This book is a heartfelt tribute to Reading Rainbow, highlighting its transformative impact on children's literacy and the dedication of its creators, including Tony Buttino and LeVar Burton. It emphasizes the show’s mission to make reading engaging and accessible, blending storytelling and educational field trips to inspire a love of learning. However, the book falls short by not delving deeply enough into behind-the-scenes stories or the logistical and political challenges the series faced over 25 years. While it sometimes feels overly celebratory and misses the opportunity to address broader educational issues, it successfully underscores the vital role of parents, libraries, and a supportive reading culture in shaping young minds, making the case for the continued importance of Reading Rainbow's mission in today’s information-saturated world.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for an advanced copy.

As a Reading Rainbow child, I enjoyed reading this book and reliving my childhood. A great gift for any parent who enjoyed Reading Rainbow as a child.

One of my favorite books of 2024 painting a detailed picture of the ups and downs regarding the television series Reading Rainbow. I learned a lot about the show's challenges at an early start and the eventual rise to success. I was one of the kids who loved the show but learning about how it impacted so many lives and had to fight for success provided great learning moments. I'd highly recommend this to anyone that would have interest in learning about this show or the kids show industry at the time.

My kids loved this book! It's super cute and wholesome and kept their attention the whole time during reading. I highly recommend this book and will purchase a physical copy.

4.75 stars

This book is rich with PBS television history, boasting plenty of first-hand accounts by the people that spearheaded the creation and development of the show, the music, the concept, everything. I give this 4.75 stars instead of the full 5 stars ONLY because I was really hoping for more LeVar Burton behind-the-scenes content throughout. But the book really is more about everything else in the history of education television, culminating in the creation of one of the most enduring legacies in edu-tainment surpassed only perhaps by "Mister Roger's Neighborhood" (and I had no idea how intertwined the origins of those two programs actually are.)

I literally grew up on Reading Rainbow: it premiered in 1983 when I was one. I was a pretty early reader - Mom had me reading on my own by age four - and my one aspiration in life was to be one of the Reading Rainbow kids who got to talk about their favourite books at the end of each episode. I was riveted to the screen and then I would go scour my local library for whatever books were mentioned on the show. I was its target audience and it nurtured my love of reading in far more ways than I can count. I dee-double-dog-dare anyone to hear the first line of that ICONIC theme song and not continue singing it. It's impossible! I'm 42 years old and I still have that whole thing memorised even though I can't remember what I had for breakfast yesterday. And I'm guessing that I'm not the only one, but...you don't have to take my word for it!

I recommend reading this book and then watching the recent documentary on Netflix, "Butterfly in the Sky" and you will learn so much about how a motley crew of producers, teachers, librarians, and TV broadcasters came together to create MAGIC. It might have seemed daft at the time - how could a television program inspire a lifelong love of reading in children? - and yet, here we are, decades and innumerable awards later, and the show still resonates profoundly.

Thanks to NetGalley, authors Barbara Irwin, Tony Buttino Sr., & Pam Johnson, and North Country Books (a division of Globe Pequot Publishing) for providing this advanced digital readers' copy. All opinions are my own.

Ok so Reading Rainbow the show gets all the stars. Unfortunately I didn't like how this book was organized (it takes until around chapter 11 to even GET to the actual show this book is about, this is much more a biography on Tony Buttino's career as a whole than it is about a single beloved children's show. Which isn't a BAD thing, it's just not what I was looking for when picking up this book. For me I also found the writing style to be repetitive and with clunky transitions. But you don't have to take my word for it.

With that being said, I did love getting a deeper look into everything that went into the creation of the show that wasn't covered by the "Butterfly in the Sky" documentary. I do wish the authors gave more space in the text to speak with LeVar - while he might not have created the show, he's a large part of why it had the longevity on air that it did and WHY forty years later, there are still generations of adults who can sing the theme song and who will talk fondly about what the show meant to them.

Overall it was an interesting read, even if it wasn't exactly what I was expecting. I did enjoy that the back of the book lists every episode and goes over the theme and the details. That was a nice trip down memory lane.

