Take a Look, It's in a Book: How Television Is Made at Reading Rainbow

Kindergarten-Grade 3. It seems somehow appropriate that the children's television show that demonstrates the adventure and fun to be found in books should now be the subject of one. Krauss gives readers an engaging look at the creation of one of its episodes. She begins with the search for the book on which the program will focus (in this case, Sharon Dennis Wyeth's Always My Dad) and then takes readers through the process of coming up with the various segments of the episode, choosing locations, writing the script, composing the music, and finally filming the show. Cheerful, large, full-color photographs depicting every step of the process are surrounded by white space and lively text, making this a very attractive presentation. Children will love reading about what goes on behind the scenes (sometimes LeVar forgets his lines), and they will learn a lot about the making of a television show in the process. As the Reading Rainbow director says after a successful day's shoot, "Cut! That's a buy!"?Eva Mitnick, Los Angeles Public Library
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Gr. 2^-4. Children who have been watching Reading Rainbow on television will enjoy finding out what it takes to put the show on the air. Just as on the TV show, LeVar Burton welcomes the audience. The author then looks at how the staff picks the books that will be featured on the program and comes up with themes and ideas to complement the book and how the show is taped and put together. Some of the pictures are static (in fairness, there's not much you can do with someone writing a script), but the photos are bright and clear, and the more action-oriented shots are eye-catching. The young-looking format, with its compressed text and many photos, is deceiving; middle-graders will find this of interest, too. Accessible nonfiction for report writers and browsers alike. Ilene Cooper