Alongside Sesame Street and The Electric Company, LeVar Burton and Reading Rainbow will forever be ingrained as one of my favorite childhood TV shows. To this day, I'll occasionally find myself singing, "Butterfly in the sky...I can fly twice as high" for the sheer joy and memory of a show I watched nearly every day. I'm thrilled to discover I can now revisit the show about the love of books with kids on the iPad...
Designed for kids ages 3 to 9, the free to download Reading Rainbow app is actually a pay-per-read front for a library of 150 interactive books. Children will be asked their age, gender, and story preference before getting started exploring the interactive books with celebrities to enhance the experience.
The app is divided into themed islands: Animal Kingdom, My Friends, My Family and Genius Academy, with a mix of fiction and non-fiction books, just like the long-running TV show.
The first book download is free, then it's either a monthly recurring subscription for $9.99 or a six-month recurring subscription for $29.99 (watch out, it's an auto-renewal via iTunes).
(Image: Gregory Han)
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Oooh! Squeel! I too loved the show as a child and still can sponaneously sing the theme song. This is very exciting.
$10/month seems a bit steep, although $60/year I suppose is more reasonable?
Took my girls to meet LeVar at an event promoting this app...they (ages 4 and 6) are big fans of the show too, thanks to the public library having tons of old copies of the show. I was so giddy waiting in line to have our meet and greet with LeVar. My FAV show growing up. My husband said I smiled bigger than I did on our wedding day! Ha ha.
Anyway, we signed up for the subscription and it's pretty awesome, I have to say. Lots of stories to choose from. Also, one of the BEST parts is that the app also features video field trips similar to the ones on the original show...all hosted by our friend LeVar of course!
My girls current favorite Reading Rainbow episode is A Chair for My Mother...where LeVar and friends rehearse a dance number called "Teamwork" featuring a firefighting scene and a diner scene. Do you remember? What's your favorite episode?