A Brand New Rainbow

 

From 1983 to 2009 actor LeVar Burton produced and narrated PBS’s popular TV show, Reading Rainbow.

Diehard reading advocates were skeptical at first … because it was, after all,  collaborating with the enemy –TV. Each episode took children on a field trip connecting their adventure with the stories in the books featured. The show’s cool music, craft projects and adventures tricked kids who just wanted to watch television, into reading a book. The show’s popularity grew and its 26-year run was the third longest in PBS history.

When the show ended in 2009, LeVar and his friend, producer Mark Wolfe, began hatching a plan to make Reading Rainbow cool again.  This time, the medium wasn’t a big silver screen with dials and buttons, but the new, digital variety that fit in your lap and worked by touch.  Their creation combined the classic story and field trip elements of the original show with state-of-the-art graphics and interactive technology … making Reading Rainbow into one of the hippest apps available for the Ipad.

I am delighted to announce that Shenanigan Books is one of contributing publishers for Reading Rainbow apps. LeVar has narrated several of our books himself and hand selected the perfect voices used for our books.

As a publisher, parent and a lover of books, I’m aware that some parents still want to select a book from a real bookshelf as opposed to the digital one on their Ipad.  And I say “why not?”  But if your children love all things digital, these new apps just may reel them in … and put reading on their list of cool things to do.

So “Take a look…it’s in a book”… whether that book is digital or in print!

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