''Reading Rainbow'' is an American educational

children's television series Children's television series (or children's television shows) are television programs designed for children, normally scheduled for broadcast during the morning and afternoon when children are awake. They can sometimes run during the early evenin ...

that originally aired on PBS and afterwards

PBS Kids PBS Kids is the brand for most of the children's programming aired by the Public Broadcasting Service ( PBS) in the United States. Some public television children's programs are not produced by PBS member stations or transmitted by PBS. Inste ...

and PBS Kids Go! from July 11, 1983 to November 10, 2006, with reruns continuing to air until August 28, 2009. 155 30-minute episodes were produced over 21 seasons. Before its official premiere, the show aired for test audiences in the

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...

and

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...

markets (their PBS member stations, the Nebraska ETV ow Nebraska Public Mediaand WNED-TV, respectively, were co-producers of the show). The show was designed to encourage a love of books and reading among children. In 2012, an iPad and Kindle Fire educational interactive book reading and video field trip application was launched bearing the name of the program. The public television series garnered over 200 broadcast awards, including a

Peabody Award The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and ...

and 26

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

s, 10 of which were in the "Outstanding Children's Series" category. The concept of a reading series for children originated with Twila Liggett, PhD who in partnership with Cecily Truett Lancit and Larry Lancit, at Lancit Media Productions in New York created the television series. The original team also included Lynne Brenner Ganek, Ellen Schecter, and host

LeVar Burton Levar Burton Jr. (born February 16, 1957) is an American actor, director, and television host, best known for playing Geordi La Forge in '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' (1987–1994). He also played Kunta Kinte in the ABC miniseries ''R ...

. The show's title was conceived by an unknown intern at WNED. Each episode centered on a topic from a featured children's book that was explored through a number of on-location segments or stories. The show also recommended books for children to look for when they went to the library. It is the third-longest running children's series in PBS history, after ''

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000 ...

'' and '' Mister Rogers' Neighborhood''. It was also one of the first PBS shows to be broadcast in stereo. After the show's cancellation on November 10, 2006, reruns aired until August 28, 2009, when it was removed from the schedule. On June 20, 2012, the Reading Rainbow App was released for the iPad and, within 36 hours, became the #1 most-downloaded educational app in the iTunes App Store. Developed by LeVar Burton and his company, RRKIDZ, the app allows children to read unlimited books, explore video field trips starring Burton, and earn rewards for reading. On the week of July 11, 2013, ''Reading Rainbow'' celebrated its 30th anniversary. In May 2014, a

Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...

campaign was launched to raise funds to make the app available online and for Android, game consoles, smartphones, and other streaming devices along with creating a classroom version with the subscription fee waived for up to 13,000 disadvantaged classrooms. The effort met its initial fundraising goal of $1,000,000 in 11 hours, and ended a few days later at $5,408,916 from 105,857 backers. This campaign led to the launch of ''Skybrary by Reading Rainbow'', a web-based expansion of the Reading Rainbow app experience. Due to a legal dispute, licensing of the ''Reading Rainbow'' brand was revoked from RRKidz in October 2017, and all its platforms (including Skybrary) were rebranded to ''LeVar Burton Kids''. An interactive revival titled ''Reading Rainbow Live'' debuted on Looped in March 2022.

Show details

''Reading Rainbow'' was hosted by actor and executive producer

, who was then known for his role in ''

Roots A root is the part of a plant, generally underground, that anchors the plant body, and absorbs and stores water and nutrients. Root or roots may also refer to: Art, entertainment, and media * ''The Root'' (magazine), an online magazine focusing ...

''. The show was produced first by Lancit Media Entertainment (1983-2001), and then, by On-Screen Entertainment (2002-2006). Every episode featured a different children's

picture book A picture book combines visual and verbal narratives in a book format, most often aimed at young children. With the narrative told primarily through text, they are distinct from comics, which do so primarily through sequential images. The images ...

, often narrated by a celebrity. The featured story's illustrations were scanned by the camera in a technique known as "iconographic animation" of each page shown in succession, although on certain occasions the shots would be animated. After the featured story, Burton visited many places relating to the episode's theme, often featuring interviews with guests. The first episode of Season 6, which featured the book ''The Bionic Bunny Show'' by Marc Brown and his wife Laurene, included a behind-the-scenes look at the TV series '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'', in which Burton was a main cast member. The last segment of each show, called Book Reviews, began with Burton's introductory catchphrase, "But you don't have to take my word for it," and featured children giving capsule reviews of books they liked. At the end of almost every episode, Burton signs-off with "I'll see you next time", with a review of the books featured in that episode. The series' pilot, which was created and produced in 1981 and aired as the show's 8th episode in 1983, featured the book '' Gila Monsters Meet You at the Airport'' by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat and was narrated by Doug Parvin. Producer Larry Lancit's daughters, Shaune and Caitlin, were often featured in the series, notably as the children thanking the sponsors at the beginning and end of the show.

