You may remember this as the first line of the theme song for the PBS children’s program Reading Rainbow. Decades ago, our young child watched this program daily. He loved to have us read books to him before he learned how to decipher their squiggles himself – and later becoming an avid reader.
I remember once asking him what he wanted to be when he grew up. “Levar Burton,” he replied. I asked him why, and he answered that if he could be Levar, he would not only be Geordi LaForge on Star Trek Next Generation, but also the host of Reading Rainbow. I was quite pleased with his answer; he had already decided to aim high.
I have been thinking about Reading Rainbow this evening because Susan and I send gifts of books to our grandchildren for every celebratory occasion. Of course, their parents do the same. They have quite the kid’s home library. Today. I decided to make an attempt at updating the Reading Rainbow theme song lyrics to reflect our current politico-cultural circumstances.
- Butterfly in the sky
- I can go twice as high.
- Take a look
- It was in a book.
- That we’ve banned now.
- You could be anything.
- Just take look
- If you can find a book
- We haven’t burned yet.