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67-576: In 1995, the first competition was launched by the creators of Reading Rainbow children television program. The annual competition had been sponsored to complement the Reading Rainbow program to inspire children to have a lifelong love of reading. The competition encouraged, challenged and rewarded children to write and illustrate their own picture books . The entries were submitted to the local stations for local judging. The winners at local level would then be submitted for national-level judging. After

134-627: A VISOR worn over his eyes. La Forge began as the USS Enterprise 's helmsman , and as of the show's second season, had become its chief engineer. At the time, Burton was considerably better known than Patrick Stewart in the United States, due to his roles in Roots and Reading Rainbow . When the show premiered, the Associated Press stated that Burton's role was essentially the "new Spock ". In

201-472: A 2019 interview, Burton laughed in disbelief at the idea, stating "that speculation never came to fruition." Burton also portrayed La Forge in the subsequent feature films based on Star Trek: The Next Generation , from Star Trek Generations (1994) to Star Trek: Nemesis (2002). He directed two episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation and several episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine , Star Trek: Voyager , and Star Trek: Enterprise . He reprised

268-432: A 24-hour Extra Life, a fundraising organization for Children's Miracle Network hospitals, stream by Rooster Teeth . Burton has also taped a recycling field trip for YouTube. In November 2020, he appeared as himself on The Eric Andre Show . His segment was a callback to Lance Reddick's interview (2013) in which he mentioned LeVar by name and dressed as an amalgam of Kunta Kinte and Geordi La Forge . Burton served as

335-673: A Kickstarter fund to revive the show and materials. In under 12 hours the show had reached its $ 1 million goal. The new goal was to create an educational version for schools to use, free of cost to those schools in need, and help America get back to high literacy rates. They are also going to create a website for students to use to assist them with learning how to read. The following day, May 29, 2014, they reached $ 2   million (double their goal) at 1:15 pm. PST. The campaign raised $ 5,408,916 on Kickstarter with another $ 1   million from Family Guy creator/animator Seth MacFarlane and $ 70,000 raised via direct contributions. The grand total

402-704: A Motion Picture , and Martin Luther King Jr. in Ali (2001). Burton received the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album at the 42nd Annual Grammy Awards for his narration of the book The Autobiography of Martin Luther King Jr. In 1990, he was honored for his achievements in television with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame . From 2017 until 2024, Burton created and hosted the podcast LeVar Burton Reads , often described as " Reading Rainbow for adults". Burton

469-483: A classroom version with the subscription fee waived for up to 13,000 disadvantaged classrooms. The effort met its initial fundraising goal of $ 1,000,000 in 11 hours, and ended a few days later at $ 5,408,916 from 105,857 backers. This campaign led to the launch of Skybrary by Reading Rainbow , a web-based expansion of the Reading Rainbow app experience. Due to a legal dispute, licensing of the Reading Rainbow brand

536-419: A different children's picture book , often narrated by a celebrity. The featured story's illustrations were scanned by the camera in a technique known as "iconographic animation" of each page shown in succession, although on certain occasions the shots would be animated. After the featured story, Burton visited many places relating to the episode's theme, often featuring interviews with guests. A notable example

603-434: A few years, the number of entries that were submitted nationally had been increased to almost 40,000. The number of participants continued to increase at the peak in 2007 with more than 50,000 entries. The future of the competition became questionable starting in 2006 when the funding for the Reading Rainbow program started to dry up. There was a new funding agreement but no new program had been produced since April 2006 when

670-474: A guest host on Jeopardy! from July 26 to 30, 2021. This came after a petition asking the show's producers to select him was signed by more than 250,000 fans. The ratings during his appearance were below average due to tapering audience curiosity and forced viewership competition with NBC's coverage of the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, which trampled syndicated shows across the board. He has been very critical of

737-449: A journalist (sports writer), in the third season of Murder, She Wrote , episode 16 – "Death Takes a Dive", starring Angela Lansbury as Jessica Fletcher . Burton accepted an invitation to host Rebop , a multicultural series designed for young people aged 9–15, produced by WGBH for PBS . On television, Burton has helped dramatize the last days of Jim Jones 's suicide cult in Guyana ,