Advanced Reader’s Copy provided by NetGalley, Globe Pequot, and North Country Books in exchange for an honest review.

DNF @ 25%. I loved Reading Rainbow. I used to practice reviewing books in my mirror because i wanted to be ready if/when the show called. With that, I was so excited for this, and what actually happened was a misalignment of my wants and the reality of what this book is. This is a comprehensive history and origin story of the show. It is very thorough and incredibly detailed about not just the show, but public television, and I think there are readers who will love that deep dive. However, there are others (i.e. me) that may be looking for a different angle. I still have nothing but love for the show, and perhaps I'll go watch some old episodes to tap into the nostalgia feels I was seeking.

Well Documented History Of The Origins Of An Acclaimed Program. Coming in at 32% documentation, this is one of the better documented nonfiction tales I've read of late. Given that it doesn't actually make many claims that require larger amounts of evidence, this is actually even more astounding - the authors documented seemingly more just to provide the data than to necessarily "prove" their claims. Which is to be commended.

The actual narrative of the tale as told though... could use some better editing, and perhaps the final version of this text - vs the Advanced Review Copy edition I read - has that better editing. But for the edition I read, the narrative could get a touch disjointed at times, often switching between authors and perspectives from paragraph to paragraph and even seemingly at times within a given paragraph. Which makes the overall reading experience a bit tougher, which is a shame given that the very story we're learning here is the creation of a program that would become truly legendary in getting kids excited about reading.

Those looking for a large presence of host LeVar Burton are going to be disappointed, as while the book discusses how his involvement came about and then references him a few times as it progresses through the timeline of the show, there are only a few scant quotes directly from him - most seeming from the very documentation the authors cite in the end.

Instead, this book focuses more on coauthor Tony Buttino's own history and efforts to get the show up and operational, including deep dives into his family and neighborhood as he grew and developed as both a person and a television professional.

Still, for anyone interested in learning the backstory of Reading Rainbow and how it came into existence, this book is a treasure trove unlike any other. Very much recommended.

As a millennial who basically grew up on Reading Rainbow, this book was everything I needed.

With interviews from crew and cast, this tells the story of how Reading Rainbow became the cultural icon it remains to this day.

This feels pretty densely written, and if you’re mostly reading to learn how LeVar Burton got attached to the project, he doesn’t show up until halfway through. But if you had any curiosity of the behind the scenes of how this show got off the ground this book covers everything extensively. From the shows that came before like Studio See, through the consideration of Mr McFeely as host, to finding Levar Burton, there is so much to learn, and it’s a joy to see that everyone really involved in this project loved it as much as I do.

Thank you to both NetGalley and Globe Pequot for this arc.

I grew up loving Reading Rainbow as a child and I learned a lot from this book. I did not love it however. I feel like to much time was spent on the station that produced the show and the fact that there were 3 writers made it feel a little disjointed.

I made it through about 25% of the book before I skimmed through the rest.

To be fair, I'm not a huge fan of non-fiction, but I grew up watching Reading Rainbow and was really excited to learn about the history of the show. Unfortunately, I was not as into it as I thought it would be.

There was a lot of background information regarding the network that produced Reading Rainbow that I can completely understand is important for the story, but I personally wasn't super interested in. The POV was constantly changing between 1st and 3rd person and there were several narrators which proved to be confusing and a bit hard to follow along with.

I do appreciate the nostalgia that this provided! I always was excited walking into my classroom as a child, and seeing the huge TV on the rolling cart, knowing that we were going to watch Reading Rainbow that day.

Thank you to Globe Pequot and NetGalley for the eARC.

Creating Reading Rainbow is an engaging and well written memoir/behind-the-scenes reminiscence by series co-creator Tony Buttino and collaborators. Due out 18th June 2024 from Rowman & Littlefield on their Globe Pequot imprint, it's 296 pages and will be available in hardcover and ebook formats. It's worth noting that the ebook format has a handy interactive table of contents as well as interactive links and references throughout.

