Blog 702- 07.23.2017
(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