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804-600: A new generation." WNED announced in November 2018 that research and development had begun on a new Reading Rainbow program thanks to a $ 200,000 grant from The John R. Oishei Foundation . Skybrary was acquired by Reading is Fundamental in March 2019. In December 2021, it was announced that the show would be revived as Reading Rainbow Live , an interactive version featuring multiple hosts, dubbed "The Rainbows". The series debuted on Looped on March 6, 2022. The photographing of

871-402: A party thrown by Sheldon (before swearing off Twitter), in November 2012 in the episode " The Habitation Configuration ", in which he appears on "Fun With Flags" in exchange for lunch and gas money, and again in the November 2014 episode " The Champagne Reflection ", in which he returns for the 232nd episode of "Fun With Flags" in exchange for Sheldon deleting his contact details. In 2012, he had

938-538: A reboot of The Electric Company . Former executive producer LeVar Burton announced on his Twitter feed on March 19, 2010, that "Reading Rainbow 2.0 is in the works." In 2011, WNED , the PBS affiliate in Buffalo, New York that owns the Reading Rainbow brand, licensed rights to the brand to Burton and his company, RRKidz. On March 4, 2012, he announced that it was the "last day of shooting before launch!" On June 13, 2012, in

1005-499: A record for the show at that time and the largest amount won in any Celebrity Edition of the show (it was later surpassed by a $ 188,500 win in a "Tournament of Losers" episode). He has made appearances in such sitcoms as Becker . Burton is the host and executive producer of a documentary titled The Science of Peace , which was in production as of 2007. It investigates the science and technology aimed at enabling world peace , sometimes called peace science . The film explores some of

1072-591: A recurring role as dean Paul Haley on the TNT series Perception . For the second season (2013), he became part of the regular cast. In 2014, he had a guest appearance in an introduction section for the 200th episode of Achievement Hunter's show, Achievement Hunter Weekly Update (AHWU). In May 2014, he appeared as a guest on the YouTube channel SciShow , explaining the science behind double , tertiary , and quaternary rainbows. Late in 2014, he had another guest appearance on

1139-528: A role as a visitor to Fantasy Island , guest star on The Love Boat , was a participant in Battle of the Network Stars , a guest of The Muppet Show ' s televised premiere party for the release of The Muppet Movie , and a frequent guest on several game shows. In 1986, he appeared in the music video for the song " Word Up! " by the funk / R&B group Cameo . In 1987, Burton played Dave Robinson,

1206-667: A single author. Stories with the illustrations done by kindergarten and first grade have word count of 50-200 words, and 100-350 words for grades 2 and 3. Each local PBS station handles local judging separately by grade levels. The first place winners from each station are sent to the national contest later in the year. Reading Rainbow Reading Rainbow is an American educational children's television series that originally aired on PBS and afterward PBS Kids from July 11, 1983 to November 10, 2006, with reruns continuing to air until August 28, 2009. 155 30-minute episodes were produced over 23 seasons. Before its official premiere,

1273-558: A special presentation at Apple Inc 's annual World Wide Developers Conference , Burton and his business partner, Mark Wolfe, introduced the new Reading Rainbow iPad App. It became available in Apple's iTunes Store on June 20, 2012, and within 36 hours was the #1 educational app. In January 2014, the Reading Rainbow App surpassed 10M books read and video field trips watched by children in 18 months. On May 28, 2014, LeVar Burton started

1340-939: Is an American actor, director, and television host. He played Geordi La Forge in Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987–1994), Kunta Kinte in the ABC miniseries Roots (1977), and was the host of the PBS Kids educational television series Reading Rainbow for 23 years (1983–2006). Burton received 12 Daytime Emmy Awards and a Peabody Award as host and executive producer of Reading Rainbow . His other roles include Cap Jackson in Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977), Donald Lang in Dummy (1979), Tommy Price in The Hunter (1980), which earned him an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Actor in

1407-501: Is at the very end of the song, in which Burton can be heard saying: "Whoa, wait a minute." He has also lent his voice to several animated projects, including Kwame in the cartoon series Captain Planet and the Planeteers (1990–1993) and The New Adventures of Captain Planet (1993–1996), Our Friend, Martin (1999), Family Guy , Batman: The Animated Series and Gargoyles . Burton

