   reading rainbow is an american children's television series that aired on pbs kids and pbs kids go! from june 6, 1983, until november 10, 2006, that encouraged children to read. in 2012 an ipad and kindle fire educational interactive book reading and video field trip application 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, 11 of which were in the "outstanding children's series" category. the series was created under the leadership of cecily truett lancit and larry lancit, at lancit media productions in new york. the concept of a reading series for children originated with twila liggett, ph.d., and paul schupbach (director), of the great plains national instructional television library at the university of nebraskaâlincoln; and tony buttino, of wned-tv buffalo, new york. the original team included lynne brenner ganek, ellen schecter, and host levar burton. each episode centered on a theme from a book, or other children's literature, which was explored through a number of segments or stories. the show also recommended books for kids to look for when they went to the library. it is the third-longest running children's series in pbs history, after mister rogers' neighborhood and [[sesa
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