TV series
Take a look, it’s in a book, a Reading Rainbow!
Journey to exciting places and build a lasting connection with your favorite books. Each episode centers on a theme from a book, or other children's literature, which is explored through a number of segments or stories.
Streaming, rental and purchase options
Checked Sep 3, 2026
You can also rent or buy it from Google Play, Amazon, and Apple TV. Use the direct links below to open the provider.
Journey to exciting places and build a lasting connection with your favorite books. Each episode centers on a theme from a book, or other children's literature, which is explored through a number of segments or stories.
Choose an episode, then use the watch options above for the show.
Episode 1
LeVar visits a beehive to look into beekeeping and how honey is made. Barbara Feldon narrates The Life Cycle of the Honeybee, which goes into detail about how bees make hives in natural habitats such as trees.
Guest stars Barbara Feldon
Episode 2
Sada Thompson reads the story of Abbie, the eldest daughter of a family that tends a lighthouse, and how she had to keep the lamps working during a storm while her father was in the city getting supplies. LeVar visits a family that runs their own sailboat tourism business and actually live on their small craft.
Guest stars Sada Thompson
Episode 3
LeVar wants to find the answer to the old question, "Which came first, the chicken or the egg?" Posing as field reporter for E.G.G.-TV , he uncovers other discoveries instead, such as loggerhead sea turtles emerging onto the sand to lay eggs. Georgia Engel narrates Chickens Aren't the Only Ones, a book told in rhyme showing all kinds of animals who lay eggs like chickens.
Guest stars Georgia Engel
Episode 4
LeVar provides insight on Japanese culture. Keye Luke reads the story of a kind restaurant owner who is thanked by a customer with a magical crane made from a napkin, whose dancing spectacle soon brings in the guests to make the failing business prosperous again.
Guest stars Keye Luke
Episode 5
In a small boat on the Chesapeake Bay, LeVar is on the lookout for ducks who are spending the winter. During the trip, he gets a chance to see a duck up close and show how a couple turns a block of wood into a duck. Orson Bean reads The Runaway Duck, a story of a toy duck named Egbert who gets tied to a car by accident and how he then travels all over the world when the car drives off.
Guest stars Orson Bean
Episode 6
A totally unreal hat store called "Hats... to Where?" sells hats that transport customers to all parts of the world. LeVar whisks himself to the horse racetrack at Turf Paradise, to a model train display in Three Bridges, New Jersey, and to the Nassau Coliseum, where he gets a goal tending lesson from Kelly Hurdey of the New York Islanders. Zelda Rubenstein reads A Three Hat Day, a story about a man who loves hats very much, and how he meets his soul mate when he goes shopping in a new hat store.
Guest stars Zelda Rubinstein
Episode 7
This looks like an extension of the previous episode, but it is a separate venture. LeVar appears in proper attire for an English Renaissance festival. Ralph Waite reads the fairy tale of Rumpelstiltskin, about a poor miller's daughter who is stuck between a greedy king and a conniving elf to get out of a difficult situation.
Guest stars Ralph Waite
Episode 8
The best of friends are those whose friendships endure everything. And it extends to all walks of life, particularly to dogs. Liza Siegler reads the story of two girls who are best friends, but their relationship is strained when one girl goes on a vacation with relatives and the other girl feels lonely and neglected, until a new neighbor moves in and asks her to help him look after his dog.
Guest stars Liza Siegler
Episode 9
LeVar travels to an old west town made to look like life in the 1880's to see how times have changed in the last 100 years. He explores how cowboys lived and traveled, and he also shows how stunt riders practice tricks on their horses for western movies. Hoyt Axton reads the featured book, a story told in comparisons about a rancher who decides to spend the day in a town 84 miles from home, and the strange happenings at his ranch back home while his wife stayed home to plant potatoes.
Guest stars Hoyt Axton
Episode 10
LeVar spends a day on the Caribbean island of Montserrat. With the featured book as his guide, LeVar drives around the coastline, visits an open market, and gets a glimpse of a mountain frog. Ron Foster narrates the featured book, My Little Island, about a young boy who visits his cousins on the island and how it is much different than his life in the United States.
Guest stars Ron Foster
Episode information updated Sep 3, 2026
LeVar BurtonSelf - Host
Julia ChildSelf - Narrator (voice)
Ruth BuzziSelf - Narrator (voice)
Madeline KahnSelf - Narrator (voice)
James Earl JonesSelf - Narrator (voice)
Vincent GardeniaSelf - Narrator (voice)
Lauren TomSelf - Narrator (voice)
PBSUnited States
Lancit Media ProductionsUnited States
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