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1474-699: Is on the audio version of books such as The Watsons Go to Birmingham: 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis . Burton has been cast as voice actor for Black Lightning in Superman/Batman: Public Enemies DVD. Burton appeared several times as a celebrity guest on the Dick Clark -hosted $ 25,000 and $ 100,000 Pyramids , from 1982 until 1988. Burton also was the strongest link in the special Star Trek episode of The Weakest Link . He defeated his final opponent Robert Picardo and won $ 167,500 for his charity, Junior Achievement of Southern California,

1541-409: Is quoted as saying: "It expanded the consciousness of people. Blacks and whites began to see each other as human beings, not as stereotypes. And if you throw a pebble into the pond, you're going to get ripples. I think the only constant is change, and it's always slow. Anything that happens overnight is lacking in foundation. Roots is part of a changing trend, and it's still being played out." Burton

1608-509: Is the season 6 premiere episode, which featured the book The Bionic Bunny Show by Marc Brown and his wife Laurene, and included a behind-the-scenes look at the TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation , in which Burton was a main cast member. The last segment of each show, called Book Reviews, began with Burton's introductory catchphrase, "But you don't have to take my word for it," and featured children giving capsule reviews of books they liked. At

1675-669: The Directors Guild of America in 2005 and re-elected in 2007. In 2023 for his commitment to public service, Burton was awarded the Common Wealth Awards of Distinguished Service. LeVar Burton married Stephanie Cozart, a professional make-up artist, on October 3, 1992. Burton has two children, son Eian Burton Smith and daughter Michaela "Mica" Jean Burton . The family lives in Sherman Oaks, California . Burton does not identify with any religion, saying: "I walked away from

1742-499: The No Child Left Behind Act , this grant was focused much more narrowly toward programs that teach literacy skills, phonics, and spelling after 2005. Since Reading Rainbow was originally developed upon fostering a love of reading books, and not necessarily developing reading skills, the funding was redirected toward other programs, and led to the launch of new skills-based programming, like Super Why! , WordWorld , and

1809-416: The Reading Rainbow catchphrase, "But you don't have to take my word for it," on his podcast. In October 2017, WNED and RRKidz settled out of court. While the exact terms were confidential, the result was that RRKidz was no longer a licensee of the Reading Rainbow brand. RRKidz was rebranded LeVar Burton Kids and its services (including Skybrary) removed references to Reading Rainbow. In addition, Burton

1876-522: The University of Southern California , he won a starring role in the 1977 television miniseries Roots . Burton made his acting debut in 1976 with Almos' a Man , a film based on the Richard Wright short story " The Man Who Was Almost a Man ", in which Burton stars alongside Madge Sinclair . Burton's breakthrough role was as the young Kunta Kinte in the ABC miniseries Roots (1977), based on

1943-456: The WNED-TV station in Buffalo, New York which was a co-creator of the program took ownership to administrate the national-level judging. The national-level competition resumed in 2007. The Reading Rainbow rerun had finally come to an end on August 28, 2009. At that time, the level of participation in the competition was still high with 90 participating stations. With a strong call for expansion of

2010-504: The novel of the same name by Alex Haley . Burton has described his first day playing Kunta as the start of his professional career. As a result of his performance, he was nominated for an Emmy in the Outstanding Lead Actor for a Single Appearance in a Drama or Comedy Series category. He reprised the role of Kunta Kinte in the 1988 television film Roots: The Gift . When asked about the societal influence of Roots , Burton

2077-481: The "Power of Storytelling" in the MasterClass . Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, Burton directed episodes for each of the various Star Trek series then in production. He has directed more Star Trek episodes than any other former regular cast member. He has also directed episodes of Charmed , JAG , Las Vegas , Scorpion , and Soul Food: The Series , as well as the miniseries Miracle's Boys and

PBS Kids Writers Contest - Misplaced Pages Continue

2144-515: The #1 most-downloaded educational app in the iTunes App Store. Developed by LeVar Burton and his company, RRKIDZ, the app allows children to read unlimited books, explore video field trips starring Burton, and earn rewards for reading. On the week of July 11, 2013, Reading Rainbow celebrated its 30th anniversary. In May 2014, a Kickstarter campaign was launched to raise funds to make the app available online and for Android , game consoles, smartphones, and other streaming devices along with creating

2211-578: The Feature Book segments was by: In 1995, the creators launched the first contest called " Reading Rainbow Young Writers and Illustrators Contest". The annual writing and illustrating competition for children grades K through 3 continued until 2009 when it was relaunched as "PBS Kids Go! Writers Contest". It was renamed to the PBS Kids Writers Contest in 2014. LeVar Burton Levardis Robert Martyn Burton Jr. (born February 16, 1957)

