‘RAINBOW’ URGES CHILDREN TO READ

Summer vacation is here and with it, for the third year in a row, comes an irony: One of the ways parents can get their youngsters to keep up their reading while they’re out of school is by having them watch television.

Not just any television, of course, but “Reading Rainbow,” the bright, energetic public television series that tries to convey to children in the 5-to-8 age range the joy of reading.

And does so with notable success.

Twila Liggett, executive producer of the series, says that a recent survey by the American Library Assn. found that 86% of the librarians questioned said they believe “Reading Rainbow” stimulates children’s interest in reading, and that almost as many (82%) said they think it stimulates parents’ interest in their children’s reading.

“For them to attribute those results to a television series--well, I’m thrilled,” Liggett said during a visit to Los Angeles this week.

It’s proof to her that television, which is often criticized by educators as an enemy of reading, is not inherently a negative, mindless influence in children’s lives. “We’re not turning them into zombies,” she said of her show’s viewers. “They’re getting off their duffs and going to the library. That’s the action we’re after.”

The librarians’ endorsement is part of a “nice little rainbow we’re riding,” she noted, referring to the combination of good will and tangible results that have enabled the series to survive and grow.

“Reading Rainbow” begins its season Monday, airing weekdays at 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. on KCET Channel 28 and at 4:30 p.m. on KPBS Channel 15. The first week will consist of five new episodes, followed in succeeding weeks by repeats of the 20 episodes produced for the summer seasons of 1983 and 1984.

Already in the works are five more episodes to add to the mix during the summer of 1986.

“I can’t believe we’re sitting where we are in terms of being that far ahead,” Liggett said.

No wonder: A year ago the show was in danger of dying. Its original corporate backer, Kellogg’s, had dropped out, and no one else was stepping forward to pick up the tab for producing additional installments.

So the show’s producers took their case directly to the nation’s public television stations, which heretofore had not had to pay for the series because it had been fully funded. But faced with the choice of paying for it or letting it succumb, they came up with about $600,000 to underwrite 10 new episodes, Liggett said. Additional funding was then secured from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, B. Dalton Bookseller and the Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation.

Each half-hour program costs from $150,000 to $180,000 to produce, Liggett said.

“Just because kids are little doesn’t mean the budget should be little,” she quipped. “Kids are discriminating viewers and deserve high-quality programs.”

With LeVar Burton as host, “Reading Rainbow” is a magazine-format series that builds each show around a particular book or theme. A celebrity narrator reads the story of the day and Burton is seen visiting locations that relate to it.

In Monday’s show, for example, Buddy Ebsen narrates “Paul Bunyan” and Burton is in rural Maine to compete in a lumberjack contest and watch forest rangers battling a fire. On Wednesday, Fernando Escandon narrates “Hill of Fire,” about a volcano, and Burton is in Hawaii to see a real volcano erupt.

The emphasis is on entertainment, Liggett acknowledged, because the goal of “Reading Rainbow” is to develop in children who are just beginning to read the notion that it is an activity that, beyond being necessary for their education, can bring them pleasure, now and throughout their lives.

Some prognosticators are saying that in the Computer and Video Age we seem to be entering, reading won’t be a required skill to function effectively in society. “But there’s more than being simply functional,” Liggett argued. “There is the life of the mind. And I don’t know of anything that fires the imagination like reading a book that really challenges you, that stimulates you, that helps you think new thoughts.”

Besides having their youngsters watch “Reading Rainbow,” what else can parents do to promote reading during the summer? A former teacher and director of the Right to Read program in Nebraska, Liggett offered these suggestions:

--Keep the home well stocked with books, newspapers and magazines.

--Make trips to the library a regular activity.

--Be a role model by letting the child see you reading for your own pleasure.

--Read to the children. “It’s not only a warm, wonderful time for the parent and child to be close,” Liggett said, “it’s also an important time because it says you as a parent think reading is an important activity.”