Reading Rainbow’s New ‘Book Club’
“We love the idea of this being like a book club.”
Reading Rainbow is back, but sans LeVar Burton. And it’s going to be livestreamed on a platform called Looped, so no free PBS content. This is a wholly 2022 version of what many of us think as a basic “tv show about books.” The idea is to both harness that whole “book club” idea with inclusive selections (one of the books featured is Look, Grandma! Ni, Elisi! by Native American author Art Coulson) and make it more interactive as well. Children get involved by being able to chat with “Rainbows” (cast members) in addition to participating in singalongs and interactive story times.
I don’t really have any opinion on this new format one way or another (although the fee for streaming — which can’t compete with free content on public television — will need to be addressed!), but I read this story on the heels of seeing a post seeking recommendations for books that explore humans’ relationship to technology. (My contribution, btw, is Technics and Civilization by Lewis Mumford which was written way back in 1934. Yeah, “technology” means something different in a pre-21st-century world, but still…)
Something that I’m turning over in my brain is this: Meta (i.e. Zuckerberg kingdom) posits that the way we live life is fundamentally changing. But is it, really? Despite the setback of the past two years, people are clamoring for in-person meetings, shopping trips, and bricks-and-mortar schools. Is a livestreamed program *really* going to cause children to pick up a book? I’m not saying it won’t — I’ve been called out for my “purist” ways before — but what is the end game or goal with all of our virtual/digital exploration? (Maybe “story” instead of “book” is the goal? In other words, are the books really relevant — or are they just a sideshow to a larger digital edutainment idea?)
Welcome to my MA in Media Studies brain. (Anyone want to do a Technics and Civilization #buddyread 🤖)
originally published on instagram