TV REVIEW : Words Add Substance to ‘Ghostwriter’

It’s billed as a “multimedia literacy project,” but that dry phrase doesn’t do justice to “Ghostwriter,” an engaging and inventive new educational TV series that viewers not only watch but also read .

Aimed at children between the ages of 7 and 10, the series gets an unusual promotional preview today on Fox at 11 a.m. (Channels 11 and 6), then moves to its regular home on PBS Sunday (6 p.m. on KCET-TV Channel 28 and KPBS-TV Channel 15).

“Ghostwriter” mixes mystery, suspense and special effects with continuing story lines, substantive relationships between characters and a likable, multi-ethnic young cast.

Smoothly interwoven throughout is the written word. Indeed, words are everywhere: on walls, computer screens, posters, grocery shelves, bulletin boards, T-shirts and backpacks. Viewers aren’t told to read, they simply won’t be able to help themselves.

Produced by Children’s Television Workshop, the company that makes “Sesame Street,” “Ghostwriter” takes the form of a serial drama in which mysteries are strung out over multiple episodes. It opens with a five-part adventure that introduces Jamal (Sheldon Turnipseed), Lennie (Blaze Berdahl) and Alex (David Lopez), students at a middle school, and Alex’s younger sister, Gaby (Mayteana Morales). They set out to discover who is stealing grade-schoolers’ lunch money. (Future episodes will introduce two other young sleuths, played by Tram-Anh Tran and Todd Alexander.)

The opening installment also introduces Ghostwriter, a lonely spirit (portrayed by an animated flash of light) who makes friends with the group and helps them find clues to solve their mysteries.

Ghostwriter can only communicate through reading and writing, and does so in a variety of ways. When he reads, he illuminates each word. When he writes, he can use only letters available to him in his immediate vicinity. Gathering them up in an animated swirl, he puts them together into words.

Viewers see Ghostwriter’s human friends respond. They talk about what they’re going to say, write it, then read it back to each other, reinforcing the words for their young audience.

All of this is done in the context of the story, without overt teaching or preaching.

Viewers also see people reading as an everyday part of their lives. Lennie’s single dad, a jazz musician, reads Downbeat magazine while he cooks dinner. Alex is a detective-novel fan; Gaby carries a book of trivia in her backpack. Jamal uses books to learn about video-game strategies.

Understated, effective messages of family, friendship and compassion play a big part, too. Jamal’s family is financially comfortable and traditional: two parents, a sister and a grandmother. Alex and Gaby’s parents run a neighborhood grocery store; their father speaks to them in Spanish and English. Lennie and her father live over the store. Each family unit is secure and caring; there are more than academic lessons going on here.

The ambitious series was created by a team of producers, writers, educational researchers, curriculum and academic experts. It is supported by an extensive outreach program that includes a “mini-magazine” that will be distributed through direct mail, schools, public-television stations, libraries and national youth programs.

* Following Sunday’s hourlong premiere at 6 p.m., “Ghostwriter” will be seen in half-hour installments, Sundays at 6:30 p.m. It will be preceded each week at 6 p.m. by a repeat of the previous week’s episode. The series also will seen on KVCR-TV Channel 24 beginning Oct. 16 at 4:30 p.m.