2278-490: The Reading Rainbow brand in marketing the new iPad app and other online media. RRKIDZ later became known as LeVar Burton Kids and the iPad app, Skybrary. In 1986, Gene Roddenberry approached Burton with the role of Lieutenant Junior Grade Geordi La Forge in the Star Trek: The Next Generation television series. The character is blind but is granted "sight" through the use of a prosthetic device called

2345-516: The air was costly—an expensive move that producing station WNED decided not to make. Prior to the cancellation, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the U.S. Department of Education provided funds for the production of Reading Rainbow and a number of other PBS children's series throughout the early 2000s. The " Ready to Learn " grant was designed for television programming that encourage early childhood learning and development. However, under

2412-528: The biopic The Tiger Woods Story . He also directed the 1999 Disney Channel Original Movie Smart House starring Katey Sagal , Kevin Kilner and Jessica Steen . In August 2020, it was revealed that Burton will sit in the director's chair for Two-Front War from Lou Reda Productions, a multi-perspective docuseries will give "an emotionally raw look at the connection between the fight for civil rights in America and

2479-647: The books, Burton hosted video fieldtrips which connected kids to real world experiences at places like NASA HQ and Niagara Falls. In March 2016, RRKidz launched a new online educational service called Reading Rainbow Skybrary for Schools , which followed the same mission of the television series, while expanding to integrate into classroom curriculums. In August 2017, WNED filed a wide-ranging lawsuit against Burton and RRKidz that demanded Burton's company hand over administrative access to other websites and social media accounts. The lawsuit also sought to enjoin Burton from using

2546-430: The commitment for funding of 52 new episodes did not pan out. The program was on a rerun since then by another funding source. This funding issue caused the creators to cancel the national-level competition in 2006. However, the local competitions organized by local public broadcasting stations continued. As the participants of the competition continued to grow into 2007 even without any new episode of Reading Rainbow ,

2613-408: The competition despite the cancellation of the program, the PBS headquarters arranged to have the winning entries to continue to be accessible online as they had been until December 2009. In November 2009, PBS secured its partnership with WNED-TV to launch the competition in the same format as in prior years but with the new name as PBS Kids Go! Writers Contest . They also launched a new website for

2680-495: The competition to update information and archive winning stories. In 2014, one year after the discontinuation of PBS Kids Go!, PBS changed the name of the Writers Contest to the PBS Kids Writers Contest . Children who are in grades K through 3 within the viewing areas of participate local stations can submit their entries to their local stations. Stories can be fact or fiction, and prose or poetry but each story must be done by

2747-675: The concepts of shared noetic consciousness, having been sponsored in part by the Institute of Noetic Sciences . He appeared in an April Fool's episode of Smosh pretending to have taken over the channel and making various edits at popular Smosh videos. He makes occasional appearances on This Week in Tech , where he is a self-proclaimed "nerd", and also participated in the Consumer Electronics Show 2010. In 2010, Burton made an appearance on Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! as

PBS Kids Writers Contest - Misplaced Pages Continue

2814-411: The end credits having the full version of the 1983-1999 theme song (sung by the same singer—Tina Fabrique) --with some episodes (with the said song) repeating two or three times. On January 4, 1999, episodes began using a new live-action opening sequence and featured CGI in a new space-themed world, with a new arrangement of the original song by Steve Horelick and performed by Johnny Kemp . A third intro

2881-529: The end of almost every episode, Burton signed off by telling the audience "I'll see you next time", with a review of the books featured in that episode beginning in season 2. The series' pilot, which was created and produced in 1981 and aired as the show's 8th episode in 1983, featured the book Gila Monsters Meet You at the Airport by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat and was narrated by Doug Parvin. Producer Larry Lancit's daughters, Shaune and Caitlin, were often featured in

2948-471: The ghost of himself in the episode "Greene Machine". In February 2011, he made an appearance as himself on NBC's Community in the episode "Intermediate Documentary Filmmaking", and then again in January 2014's " Geothermal Escapism ". Burton has appeared as a fictionalized, humorous version of himself on The Big Bang Theory , first appearing in the episode " The Toast Derivation ", in which he almost attends

