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CNN Live Today

Interview With "Reading Rainbow" Host Levar Burton

Aired September 04, 2002 - 10:25   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LEVAR BURTON, HOST AND EXECUTIVE PRODUCER, "READING RAINBOW": If it's all right with you, I wanted to talk a little bit about what happened on September 11. Is that all right with you guys?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

BURTON: Yes, because for me, I mean I live in California, which is 3,000 miles away, and it was incredibly scary for me watching it on television; but I can't even imagine what it would have been like being this close.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: September 11, through the eyes of children. As we draw closer to the anniversary of the attacks, parents and children alike are still trying to come to terms with the tragedy. PBS's "Reading Rainbow" has launched a new series; it is aimed at helping children heal and deal with their feelings. And we're going to have more talk on that.

Let's bring in Levar Burton, the host of the show. Quite an honor to get a trip on the "Reading Rainbow" here this morning.

Levar, good morning. Thanks for joining us.

BURTON: Good morning, Daryn. How are you?

KAGAN: I'm doing good. I can barely hear you, so hopefully we'll work on that a little bit.

First of all, great show. You know that because you guys have won about a kajillion daytime Emmy awards, but it's about reading. So why did you decide to make it about feelings and taking on such a huge topic like 9/11?

BURTON: Well you know the last few years we've really gone out of our way to do what we consider to be taking chances with our audience and really do books that talk about what it -- what it's really like growing up in today's world. We -- you know we've tackled a lot of subjects that are on the more serious side and added more episodes like that to our library. And this felt like a natural extension of that effort and a real, you know, as I say, national opportunity.

KAGAN: Interesting clip that we just looked at -- excuse me -- there, you're talking to kids in New York City. But really kids all over the country and all over the world experienced this because it was hard to avoid television on that day...

BURTON: Right.

KAGAN: ... and in the year since. So really kids everywhere have stuff to deal with.

BURTON: Absolutely. And one of the messages of that particular show, that's based on a book called "The Tin Forest," where we actually go to a school in Manhattan at ground zero, PS234, and talk to kids about their experiences. One of the messages that I think we walked away from with was the enormous resiliency of kids. They were very candid about talking about what happened to them and their experiences.

And I was also struck by the enormous amount of hope. Kids tend to look at life through a lens of hope and these kids were no exception and in fact talk a lot about how as horrific as the tragedy was, it's made them better people. It's certainly strengthened their school, community. They feel like it's strengthened their families. They really feel like that this has been a positive and really focus on looking at the positives that have come out such a horrible event.

KAGAN: Want to go ahead and look at another clip of the show as the kids talk about what they saw and what their feelings are. Let's look at that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BURTON: What was it like for you guys on that day?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My friend's dad all of sudden came running and saying, oh my God, there's something happened really scary, and there is this plane that crashed into the Twin Towers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was just scary because I saw like lots of debris coming out and I saw the fire.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I kept saying to myself that it's going to fall down, it's going to fall down, and he kept saying no it's not. And then like a few seconds later, it just fell right down and I was stuck in a whole crowd of people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAGAN: As we said, out of the mouths of babes.

So you're going actually back to the theme of the show and you're doing this through books. I mean it's still "Reading Rainbow" and it's four episodes and four different books. You mentioned "Tin Forest." BURTON: Absolutely. And it's -- and it's four books that give us an opportunity to sort of pick entry points into topics of discussion that are attendant to the anniversary that make sense and are appropriate for kids. One of the books, "Max," is about a superhero. And it gives us an opportunity to talk about the nature of heroes and of course, you know, discuss the idea that there is a hero that lives in each and every one of us.

Another book is called "Enemy Pie" that's part of this new block of shows. And in the book a young boy who feels like he has an enemy is given the instructions to, you know, live a day as his enemy and sort of dispel all of those notions that there are so many differences that keep us apart.

We also do a show called "Our Big Home," an Earth poem, where we really look at the interconnectedness of all life on this planet and how, you know, no -- none of us can get along or get by without each other.

So it was really important for us to sort of deal with the anniversary in a manner that was really appropriate to and beneficial to our audience of children specifically.

KAGAN: Sounds very productive. Tell us quickly when parents and kids can see this on PBS.

BURTON: These shows are airing both this week and next week on PBS. They're airing right now -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Very good. Good luck with it. We look forward to it. Levar Burton, "Reading Rainbow," thanks...

BURTON: Thanks.

KAGAN: ... for stopping by. Appreciate it.

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