It was a friend to an entire generation of kids, and if you’re under 40, you can sing its theme song by heart.
We’re talking about “Reading Rainbow,” a PBS show that debuted in 1983 and ran for 26 years. Narrated by Star Trek actor LeVar Burton, it brought the love of reading to countless American children through the classics of literature.
Now it’s coming back, thanks to technological innovation and the free market.
“Reading Rainbow” was canceled for two main reasons. First, it cost more than the show’s co-producers, WNED Buffalo and PBS, wanted to put in. Second, they’d concluded it was no longer the best way to turn kids into lifelong readers.
But Burton and his colleagues didn’t give up.
In 2012, they released a successful Reading Rainbow iPad app; people used it to read 10 million books. But the “Reading Rainbow” folks also wanted to reach kids who couldn’t afford a tablet. Their aim is to take advantage of the Internet to put it in reach of any computer screen and any classroom.
So on Wednesday, Burton launched a campaign on Kickstarter, a Web site that lets people back projects they deem worthy. Burton’s goal was $1 million in support by July 2.It’s already at $2 million and growing.
Some fussbudgets don’t like the idea of an education program going via Kickstarter. They prefer the old-fashioned school funding, via government.
But kudos to LeVar Burton for recognizing how the free market and new technology offers a way for “Reading Rainbow” to help kids — as its theme song puts it — “fly twice as high.”