"LeVar Burton Reads" Isn't Reading Rainbow - It's Better!
Most children of the 80s and beyond remember Reading Rainbow, a PBS show featuring LeVar Burton reading children's books in strange and exotic locales. He is probably better known for playing LtCdr Geordi La Forge on Star Trek: The Next Generation or for his earlier role as Kunta Kinte in Roots.
Now the lifelong literacy advocate has his own fiction-focused podcast, LeVar Burton Reads.
On a Mission for Literacy
On Reading Rainbow, Burton read a new children's book on each episode. Burton has been a lifelong advocate of childhood literacy, and his participation with Reading Rainbow was his way of helping this cause.
I always enjoyed watching Reading Rainbow as a kid. I was already a reader by the time I heard of the show, but I was still young enough to enjoy having stories read to me. That phase passed for a while, but today, maybe more than ever, I enjoy hearing a story told by a talented storyteller.
In his new podcast, Burton capitalizes on these previous roles while paying them their due homage. The show focuses on short fiction by new but accomplished authors. Burton emphasizes his commitment to literacy education, but at the same time he acknowledges his role as an actor and a storyteller.
More Than Just Sci Fi
More than other genres, sci-fi has favored short fiction. Short stories can be a challenging format. The definition of short stories requires authors to cram a lot of story into relatively few words. Science fiction’s wide open parameters perhaps make it more possible than in other genres to outline a great story idea in a small format.
Hinting at a larger story is why “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” could develop into the “Blade Runner” feature film. The story was not the first or only to hint at these ideas, but the hints of that story - its glimpse into a future of robotic and genetic engineering that challenges our fundamental ideas of what a person is – gave rise to a whole genre of stories to follow.
“Levar Burton Reads” focuses on challenging fiction from relatively new authors. Burton hand-picks the stories to read on the show. The genre of the stories is not limited to science fiction - "speculative fiction" is probably broad enough a label to fit.
“I think a bucket list item for a lot of millennials is to have LeVar Burton read them a bedtime story.”
Storytelling for All Ages
The stories (and the dramatic readings of those stories) meet the world-class expectations that people might have of a star like Levar Burton. I listened to these with my daughter, and she was rapt with attention throughout. Double thumbs up, I'm sure - if only I could have gotten her attention away from the show itself.
First we listened to episode 1, “Kin” by Bruce McAllister. The story follows the paths of a young human boy and an alien whose lives intersect in unexpected ways as the boy tries to solicit murder. I don't want to give away any of the revelations in the story, but I assure you it is worth your time to listen.
Burton is doing the reading, but there is a full audio production behind these podcasts, adding some music and audio effects. The story is gripping, and Burton's reading is suspenseful. My daughter and I were both hooked.
Other stories in the lineup include "The Second Bakery Attack" by Haruki Murakami, "What It Means When a Man Falls From the Sky" by Lesley Nneka Arimah, and "Chivalry" by Neil Gaiman. The podcast puts best-selling writers alongside newly-published ones, and both the reading and the stories themselves are engaging for any age group, from elementary schoolers to fogeys, and I fully recommend giving it a listen.
Have a look at some of my other articles:
I loved reading rainbow as a child! It's great to see it revived!