

Take a look, it’s in a book, a Reading Rainbow!
Journey to exciting places and build a lasting connection with your favorite books. Each episode centers on a theme from a book, or other children's literature, which is explored through a number of segments or stories.


Jun 6, 1983 - 30m
A young girl's father loses his job.

Jun 7, 1983 - 30m
As part of his birthday celebration, LeVar gets made-up like a movie monster, and then gets involved in Harry Blackstone's magic act. Ruth Buzzi reads Miss Nelson Is Back, all about a group of rowdy students who try to take advantage of their teacher's absence when she's out sick one day, and how she gets revenge on them by pretending to be "the meanest teacher in the world, Viola Swamp."

Jun 8, 1983 - 30m
LeVar is already worn out after working on several scenes all day long on the production of the series. He feels he needs to take on another identity, segueing into introducing the featured book, Bea and Mr. Jones. Madeline Kahn reads the book about a kindergarten student and her father who get so bored with their jobs that they decide to experiment by switching places for the day.

Jun 9, 1983 - 30m
Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain

Jun 10, 1983 - 30m
Louis the Fish

Jun 13, 1983 - 30m
Technically not the first science-related show in its history, LeVar seeks a place where archaeologists retrieve dinosaur bones. At the end of the program, LeVar buries a time capsule, containing (among other things) a can of old Coke and his picture. Linda Gilman reads Digging Up Dinosaurs, a story about how paleontologists unearth dinosaurs skeletons and preserve them in museum exhibits.

Jun 14, 1983 - 30m
Liang and the Magic Paintbrush

Jun 15, 1983 - 30m
In the featured book, a young boy and his family move from New York City to the Southwest and he has many misconceptions about what his new home is like.

Jun 16, 1983 - 30m
Three Days on a River in a Red Canoe

Jun 17, 1983 - 30m
The first of many programs favoring Native Americans. In this instance, a Midwestern legend suggests how horses arrived to the tribe. Later in this episode is the song "Ancient Places, Sacred Lands" which lists several words originating from various locations of the United States and the tribal meaning of their names.

Jun 20, 1983 - 30m
Today's subject is goats and what they eat.

Jun 21, 1983 - 30m
Three by the Sea

Jun 22, 1983 - 30m
LaVar explores seeing and our other senses, as Bill Cosby tells the story of how the young aardvark, Arthur Read acquired his pair of glasses.

Jun 22, 1983 - 30m
The Day Jimmy's Boa Ate the Wash

Jun 23, 1983 - 30m
LeVar is ready to find music everywhere, and he does. This show includes the animation Onomatopoeia. Lou Rawls reads the story of Ty's One-Man Band, about a man who teaches a boy how to make music using household items.