LeVar Burton will be calling into Desert Bus at 8:00am PST on Monday, November 16th.
LeVar Burton is an award winning actor, director, producer, and speaker. Known for his roles as Chief Engineer Geordi La Forge in the iconic “Star Trek: The Next Generation” and as host of Reading Rainbow from 1983-2009, he has received 12 Emmy Awards, a Grammy, and five NAACP awards.
Through his digital educational company, RRKidz, Burton turned Reading Rainbow into a digital reading service, and thanks to over 105,000 Kickstarter backers, he has been able to bring it online as SKYBRARY. By bringing Reading Rainbow to the web, he has made it accessible to 83% of American households, and it will be accessible for teachers and students beginning in January 2016.
Have a question for LeVar? Leave it in the comments below!
Hello Mr. Burton!
I’m a crotchety old man, and I worry about the “youths” and “young’uns” and such. The horror of technology! The dangers of the future! Anything pretty much ever written on twitter!
Is Literacy on the rise or decline? Is there hope for the future? Or are we doomed to barren wasteland of “lol”s and “wtf”s?
What were some of your initial thoughts when the Reading Rainbow Kickstarter took off with such a bang?
I don’t have a question, but I have a comment. Geordi La Forge is my favorite Star Trek character. There are many reasons, but two main ones.
First, I have bad eyesight. Geordi is blind, but can see better than anyone. He’s a superhero to me.
Second, on a show by, about, and for nerds, Geordi is the nerdy one. And that’s pretty cool.
As an advocate for literacy in children with Reading Rainbow and current guest on a video game based telethon, what is your opinion on the future of video games as a tool to not only teach the future youth of today but as a focus of that education in the place of the classic literature that we are used to in our early education?
Also you are an all time cool dude, keep on bussing.
What is the personal achievement you are the most proud of? I don’t mean something related to your career. Something like ‘visited the grand canyon’ or ‘did 300 push ups’
How did you get involved with Reading Rainbow in the first place?
Do you have a favorite episode? (Mine’s puddle hopping.)
If you could preserve only one children’s book for future generations, which would it be?
I am a woman who works in a STEM field who grew up in poverty. Your character Geordi inspired me to go into technology. You inspired me on Reading Rainbow to love reading for my entire life. Thank you so much for both. It wasn’t until I was a teenager that I realized that you were both. My question for you today is who inspired you most to make a difference in the world to help children and especially those less fortunate like myself?
Mr. Burton,
Thank you so much for brining Reading Rainbow back! Between Reading Rainbow and TNG, I basically always had you on my television growing up. Thanks for helping raise me right.
My question: After several years, I’ve finally gotten my son (7) into reading and not just video games (the book that did it was A Conneticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain, one of my favorites as a kid), so he wants to read more time travel/sci-fi books. How do I, as an old sci-fi nerd myself, not overwhelm him with all of the books I read as a kid (Jules Verne/H.G. Wells/Tolkien/etc) but really want to share with him?
As a follow up, if I may, do you have any recommendations for books for a 7 y.o. about time travel?
Hello Mr Burton.
I didn’t watch reading rainbow growing up, nor did i read many books growing up and hugely regretted it. Due in to my own lack of interest in education and social issues, my education suffered and i didn’t learn how to write proper sentences until college. It wasn’t until i had an engaging teacher that i learned to love both reading and learning, and have since gone on to university because of it. so when i learned about reading rainbow and the kick starter, i found it an incredible idea to help others in areas where i suffered. my question to you is what interested you in creating engaging ways to learn to begin with; and as someone who loves to read stories as well as become a part of them, what do you look for in an interesting story, regardless of the medium?
I just want to say Thank you for everything you do. expecially with reading rainbow. It was what kept me going as a kid and I hope it keeps going so when I have kids they can have it too!
Has the Kickstarter been everything you wanted it to be?
Also $9 Nemesis
What was your favorite part of working on Star Wars?
I heard that jordie was originally going to be a gay character on star trek until the studio got cold feet. Were you aware of this? and do you think it was a loss to the show to loose this element from the character?
I am working my way through Enterprise and just saw an episode I strongly disliked. What episodes of Star Trek that you were actor in or directed were your favorite, and least favorite?
My son had a horrible experience with a teacher, and so now refuses to read. The few times we’ve coaxed him into it, he has enjoyed some books, but it is hard. He’s 10 now, and I’m worried he’ll never love it. Any advice?
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