3015-405: The life and times of Jesse Owens , and the life of the nine-year-old Booker T. Washington . He portrayed Martin Luther King Jr. in the 2001 film Ali . He also portrayed Detroit Tiger Ron LeFlore in the television movie One in a Million, The Ron LeFlore Story . In 1992, a clip of Burton's voice was sampled by DC Talk for the track "Time is..." on their album Free at Last . The sample

3082-534: The number-one educational application within 36 hours. At RRKIDZ, Burton serves as co-founder and curator-in-chief, ensuring that the projects produced under the banner meet the high expectations and trust of the Reading Rainbow brand. On May 28, 2014, Burton and numerous coworkers from other past works started a Kickstarter campaign project to bring back Reading Rainbow . To keep with the changing formats to which young children are exposed, his efforts are being directed at making this new program web based, following

3149-504: The podcast is often described as " Reading Rainbow for adults". Since its launch, LeVar Burton Reads has won favorable reviews, in The New Yorker and elsewhere and numerous awards, including the 2023 Webby Award for Best Art and Culture Podcast. Burton's five-word Webby acceptance speech was: "Be a better person. Read." In 2023, Burton launched a second podcast, this time for children, called Sound Detectives . Burton played

3216-552: The role of LaForge in the third and final season of Star Trek: Picard (2023). In 2017, Burton began a podcast, LeVar Burton Reads . Each 30-45-minute episode features Burton reading a piece of short fiction and sharing his thoughts on it. In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, he continued to read on his podcast and also gave live readings three times a week during a Twitter livestream focused at different times to different children, young adults, and adult audiences. In reviews,

3283-483: The seminary, I walked away from Catholicism, I walked away from organized religion because I felt that there was more for me to explore in the world, and that I could do that without adhering to one specific belief system or another." In 2012, Burton joined the board of directors for the AIDS Research Alliance , a non-profit, medical research organization dedicated to finding a cure for AIDS. In 2016, Burton

3350-416: The series, notably as the children thanking the sponsors at the beginning and end of the show. The show's theme song was written by Steve Horelick, Dennis Neil Kleinman, and Janet Weir; the former also served as the series' music director and composer for all 155 episodes and received an Emmy nomination in 2007 for his work on the series. Over the show's 23-year run, it went through three different versions of

3417-513: The show aired for test audiences in the Nebraska and Buffalo, New York markets (their PBS member stations, the Nebraska ETV [now Nebraska Public Media] and WNED-TV , respectively, were co-producers of the show). The purpose of the show was to encourage a love of books and reading among children. In 2012, an iPad and Kindle Fire educational interactive book reading and video field trip application

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3484-510: The show would be shot the same year despite the continuing financial issues of PBS. The show aired its final original episode on November 10, 2006, and continued to air reruns until August 28, 2009. Not only was PBS unable to secure enough funds to cover the costs associated with renewing broadcast rights and continuing reruns, the show's core philosophy was challenged as well. Reading Rainbow prominently featured published books throughout each episode, and licensing those books to be read aloud on

3551-424: The show's cancellation on November 10, 2006, reruns aired until August 28, 2009, when it was removed from the schedule. At the time, it was the third-longest running children's series in PBS history, after Sesame Street and Mister Rogers' Neighborhood . It was the first PBS children's show to be broadcast in stereo. On June 20, 2012, the Reading Rainbow App was released for the iPad and, within 36 hours, became

3618-416: The show's guest host process, stating that the show's then executive producer Mike Richards expressed disbelief about Burton wanting the job. According to Burton, Richards also claimed to have no interest in hosting the show himself even though this was disproven by later events. However, he would later say that the experience taught him that there is a "perfect nature of all things". Burton also teaches

3685-536: The struggle for equality of Black soldiers in Vietnam". His first theatrical film direction was Blizzard (2003), for which he received a "Best of Fest" award from the Chicago International Children's Film Festival , and a Genie Award nomination for his work on the film's theme song, "Center of My Heart". Burton was an alternate board director in 2000 and was elected to the board of directors for

3752-469: The success of the tablet application he helped create in recent years. His desire is to have the new Reading Rainbow be integrated into the classrooms of elementary schools across the country, and for schools in need to have free access. The Kickstarter campaign has since raised more than $ 5 million, reaching triple its goal in only three days. In 2017, Burton was sued by the public broadcasting company WNED-TV for alleged copyright infringement for use of