Theme song and opening sequence

The show's theme song was written by Steve Horelick, Dennis Neil Kleinman, and Janet Weir; the former also served as the series' music director and composer for all 155 episodes and received an Emmy nomination in 2007 for his work on the series. Over the show's 23-year run, it went through three different versions of the theme song. The original theme (used from 1983 to 1998) was performed by Tina Fabrique and featured one of the first uses of the Buchla synthesizer in a TV theme song. The original opening sequence, which consisted of an animated butterfly transforming the surroundings of young children reading books into animated fantasy lands, was used until November 13, 1998. The introductory animation was produced by Ovation Films, Inc. and designed and animated by Bill Davis. On November 16, 1998, episodes began using a new live-action opening sequence and featured CGI in a space-themed world, with a new arrangement of the original song by Steve Horelick and performed by Johnny Kemp. A third intro was used starting on January 3, 2000, with a rerecorded version with the original lyrics performed by R&B artist

Chaka Khan Yvette Marie Stevens (born March 23, 1953), better known by her stage name Chaka Khan (), is an American singer. Her career has spanned more than five decades, beginning in the 1970s as the lead vocalist of the funk band Rufus. Known as the " Q ...

. This opening sequence is mostly the same as the second one, but features footage of Burton in place of some of the animated elements.

Final years as a TV series (2005–2006)

Original production of the series was to have ended after April 4, 2005, with the show continuing to air in

rerun A rerun or repeat is a rebroadcast of an episode of a radio or television program. There are two types of reruns – those that occur during a hiatus, and those that occur when a program is syndicated. Variations In the United Kingdom, the word ...

s, but host

said on February 7, 2006, that five new episodes of the show would be shot in 2006 despite the continuing financial issues of PBS. The show aired its final original episode on November 10, 2006 and continued to air reruns until August 28, 2009.

Relaunch as an app

Announcement and early developments (2010–2014)

Former executive producer

announced on his Twitter feed on March 19, 2010, that "Reading Rainbow 2.0 is in the works." In 2011, WNED, the PBS affiliate in

that owns the Reading Rainbow brand, licensed rights to the brand to Burton and his company, RRKidz. On March 4, 2012, he announced that it was the "last day of shooting before launch!" On June 13, 2012, in a special presentation at

Apple Inc Apple Inc. is an American multinational technology company headquartered in Cupertino, California, United States. Apple is the largest technology company by revenue (totaling in 2021) and, as of June 2022, is the world's biggest company ...

's annual

World Wide Developers Conference The Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) is an information technology conference held annually by Apple Inc. The conference is usually held at Apple Park in California. The event is usually used to showcase new software and technologies in th ...

, Burton and his business partner, Mark Wolfe, introduced the new ''Reading Rainbow'' iPad App. It became available in Apple's iTunes Store on June 20, 2012, and within 36 hours was the #1 educational app. In January 2014, the Reading Rainbow App surpassed 10M books read and video field trips watched by children in 18 months.

Kickstarter revival campaign and aftermath (2014–22)

On May 28, 2014, LeVar Burton started a Kickstarter fund to revive the show and materials. In under 12 hours the show had reached its $1 million goal. The new goal is to create an educational version for schools to use, free of cost to those schools in need, and help America get back to high literacy rates. They are also going to create a website for students to use to assist them with learning how to read. The following day, May 29, 2014, they reached $2million (double their goal) at 1:15 pm. PST. The campaign raised $5,408,916 on Kickstarter with another $1million from ''

Family Guy ''Family Guy'' is an American animated sitcom originally conceived and created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The show centers around the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their ch ...

