"Reading Rocks!" Reaches Out to Struggling Readers

"Sometimes I wished there was no such thing as reading."
Madeline, an eight-year-old, in "Reading Rocks!"

(Washington, D.C.) – "Reading Rocks!" is a buoyant new PBS television special designed to appeal to kids and encourage struggling readers to keep trying. The Disney Channel's Nick Spano ("Even Stevens") hosts the special, which uses wacky humor to offer stories of hope to children who are trying to learn to read. Set to a hip-hop soundtrack, "Reading Rocks!" features a kid author, a claymation movie, inspiring profiles, and silly moments with Spano.

The television show is the first project of Reading Rockets created expressly for kids. While "Reading Rocks!" is designed for kids ages seven to 12, the special can also help parents and teachers understand and encourage struggling readers at home and school.

"Reading Rocks!" is scheduled to air on public television stations across the country beginning in spring 2004 (check local listings). The 30-minute show is a special episode of the award-winning "Launching Young Readers" series. The first five half-hour episodes of "Launching Young Readers," featuring Fred Rogers, Annette Bening, and Walter Dean Myers, will be re-released to coincide with the special's premiere.

"This is a new approach for us," explains Reading Rockets executive director Noel Gunther. "Our other programming was created for parents and teachers to help the struggling readers in their lives. This is the first time we have produced a show intended for kids. We hope children who feel like giving up will be motivated by the stories of kids like them – kids who found a way to give reading another chance."

"Reading Rocks!" also features actress Vivica A. Fox ("Independence Day") in an entertaining segment about some of the oddities of the English language and author/illustrator Christopher Myers (Wings and Harlem) in an elementary school visit where he uses his big feet to show children that being different is something to celebrate.

"Kids who struggle with reading can quickly become very sad and frustrated," says Reading Rockets producer Christian Lindstrom. "One of our experts noted that we have eight-year-olds who already feel like failures. This is heartbreaking, and it doesn't have to happen. Children who are struggling need to know that reading problems can be overcome."

"Reading Rocks!" profiles Ben Buchanan of Dallas, Texas, who conquered dyslexia with the help of tutoring and went on to publish a book called My Year with Harry Potter; Maricely of Hartford, Connecticut, who buckled down to learn to read in English with the help of her teachers and family; A.J. of Nashville, Tennessee, who persevered with peer tutoring to achieve his goal of reading chapter books; and a group of students at the Lab School of Washington – a D.C. school designed for children with learning disabilities - who created a claymation movie about empowering a boy with reading problems.

"Reading Rocks!" is a special offering in the "Launching Young Readers" series, which first aired on PBS in 2002. The series includes a resource-packed Web site at www.pbs.org/launchingreaders for parents and teachers who want to learn more. The next episode, currently in production, is designed exclusively for parents of struggling readers. The episode will focus on schools that have succeeded with researched-based reading programs that rely on parental involvement. The series and individual episodes are available for purchase on DVD and VHS by calling 1-800-228-4630.

"Reading Rocks!" is part of an ongoing WETA initiative called Reading Rockets, which looks at how young children learn to read, why so many kids struggle, and what can be done about it. In 2003, Reading Rockets launched www.ColorinColorado.org, the first major Web site for Spanish-speaking parents to help their children learn to read and succeed in school. Coming up in April 2004, Colorin Colorado will celebrate Dia de los Ninos/Dia de los Libros (Day of the Child/Day of the Book) with activity sheets, an e-card, and downloadable bilingual resources for teachers, librarians, and parents. Reading Rockets is funded primarily by a major grant from the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs.

WETA is the third-largest producing station in the PBS system and the flagship public broadcaster in the nation's capital. Among WETA's productions and presentations are "Washington Week," "The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer," and "Globe Trekker." WETA is co-producer of documentaries by filmmaker Ken Burns, including "The Civil War" and "JAZZ." WETA's educational services include www.LDOnline.org, the leading national Web site on learning disabilities for parents, teachers and other professionals. Sharon Percy Rockefeller is president and CEO of WETA. For more information on WETA, please visit www.weta.org.

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