There aren't enough reading encouragements out there anymore.

Congrats to LeVar, and with any luck this will see the light of day instead of the Wrestling Revolution Project.

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  • 2 weeks later...

They have raised 3.6 million so far with 21 days remaining so now they are trying to reach $5 million

 

Reaching $5 million would allow them to put Reading Rainbow for free into over 7,500 schools AND allow them to also making it available on mobile devices and things like Roku and video game consoles

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Vernoica Mars finished with a total of 91,585 backers contributed $5,702,153. 

 

Reading Rainbow currently has 79,640 backers contributing $3,635,361 (with 21 days to go)

 

Rainbow was the 6th fastest kickstarter to hit its million dollar goal. Mars was I think 3rd.

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I was too old for Reading Rainbow (totally Sesame Street kid here) but I have a half-sister who is 17 years younger than me. One day back in the early 90s I was watching with her and they showed one of the "in-school" segments and I started thinking that the kids looked really really familiar. I realized that it was a bunch of kids who I went to school with in 6th-8th grade at a small private school in New York City, but back when they were in maybe 3rd grade. Watching the credits confirmed it.

Anyway, as someone who hopes to someday have a sprog of my own, I'm psyched that it's coming back.

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