Reading Rainbow Raises $1.6 Million In The First Day Of Kickstarter Campaign [VIDEO]

As reported by the Inquisitr yesterday, the popular children’s show Reading Rainbow that aired for 20+ years has been planning a comeback. Host LeVar Burton wrote on the project’s Kickstarter page:

“It was my mother who taught me that, by picking up a book, I could “go anywhere” and “be anything.” Ever since Reading Rainbow began in 1983, I have dedicated myself to fostering a love of reading in children, just as my mother did for me.

Over the past year, I have watched Kickstarter bring communities together to support artists and inventors. Again and again, I have been inspired by watching like-minded people team up to accomplish impossible dreams, and to change the world.

Now, I am hoping you will join me on my mission: to bring Reading Rainbow back for every child, everywhere.

By taking to the crowd funding site Kickstarter, Reading Rainbow and its host LeVar Burton had set out to raise $1 million within 35 days, only to hit the goal within the first 11 hours.

“We all dreamed and believed we could hit $1,000,000 in the 35 days of the campaign… but never, ever did we imagine you would get us there in 11 hours,” states the update on their Kickstarter page.

Already sitting at over $1,600,000 on the second day of funding, the popular children’s show is aiming to present content in a format that would appeal to the many web-connected children of today.

“Of course, when Reading Rainbow began in 1983, we were using television to bring books to kids, meeting them where they wanted to be. In 2014, TV is not that place anymore. Now, we’re trying to reach a new generation of digital natives,” says Burton.

With a goal to be in every home and every classroom, it appears that Burton and Reading Rainbow are well on their way to fulfilling that mission as they still have 34 days left on the crowd funding campaign. They’ve also assured their backers that just because the goal has been met doesn’t mean that there isn’t more that can be accomplished.

“Tonight, I can tell you that, as excited as we are, there’s a lot more we can still accomplish together, and that every single dollar pledged to this Kickstarter will go to the same two goals: put Reading Rainbow onto more platforms, and get Reading Rainbow into even more classrooms for free,” says the site.

There are no official dates as to when Reading Rainbow will begin rolling out its products, but it is quite obvious that the public is eager for its return.