“PBS has provided enough funding to keep Reading Rainbow alive for one more season. I have seen firsthand how the ability to read can transform a life, and that’s why I have worked for literacy for the past 20 years.” LeVar Burton —Near the End of ‘Rainbow,’ but Does Anyone Care? (Houston Chronicle)

Burton notes that Reading Rainbow deliberately chose not to create any marketable merchandise, which robbed it of a revenue stream.

When my son was first learning to read, he enjoyed “Between the Lions,” and somewhere in one of our unpacked boxes we have stuffed toys from the series. So we have, in some small way, supported that show.