'' creator/animator

Seth MacFarlane Seth Woodbury MacFarlane (; born October 26, 1973) is an American actor, animator, filmmaker, comedian, and singer. He is the creator and star of the television series '' Family Guy'' (since 1999) and '' The Orville'' (since 2017), and co-creat ...

and $70,000 raised via direct contributions. The grand total was $6,478,916. With 105,857 backers, the campaign holds Kickstarter's record for most backers and is the 8th highest amount raised on Kickstarter (as of June 1, 2015). The first product of the Kickstarter campaign was ''Skybrary by Reading Rainbow''. Launched in May 2015, it was a web based subscription service that duplicated the Reading Rainbow app experience. In addition to narrating many of the books, Burton hosted video fieldtrips which connected kids to real world experiences at places like NASA HQ and Niagara Falls. In March 2016, RRKidz launched a new online educational service called ''Reading Rainbow Skybrary for Schools'', which followed the same mission of the television series, while expanding to integrate into classroom curriculums. In August 2017, WNED filed a wide-ranging lawsuit against Burton and RRKidz that demanded Burton's company hand over administrative access to other websites and social media accounts. The lawsuit also sought to enjoin Burton from using the ''Reading Rainbow'' catchphrase, "But you don't have to take my word for it," on his podcast. In October 2017, WNED and RRKidz settled out of court. While the exact terms were confidential, the end result was that RRKidz was no longer a licensee of the ''Reading Rainbow'' brand. RRKidz was rebranded ''LeVar Burton Kids'' and its services (including Skybrary) removed references to Reading Rainbow. In addition, Burton was allowed to continue using the ''Reading Rainbow'' catchphrase. Visiting the official ''Reading Rainbow'' website provided a page that stated "Recent legal disputes between WNED and LeVar Burton/RRKIDZ have been resolved and RRKIDZ no longer licenses the ''Reading Rainbow'' brand from WNED. WNED is currently working on the next chapter of ''Reading Rainbow'' and will continue its mission of fostering education for a new generation." WNED announced in November 2018 that research and development had begun on a new ''Reading Rainbow'' program thanks to a $200,000 grant from The John R. Oishei Foundation. Skybrary was acquired by Reading is Fundamental in March 2019. In December 2021, it was announced that the show would be revived as ''Reading Rainbow Live'', an interactive version featuring multiple hosts, dubbed "The Rainbows". The series debuted on Looped on March 6, 2022.

Accolades

Animation producers

Feature Book filming

The photographing of the Feature Book segments was by: * Centron Films (1983–1987; renamed in 1986 to "Centron Productions Inc.") * Loren Dolezal (1988–1998; renamed in 1995 to "Dolezal Animation"); Take Ten Animation teamed up with Dolezal from 1995 to 1998. * On Screen Entertainment (2000–2006)
Roger Holden
designer of the digital animation photography system used by Centron Films to film the Feature Book segments (1983–87)

Guest readers and contributors

* Marv Albert *

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(''Pet Stories You Don't Have to Walk'') *

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(''All the Colors of the Race'') * Michael Ansara (''The Gift of the Sacred Dog'', Sheila MacGill-Callahan's and

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's ''And Still the Turtle Watched'') *

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(''When Aunt Lena Did the Rhumba'') * Edward Asner ('' Dinosaur Bob and His Adventures with the Family Lazardo'') * James Avery (''Berlioz the Bear'', ''Game Day'') *

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('' Meanwhile Back at the Ranch'') * Julia Barr (''Raccoons and Ripe Corn'', ''Deer at the Brook'', ''Come Out, Muskrats'') *

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(''The Wonderful Towers of Watts'') * Orson Bean (''The Runaway Duck'') * Philip Bosco (''Desert Giant: The World of the Saguaro Cactus'') *

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(''Mrs. Katz and Tush'') *

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(''Mr. George Baker'') *

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(''The Tin Forest'') * Fran Brill (''Dive to the Coral Reefs'') *

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(''Owen'') *

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(''Miss Nelson is Back'') *

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(''Work Song'') *

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('' Show Way'') * Dixie Carter (''Come a Tide'') *

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(''Snowy Day: Stories and Poems'') *

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(''Florence and Eric Take the Cake'') *

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(''Barn Dance'') * Kevin Clash ( Elmo from

) *

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(''Imogene's Antlers'') * James Coco (''Perfect the Pig'') *

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(''The Secret Shortcut'') * Bill Cosby ('' Arthur's Eyes'', Dennis Nolan's '' Big Pig'') * Denise Crosby *

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(''Simon's Book'', '' Tar Beach'', ''Badger's Parting Gifts'') *

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(''Unique Monique'') * Buddy Ebsen ( Steven Kellogg's '' Paul Bunyan'') * Georgia Engel (''Chickens Aren't the Only Ones'') * Hector Elizondo (''

