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PBS Remixes 'Reading Rainbow,' Delights Map And Book Nerds Everywhere

LeVar Burton and 7 year old Shane Ammon exploring the all Reading Rainbow adventure app at the "Reading Rainbow Relaunch" event in June.
AP
LeVar Burton and 7 year old Shane Ammon exploring the all Reading Rainbow adventure app at the "Reading Rainbow Relaunch" event in June.

PBS Digital Studios started its "Icons Remixed" series with a charming Fred Rogers video that was hugely successful this summer, and followed it with "Happy Little Clouds" from Bob Ross and "Keep On Cooking" with Julia Child.

Now, they're back with "In Your Imagination," a remixed Reading Rainbow video that not only highlights great little phrases that are both funny and profound (I will never get tired of Levar Burton saying "I love maps," I don't think) but also reminds you just how long Burton has been working on this project — which went off the air in 2009 after 23 years and 155 episodes, but which has been relaunched, thus far as an app, by Burton himself.

I'm not sure I love it more than the Mr. Rogers video, but it's lovely. You can listen to Mandalit del Barco's story from Tuesday's Morning Edition at the link above.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Linda Holmes is a pop culture correspondent for NPR and the host of Pop Culture Happy Hour. She began her professional life as an attorney. In time, however, her affection for writing, popular culture, and the online universe eclipsed her legal ambitions. She shoved her law degree in the back of the closet, gave its living room space to DVD sets of The Wire, and never looked back.
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