# Reading Rainbow (1983)

> A gentle children's series in which host LeVar Burton reads picture books aloud and takes young viewers on journeys that spark a love of reading.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/9330

## Facts

- Seasons: 21
- Episodes: 155
- Episode runtime: 30 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: family, reality
- Network: PBS
- Cast: LeVar Burton, Julia Child, Ruth Buzzi, Madeline Kahn, James Earl Jones, Vincent Gardenia, Lauren Tom, Patrick McCaffrey
- TMDB rating: 8.4/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0085075/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: measured
- Intensity: subtle
- Complexity: simple
- Violence: none

## What critics say

Reading Rainbow is broadly acclaimed by its audience for warmly encouraging children to love books through its host and its book-centered segments.

## Synopsis

Reading Rainbow (1983-2006) is a United States public television children's educational series created for PBS and hosted throughout by LeVar Burton. Across twenty-one seasons and 155 half-hour episodes, Burton greets young viewers and introduces a single picture book or piece of children's literature, then explores its central theme through a rotating set of segments, stories and location visits. Each episode is built to make reading feel like a journey, with Burton travelling to exciting places and connecting the book's ideas to the real world around the child. Narrators including Julia Child, James Earl Jones and Madeline Kahn lend voice to individual segments, adding variety while keeping the same warm pacing. The engine of the show is curiosity itself: a child who hasn't yet found a favorite book is invited to look, listen and want to read. Because each episode stands alone, the series works as an anthology of gentle lessons rather than a continuing story, and it feels cozy, encouraging and unhurried. Its tone is sincere and comforting, with a joyful, nurturing register aimed at preschool and early elementary audiences. Fans of Sesame Street, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood and Bill Nye the Science Guy will find the same blend of learning and warmth that made it a staple of American public television.

## Shows like Reading Rainbow

- [Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood (2012)](https://ember.film/tv/36732)
- [Nature (1982)](https://ember.film/tv/13940)
- [Bear in the Big Blue House (1997)](https://ember.film/tv/190)
- [Shining Time Station (1989)](https://ember.film/tv/509)
- [Between the Lions (2000)](https://ember.film/tv/4088)
- [Ghostwriter (1992)](https://ember.film/tv/3735)
- [Little Einsteins (2005)](https://ember.film/tv/2937)
- [Mister Rogers' Neighborhood (1967)](https://ember.film/tv/13)
- [NOVA (1974)](https://ember.film/tv/3387)
- [The Magic School Bus (1994)](https://ember.film/tv/6748)

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