This is a deep dive into the creation, realization, filming, and enduring popularity of the beloved series from the point of view of the people who were there. Along with the stories, the book contains numerous mostly black & white photographs of the people involved in writing and production, the kids who were the primary audience, and the stage and sets from the show and various PBS stations.

The authors/publishers have also included appendices with bonus material including interviews, episode guides with relevant book lists, and extensive chapter notes which will provide readers with many hours of further reading.

Four stars. This would be a great choice for public or school library acquisition as well as home use or gift giving.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

yeah I'm dnfing this at 35%, it keeps changing from 3rd person to 1st person POV, it's quoted the Bible more than LaVar Burton, and so much of it feels like when you're trying to reach a word count for an essay like how many times are we going to say "the working title Reading Rainbow" or spell out acronyms already established? Also, it took until 20% for Reading Rainbow to even be mentioned besides the foreword

As a kid who loved Reading Rainbow, I was really excited to read this. It was really cool to see the detailed background information in the three narrator's stories. Unfortunately, it didn't feel like their stories wove together in the way I was hoping they would. Definitely still worth a read! Thank you to NetGalley and North Country Books for the ARC!

The long history behind Reading Rainbow is told by three different authors, which lead to a disjointed narrative that jumped back and forth in a non-chronological way that made it hard to follow at times, especially because it jumped from first person narrative to third, and often! There was a lot of talk about the history of the Buffalo TV station that ultimately produced the show, and I was sort of "meh" about all that information.

I read the whole book but can only remember a few things: they had over 20 seasons and only 155 shows, in part due to lack of funding. The guest list was INCREDIBLE. I had no idea such an eclectic mix of personalities were used. Even though LeVar Burton was the face of the show, I only counted two quotes from him, and that was very late in the book.

I was 10 when Reading Rainbow premiered in 1983, and I was already an avid reader and was involved in many outdoor adventures during the summers, so I never watched an episode of the show. I appreciate the impact of the show on several generations of people, and as a big PBS supporter, I was curious to learn more about this classic educational TV show.

The long history behind Reading Rainbow is told by three different authors, which lead to a disjointed narrative that jumped back and forth in a non-chronological way that made it hard to follow at times, especially because it jumped from first person narrative to third, and often! There was a lot of talk about the history of the Buffalo TV station that ultimately produced the show, and I was sort of "meh" about all that information.

I read the whole book but can only remember a few things: they had over 20 seasons and only 155 shows, in part due to lack of funding. The guest list was INCREDIBLE. I had no idea such an eclectic mix of personalities were used. Even though LeVar Burton was the face of the show, I only counted two quotes from him, and that was very late in the book.

I've seen many 5-star reviews for this book from people who grew up on Reading Rainbow, which may have colored their perspective a bit. It's just not written that well and rather like a textbook. I'm glad I read it, but I'll definitely never revisit it.

Very insightful. It was really cool to read about people who were committed to harnessing television to make a difference in the lives of young viewers. Soon after (and even during Reading Rainbow's tenure), many television shows when more the "edutainment" route. Reading Rainbow learned a lot from other programs and coordinated a lot with their local school districts - something I was pleasantly surprised to learn.

There are multiple authors of the book, so sometimes the flow of the narrative is a little confusing, but this was enjoyable to read. I'm thankful for the Reading Rainbow legacy, and for this insight into how it came to be.

When I saw this book available, I was so excited and immediately requested it. The excitement only increased when I soon learned I was approved to read the ARC. It was an informative history about the background of a key component of my childhood--Reading Rainbow! Some parts I could have done without, but overall I really enjoyed this book.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my honest review.

A bit dry, a little formal, but for someone who loved Reading Rainbow growing up, I loved it. Seeing the origin story for a loved piece of my childhood was great.

Thank you NetGalley for this arc in exchange for my honest review.

Growing up a fan of reading rainbow, this book was a must read.

I learned much about the background of americas favorite show!