Remember this show? Watched it, like I did, when you were younger? Loved the theme music? Or perhaps you just heard about it last week when it was reported that it is ending its 26-year run. Regardless, it is indeed a sad day. I was inspired to write about it here after reading an excellent post about it on the PopTen blog. Blogger Morgan Holzer does a great job of capturing the joy and spirit of Reading Rainbow, highlighting some of the great books profiled.
I especially want to point out Morgan’s description of how young people were involved in the show:
Reading was an adventure to be had. It took you to new worlds where anything was possible, and to top it off, you (a kid!) got to review the book in the end. And while pundits decry television, movies, and gaming for dumbing down our youth, I have to say, this is a huge blow as well.
I loved how LeVar Burton (yes, like many others out there I think of him even more as Geordie LaForge from Star Trek: The Next Generation, as well as Kunta Kinte from Alex Haley’s Roots) would always bring in the youth-recommendation section by saying, “But. . . you don’t have to take MY word for it.”
Go Reading Rainbow for respecting young people to review and promote books themselves, and to have the adult host of the show defer to young people rather than saying he is the one to trust on reading! Maybe it was a gimmick to make kids laugh. But I have a feeling there was someone, or someones, on the team creating that show who realized that young people will often listen more to their peers, and that young people themselves have something important to say – in this case, about books.
That belief in and support in the voices of youth – youth voice – is an essential part of democratic education, of good and meaningful education. For that reason, and for the many memories I have of LeVar helping me learn how to make pizza and explore strange new worlds of books, I salute Reading Rainbow and thank you for your many years of reading advocacy and youth empowerment.