I received a sample of If You Give a Mouse a Cookiefor this review/feature. Opinions expressed are my own.
Butterfly in the sky, I can go twice as high…
The show aired on PBS from 1983-2009 and was hosted by LeVar Burton (Roots, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Perception) for its entire 26-year run. The program encouraged a love of literature in millions of children and garnered more than 200 awards, including 26 Emmys and a Peabody Award.
- If You Give a Mouse a Cookie Reader: Beth Howland One thing leads to another in this episode, with LeVar in a bowling alley, showing how certain actions lead to consequences. Included is a piece on an expert at domino displays and domino art. Beth Howland reads If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, the tale of a little boy who offers a cookie to a mouse, and all the events that occur afterwards as a result.
- Owen – Reader: Matthew Broderick It’s easy to get flashbacks while watching READING RAINBOW. Now it’s LeVar’s turn, as he gets in touch with visions of his boyhood. Matthew Broderick reads Owen, about a little mouse who’s very attached to his security blanket and doesnt want to give it up, even if it means he will be teased when he starts school.
- Two Old Potatoes and Me Reader: Jordan Puryear About a girl who works with her father to recycle two old potatoes by replanting them using the sprouts to grow a whole new crop of potatoes. LeVar, working with his daughter, is inspired to make a potato dish from a recipe in the book.
- Mr. George Baker Reader: Wayne Brady narrates the story of an elderly man who decides to go back to school to learn to read, even though he is almost 100, and his relationship with his young neighbor as they wait for the bus every day.
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