Barbara Bush in New TV Campaign to Get Kids to Read : Commercials: She appears in spots produced by Nickelodeon that will air nationwide.

With First Lady Barbara Bush looking on, the nation’s commercial and cable television industries joined hands Wednesday to launch a public-service campaign aimed at linking television and reading.

The campaign will kick off Monday, when two 30-second TV spots featuring Bush and several children will begin to air nationwide.

At a press conference here for the unveiling, Bush reiterated her script for the spots: “When a good TV show makes you want to find out more, find it in a book. TV and books work together to really take you places.”

Karen Jaffe, executive director of KIDSNET, which spearheaded the effort, called the TV-and-books campaign an “unprecedented” effort by ABC, CBS, NBC, the new Fox Children’s Network and a number of major cable programmers.

“Never before has there been an effort to promote books and television in such a widespread, cooperative fashion,” Jaffe said.

KIDSNET--a 6-year-old nonprofit computerized clearinghouse for children’s television, video and audio programs--plans to distribute 40,000 brochures to those who contact the organization in response to the spots, suggesting ways to better relate books to television. Suggestions include encouraging children to keep a “media log” of programs watched and books read, along with ways to discuss the differences between books and TV or video adaptations.

The two spots were produced for the campaign at no charge by Nickelodeon, whose president, Geraldine B. Laybourne, a former teacher, said that the children’s network plans to air the spots twice a day. She expressed the hope that efforts such as this would help turn television into a constructive, less passive experience for children.