Reading Rainbow

Season 21

TV-Y

LeVar Burton introduces an appropriate subject for each episode to go with the featured children's book that is read in its entirety. This is followed by suggestions of other books for further reading.

Where to Watch Season 21

5 Episodes

The Biggest Test in the Universe
E1
The Biggest Test in the UniverseIn addition to discussing accomplishing difficult tasks, LeVar profiles the New York children's theater group Tada, as they prepare auditions for their newest show. Richard Gear reads The Biggest Test in the Universe, a story about a grade school class having anxiety over an annual aptitude test.
I Lost My Tooth in Africa
E2
I Lost My Tooth in AfricaLeVar discusses different rites of passage in growing up. The book "I Lost My Tooth in Africa" is read about a young girl who loses her first tooth while visiting her father's family in Africa, and how the tooth fairy tradition is different in other countries. We visit with some young people who are having their first dental appointment, and LeVar discusses other culture's customs regarding loose teeth. In another rite of passage, a friend of LeVar's celebrates her 15th birthday with a Quincenara ceremony.
Boxes for Katje
E3
Boxes for KatjeLeVar profiles Children For Children, a New York based youth organization that creates care packages for relief to children affected by Hurricane Katrina in August 2005. Elizabeth Jute reads a story about a US penpal who sends care packages to her friend in war-torn Holland after WWII.
Game Day
E4
Game DayJames Avery reads a story written by identical twin brothers Tiki and Ronde Barber, who became professional football players, and how they learned the importance of teamwork when they played together in junior high.
Show Way
E5
Show WayShow Way traces the lineage of one family's women who began creating quilts with secret maps to freedom during the years of slavery and continued in the generations beyond as a tribute to the past. Host LeVar Burton and his family discover some items from earlier relatives, and then we meet a grandmother who inspires her grandson, family members and others with her childhood memories of surviving the Holocaust during World War II.