Scouting Nostalgia: Reading Rainbow, LeVar Burton, and Boys’ Life

As Reading Rainbow: Volume 1 hits the figurative Netflix shelves Sat., Aug. 1, we have a trivia question for you. What do the show’s host LeVar Burton and Boys’ Life have in common?

The answer is easy for the parents and Scouts who set up camp in front of the TV to check out the channel and the show “made possible by viewers like you.” And then that song – the catchy, stuck-in-your-head-for-a-decade Reading Rainbow theme – began (Warning: this song may incite EXTREME nostalgia in 80s kids, 90s kids, their parents, and other PBS fans). Next thing you knew, host LeVar Burton (Roots, Star Trek: The Next Generation) was on screen, bringing a book to life for young viewers.

And how does this relate to Boys’ Life?

The magazine revered by Scouts and other kids since 1911 has been inspiring children to read for decades, just like Reading Rainbow.

The worlds of these two literacy-inspiring staples collided in the mid-nineties when Burton, who was a Life Scout as a boy, wrote to the Boy Scouts of America to share why reading was fundamental to his success and career. Check it out below and share it with the Scouts you know who need extra encouragement to read.

Boys’ Life also featured a story about Burton’s time on the set of Star Trek: The Next Generation in its January 1994 issue. In it, Burton explains the hard work involved in managing both Star Trek and Reading Rainbow shoots. Read the full article below.

Despite the heavy work load of starring in two long-running shows, hosting Reading Rainbow was and continues to be important to Burton, who also produced the series. In fact, Burton won 12 Emmy Awards hosting and producing Reading Rainbow. 

Now the show will live on for a new generation of young minds, who will consume the show in a fittingly progressed format: streaming from Netflix.

Boys’ Life continues to inspire young readers too. The idols of many young men still grace its pages, encouraging kids to keep flipping through. The magazine fosters voracious readers who anticipate clutching their favorite read each month. In recent years, these readers even heard from Burton again, as he discussed his role voicing Doc Green in Transformers: Rescue Bots in the March 2012 issue.

Hear clips from the 2012 Boys’ Life interview, and share with us in the comments: Have you or your Scout ever tuned into Reading Rainbow? Will you revisit the series on Netflix?