Blog 351 – 07.23.2016
(Excerpt from the book, Emily – The Little Girl Who Sang Her Song To Anyone Who Came Along)
Episode 23
Along with Sesame Street, and Mister Rogers another PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) children’s favorite of Emily’s was the nineteen eighties show Reading Rainbow hosted by LeVar Burton of Roots and Star Trek Next Generation fame. I am sure many children’s first knowledge of LeVar Burton was not as a young Kunta Kinte nor as Geordi La Forge but as the host of Reading Rainbow.
The program introduced children and adults to children’s books, mostly current but a few classics. I compare Reading Rainbow to my childhood favorite, Captain Kangaroo. The Captain had a segment in his show where a children’s book was read while the illustrations were shown on camera. I was not a great reader for most of my young life so these books were a big part of my early education. I did learn to love to read as a young adult and have read many books and still continue to read daily.
Emily loved Reading Rainbow and had to have a library card right away so she could begin to check the books out she saw on Reading Rainbow and read them again and again. Because her mother did child care in the home Emily early on became Mommy’s little helper and in no time was reading to the other children. It is a proven fact that children who are read to do better in school and read better.
Emily loved to read and as much as I might have encouraged her to read as a child she encouraged me even more as a teenager and young adult to open my mind to all the possibilities. She introduced me to Madeline L’Engles books and though I and her cousin Deb first encouraged her to read Robert Heinlein’s book Stranger In A Strange Land it was she who encouraged me to read his Jobe and every other book of his I could find. We live such narrow stunted lives when there are worlds of discovery awaiting us in books, movies, and other people’s stories. Even those of you who limit your reading to “non-fiction” or the Bible, will find those stories also will expand your mind if you let them. Reading, watching, listening are keys to that inner treasure house that already resides in you. I have said it before and will say it again and again till it rings true in your ears (two ears make a heart) and in your mind:
You are a magnificent being awakening
to your highest potential.
In addition to all the wonderful books we were introduced to by the Reading Rainbow program I read C.S. Lewis’ Chronicles of Narnia to Em as a child. I close this episode with the song that began and ended each Reading Rainbow episode:
Butterfly in the sky
I can fly twice as high
Take a look, it’s in a book
A reading rainbow,
A reading rainbow
A reading rainbow.
Your friend and fellow traveler, Emily’s Dad,
David White
theencouragingword 
What endless interests and correlations we share!
I met LeVar Burton when my younger daughter appeared in a promo for the new Reading Rainbow, the rights to which he has acquired. He was interested that we call my older daughter– a published writer of young adult FICTION– “Jordie,” which sounds like his old TV name. 🙂 All of the women in my family (on the American side, anyway) seem to end up being writers of some kind. My mother is a published author of books on education and theology; she also has always written poetry, and was editor of her first university’s magazine. Her sisters and their children are songwriters. My first daughter was president of the English honor society in college and invited twice to speak and share excerpts of her work before she even graduated (summa cum laude, at 19). She earned a third-generation English degree in writing and literature (I have one, and so does my mother 🙂 ). I also write, edit, and have been published. One work that I hope has great influence for good is a manual for early literacy. Speaking of giving one’s children a head start in school, it has become a family tradition (started by my mother, with me) to teach our babies to read at a year old. I was not stimulated enough in school, but the library opened up an entire world of knowledge and fantasy to me growing up. After I had my first child, I wanted to use my acting and storytelling skills to open up the same world of children’s literature– one of the greatest gifts I had ever been given– to other children. I became a volunteer storyteller for the public library system, and also started a storytelling business that emphasized African and African-American culture. A great many of my ideas for great singing/performance books came from Reading Rainbow.
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It is a small universe and we are connected on so many levels. Thank you for following my blog. I ever hope to offer the encouraging word to more and more.
On Friday, July 31, 2015, theencouragingword wrote:
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Just remembered: I loved and was affected by Reading Rainbow long before my own children and I watched and enjoyed the program together. I was nanny to the little girl of one of my professors the summer of 1983, and the program was an important installation of her early life. Your Em would have been about 7, wouldn’t she? Perfect age for RR!
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