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(''Sophie and Lou'') *

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(''The Robbery at the Diamond Dog Diner'') * Jamie Farr (''The Sign Painter's Dream'') * Barbara Feldon (''The Life Cycle of the Honeybee'') * Tovah Feldshuh (''The Piggy in the Puddle'') * Ron Foster (''My Little Island'') * Jonathan Frakes * Vincent Gardenia (''Louis the Fish'', ''The Adventures of Taxi Dog'') *

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(''The Purple Coat'') *

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('' My Shadow'') * Lorne Greene ('' Ox-Cart Man'') *

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(''Enemy Pie'') * Jo Hayden ('' Martha Speaks'') *

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(''Regina's Big Mistake'') *

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(''Snowy Day: Stories and Poems'') *

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(''Tooth-Gnasher Superflash'') *

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(''Bea and Mr. Jones'') *

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('' Someplace Else'') * Charles Kimbrough (''June 29, 1999'') *

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('' Max'') *

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(''Rechenka's Eggs'') * Amy Linker (''A Chair for My Mother'') * Keye Luke (''The Paper Crane'') * Michele Mariana (''Stay Away from the Junkyard!'') * Olga Merediz (''Borreguita and the Coyote'') * Andrea McArdle (''Lemonade for Sale'') * Gates McFadden * Bobby McFerrin * Mark McGwire *

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(''Gregory the Terrible Eater'') *

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(''Humphrey the Lost Whale: A True Story'') * Peter Pitofsky * Faith Prince (''Nosey Mrs. Rat'') * Freddie Prinze Jr. (''Beegu'') * Keshia Knight Pulliam (''The Magic School Bus: Inside the Earth'') *

Gilda Radner Gilda Susan Radner (June 28, 1946 – May 20, 1989) was an American actress and comedian, and one of the seven original cast members of the "Not Ready For Prime Time Players" on the NBC sketch comedy show ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL''). In h ...

('' The Tortoise and the Hare'') *

Phylicia Rashad Phylicia Rashad ( ) (née Ayers-Allen; born June 19, 1948) is an American actress, singer and director who is dean of the College of Fine Arts at Howard University. She is best known for her role as Clair Huxtable on the NBC sitcom '' The Cosby ...

(''Mufaro's Beautiful Daughters'') *

Lou Rawls Louis Allen Rawls (December 1, 1933 – January 6, 2006) was an American record producer, singer, composer and actor. Rawls released more than 60 albums, sold more than 40 million records, and had numerous charting singles, most notably his s ...

(''Ty's One Man Band'') * Alaina Reed (''The Milk Makers'') *

Lionel Richie Lionel Brockman Richie Jr. (born June 20, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and television personality. He rose to fame in the 1970s as a songwriter and the co-lead singer of funk band the Commodores; writing and recor ...

Jason Robards Jason Nelson Robards Jr. (July 26, 1922 – December 26, 2000) was an American actor. Known as an interpreter of the works of playwright Eugene O'Neill, Robards received two Academy Awards, a Tony Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and the Cannes ...

(''Sam the Sea Cow'') * Al Roker (''Hail to Mail'') * Zelda Rubinstein (''A Three Hat Day'') *

Run-D.M.C. Run-DMC (also spelled Run-D.M.C.) was an American hip hop group from Hollis, Queens, New York City, founded in 1983 by Joseph Simmons, Darryl McDaniels, and Jason Mizell. Run-DMC is regarded as one of the most influential acts in the history of ...

Lea Salonga Maria Lea Carmen Imutan Salonga (; born February 22, 1971), known professionally as Lea Salonga, is a Filipino singer, actress, and columnist. Nicknamed "Pride of the Philippines," she is best known for her roles in musical theatre, for supplyi ...

(''Silent Lotus'', ''My America: A Poetry Atlas of the United States'') * Isabel Sanford (''The Patchwork Quilt'') * Susan Sarandon (''The Shaman's Apprentice: A Tale of the Amazon Rainforest'') * Josh Saviano (''Little Nino's Pizzeria'') * John Sebastian *

Pete Seeger Peter Seeger (May 3, 1919 – January 27, 2014) was an American folk singer and social activist. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, Seeger also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of the Weavers, notabl ...

(''Abiyoyo'') *

Martin Short Martin Hayter Short (born March 26, 1950) is a Canadian-American actor, comedian, and writer. He has received various awards including two Primetime Emmy Awards, and a Tony Award. In 2019 Short became an Officer of the Order of Canada. He ...