3819-412: The television series. The original team also included Lynne Brenner Ganek, Ellen Schecter, and host LeVar Burton . The show's title was conceived by an unknown intern at WNED. Each episode centered on a topic from a featured children's book that was explored through a number of on-location segments or stories. The show also recommended books for children to look for when they went to the library. After

3886-563: The theme song. The original theme (used from 1983 to 1999) was performed by Tina Fabrique and featured one of the first uses of the Buchla synthesizer in a TV theme song. The original opening sequence, which consisted of an animated butterfly transforming the surroundings of young children reading books into animated fantasy lands, was used until January 1, 1999. The introductory animation was produced by Ovation Films, Inc. and designed and animated by Bill Davis. Some episodes (from 1983 through 1999) had

3953-501: Was $ 6,478,916. With 105,857 backers, the campaign holds Kickstarter's record for most backers and is the 8th highest amount raised on Kickstarter (as of June 1, 2015). The first product of the Kickstarter campaign was Skybrary by Reading Rainbow . Launched in May 2015, it was a web based subscription service that duplicated the Reading Rainbow app experience. In addition to narrating many of

4020-413: Was allowed to continue using the Reading Rainbow catchphrase. Visiting the official Reading Rainbow website provided a page that stated "Recent legal disputes between WNED and LeVar Burton/RRKIDZ have been resolved and RRKIDZ no longer licenses the Reading Rainbow brand from WNED. WNED is currently working on the next chapter of Reading Rainbow and will continue its mission of fostering education for

4087-797: Was an African-American state legislator in Arkansas after the Reconstruction era that enfranchised African Americans in the South after the American Civil War; he was elected to represent Jefferson County in 1887. As a teen, Burton, who was raised Catholic , entered St. Pius X Minor Seminary in Galt , California, intending to become a priest. At the age of 17, questioning the Catholic faith, he changed his vocation to acting and, at 19, while an undergraduate at

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4154-593: Was born in Landstuhl , West Germany. His mother, Erma Gene (née Christian), was a social worker, administrator, and educator. Burton and his two sisters were raised by his mother in Sacramento , California , United States. Burton's father, also named LeVar, was a photographer for the U.S. Army Signal Corps stationed at Landstuhl at the time of his son's birth. His paternal grandparents were both educators in rural Arkansas . His great-great grandfather, Hal B. Burton ,

4221-473: Was launched bearing the name of the program. The public television series garnered over 200 broadcast awards, including a Peabody Award and 26 Emmy Awards , 10 of which were in the "Outstanding Children's Series" category. The concept of a reading series for children originated with Twila Liggett, PhD who in partnership with Cecily Truett Lancit and Larry Lancit, at Lancit Media Productions in New York created

4288-511: Was one of the five inaugural honorees to the Sacramento Walk of Stars. In 2019, Councilmember Larry Carr, representing the Meadowview neighborhood, led the renaming of Richfield Park to LeVar Burton Park in his honor. The park is in the Meadowview neighborhood, near the house where Burton and his sisters grew up. In 2024, while on the show Finding Your Roots , Burton discovered that he has

4355-575: Was revoked from RRKidz in October 2017, and all its platforms (including Skybrary) were rebranded to LeVar Burton Kids . An interactive revival titled Reading Rainbow Live debuted on Looped in March 2022. Reading Rainbow was hosted by actor and executive producer LeVar Burton , who was then known for his role in Roots . The show was produced first by Lancit Media Entertainment (1983–2001), and later On-Screen Entertainment (2002–2006). Every episode featured

4422-432: Was the host and executive producer of Reading Rainbow starting in 1983 for PBS . The series ran for 23 seasons. After Reading Rainbow went off the air in 2006, Burton and his business partner, Mark Wolfe, acquired the global rights to the brand and formed RRKIDZ, a new media company for children. Reading Rainbow was reimagined as an all new application for the iPad in 2012, and was an immediate success, becoming

4489-442: Was used starting on May 8, 2000, with a rerecorded version and the original lyrics performed by R&B artist Chaka Khan . This opening sequence is mostly the same as the second one, but features footage of Burton in place of some of the animated elements. Original production of the series was to have ended after April 4, 2005, with the show continuing to air in reruns , but Burton said on February 7, 2006, that five new episodes of

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