Reading Rainbow

Reading Rainbow is an American educational children's television series designed to encourage a love of books and reading. The original series aired on PBS and PBS Kids from July 11, 1983 to November 10, 2006, with each episode based on a featured children's book, which is discovered through a number of on-location segments or stories. Episodes also feature children recommending books to find at the local library. The public television series garnered over 200 broadcast awards, including a Peabody Award and 26 Emmy Awards, ten as Outstanding Children's Series. Sony Pictures' child-oriented KidZuko brand revived the series on YouTube starting in October 4, 2025.

The concept of a reading series for children began with Twila Liggett, PhD, who partnered with Cecily and Larry Lancit of Lancit Media Productions in New York to create the television series. The original team also included Lynne Brenner Ganek, Ellen Schecter, and host LeVar Burton. The show's title was conceived by an intern at WNED. Before its official premiere, the show aired for test audiences in the Nebraska and Buffalo, New York, markets (their PBS member stations, the Nebraska ETV and WNED-TV, respectively, were co-producers of the show). Reading Rainbow was the first PBS children's show to be broadcast in stereo sound. It is the fifth longest-running children's series in PBS history, after Cyberchase, Arthur, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, and Sesame Street (until its move to HBO in 2016).