10 Things You Might Not Have Known About "Reading Rainbow"
The show that caused you to be a bookworm is a lot more interesting than you may have thought.Â
It was the 3rd longest running show in PBS history.Â
Almost half a million dollars needed to be raised to renew the broadcasting rights of the show.Â
Levar Burton told Rolling Stone about how it all came to an end. “We were a victim of No Child Left Behind, in that the shift in the governmental policy made a choice between teaching kids how to read and fostering a love of reading. And teaching kids how to read was the direction that No Child Left Behind mandated. We have never been about the rudiments of reading, so we were left on the minus side of that equation.â€
Burton bought the rights to the show after its cancellation and launched a mobile app based on the show.Â
There have been more than 100 different guests on the show including Maya Angelou, Flava Flav, Julia Child, Run DMC and Kermit the Frog.Â
His mother was an English teacher who taught him to enjoy reading by reading books around him.Â
Chaka Khan recorded a version of the song in 1999, but the version you know was performed by Broadway singer Tina Fabrique.
Levar Burton launched a Kickstarter campaign to bring interactive books to kids today.
The goal of the Kickstarter was to raise $1 millions in 24 hours. It actually raised $5.41 millions and will bring Reading Rainbow books and activities to more than 100,000 classrooms.