(''Animal Cafe'') *

Marina Sirtis Marina Sirtis (; born 29 March 1955) is a British actress. She is best known for her role as Counselor Deanna Troi on the television series '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'' and four ''Star Trek'' feature films, as well as other appearances i ...

* Phoebe Snow (''The Gift of the Sacred Dog'') *

Brent Spiner Brent Jay Spiner (; born February 2, 1949) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as the android Data on the television series '' Star Trek: The Next Generation'', as well as four subsequent films. In 2019, he reprised the role for ...

* Arnold Stang (''Alistair in Outer Space'', ''Alistair's Time Machine'', ''Archibald Frisby'') * Stomp *

Patrick Stewart Sir Patrick Stewart (born 13 July 1940) is an English actor who has a career spanning seven decades in various stage productions, television, film and video games. He has been nominated for Olivier, Tony, Golden Globe, Emmy, and Screen Actors ...

(''On the Day You Were Born'') * Jerry Stiller (''Digging Up Dinosaurs'') * Regina Taylor (''Uncle Jed's Barber Shop'') *

Lynne Thigpen Cherlynne Theresa Thigpen (December 22, 1948 – March 12, 2003) was an American actress of stage and screen. She was known for her role as "The Chief" of ACME Crimenet in the game show '' Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?'' and various spi ...

(''The Salamander Room'') * Sada Thompson (''Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie'') *

Lauren Tom Lauren Tom (born August 4, 1961) is an American actress. Her roles include Lena St. Clair in '' The Joy Luck Club'', Julie in the NBC sitcom ''Friends'', Dot in the final season of ''Grace Under Fire'', and the voices for Amy Wong in ''Futurama ...

(''Liang and the Magic Paintbrush'') * Michelle Trachtenberg (''

Math Curse ''Math Curse'' is a children's picture book written by Jon Scieszka and illustrated by Lane Smith. Published in 1995 through Viking Press, the book tells the story of a student who is cursed by the manner in which mathematics is connected to e ...

'') *

Alex Trebek George Alexander Trebek (; July 22, 1940 – November 8, 2020) was a Canadian-American game show host and television personality. He is best known for hosting the syndicated general knowledge quiz game show ''Jeopardy!'' for 37 season ...

* Leslie Uggams (''Jack, the Seal and the Sea'') * Ben Vereen (''Ty's One Man Band'') * Ralph Waite (''Rumplestilitskin'') *

Bree Walker Bree Walker (born Patricia Lynn Nelson; February 26, 1953) is an American radio talk show host, actress, and disability-rights activist. She gained fame as the first on-air American television network news anchor with ectrodactyly. Walker work ...

* Eli Wallach (''Once There Was a Tree'') * Adam West (''

The Bionic Bunny Show This is a list of characters featured in the PBS Kids television show ''Arthur'', which is based on the book series by Marc Brown. Arthur, the title character, is the chief protagonist in the anthropomorphism series. Buster, Francine, Muffy, B ...

'') * Steve Whitmire ( Waldo C. Graphic from

) * William Windom (''Hot-Air Henry'') *

Michael Winslow Michael Leslie Winslow (born September 6, 1958) is an American actor, comedian and beatboxer billed as The Man of 10,000 Sound Effects for his ability to make realistic sounds using only his voice. He is best known for his roles in all seven ''P ...

(''Space Case'') * Hattie Winston (''Galimoto'') *

Alfre Woodard Alfre Woodard (; born November 8, 1952) is an American actress. She has received various accolades, including four Primetime Emmy Awards (tying the record for the most acting Emmys won by an African-American performer, along with Regina King), ...

(''Visiting Day'')

Writing and illustrating contest

In 1995, the creators launched the first contest called "''Reading Rainbow'' Young Writers and Illustrators Contest". The annual writing and illustrating competition for children grades K through 3 continued until 2009 when it was relaunched as "PBS Kids Go! Writers Contest". It was renamed to the ''PBS Kids Writers Contest'' in 2014.

References

External links

*
ReadingRainbow.com
''Reading Rainbow'' website by RRKidz, Inc.
''Reading Rainbow'' App for Kindle Fire
on the Amazon Appstore
''Reading Rainbow'' App for iPad
on the Apple App Store {{Former PBS Kids shows 1983 American television series debuts 2006 American television series endings 1980s American children's television series 1990s American children's television series 2000s American children's television series American children's adventure television series American children's education television series American children's fantasy television series American television series with live action and animation English-language education television programming Kickstarter-funded software PBS Kids shows PBS original programming Reading and literacy television series Star Trek