Reading Rainbow

- Season 7

(1988)

LeVar is sailing on the Atlantic coast whale watching. He and a team of scientists learn about how whales eat and how they live in their habitats in the ocean. Jane Pauley narrates the true story of Humphrey, the Lost Whale, all about a humpback whale who gets separated from his pod and gets stuck under a bridge over the Sacramento River.

LeVar decides it's time to clean out the things cluttering up his house. What he finds is only memories of his entire life. None of this is junk, as it turns out. Michelle Mariana reads the story of a young girl visiting relatives who befriends the local junkyard manager, even though the rest of the town avoids him and spreads rumors.

LaVar makes a pizza, while "The Wonder Years" star Josh Saviano reads a story about about a boy who's father runs a pizzeria.

LeVar is assigned a comedy makeover to learn more about comedy. Phyllis Diller narrates "Ludlow Laughs," a tale about a man who never smiled at all until one strange night when he started to laugh out loud.

It's spring 1989, and LeVar gets in the training camp of the Oakland Athletics (back when it was Tony LaRussa, Dave Stewart, Mark McGwire and Terry Steinbach) for a program on baseball. Edward Asner reads the story of a family who meets a dinosaur who they soon find out loves to play baseball.

Within the sea, lies a combination of scuba diving and (just slightly) snorkeling as LeVar and a friend of his dive beneath the ocean to explore a living coral reef and the life around it. Fran Brill narrates Dive to the Coral Reefs, a book that shows the life and structures of the beauty that lies beneath the sea.

LeVar explores the Sonoran Desert in Arizona, photographing its natural environment and learning about how animals in the desert adapt to this kind of climate. Philip Bosco narrates the feature book on the natural world of the famous desert cactus, the giant saguaro.

LeVar, the jack of all trades, becomes a garage mechanic for this episode. Much of it fantasizes about dream cars. Then comes a real dream car, which a man has decorated, followed by stock footage of an assembly line and a piece on a solar-powered car named the Sunraycer. Victoria Jackson narrates Tooth-Gnasher Superflash, the story of a family that buys a car that is not like any other.

With this episode focusing on planes, LeVar takes a flying lesson and flies a plane himself. Also included are the activities of a top-notch airline in flight, as well as a look at the people who made the dream of flying come true, like Amelia Earhart and Charles Lindburgh. Alex Borg and David Hyman read "Bored--Nothing to Do!", the story of two boys who decide to build their own airplane using household items, after their mother sends them outside to play when they complain of being bored.

Levar Burton works out in a gym and talks about the determination it takes to succeed in sports. Burton narrates two poems from "Sports Pages" by Arnold Adoff. Burton visits with a young Olympic gymnast who talks about the preparation she must go through before competition. Burton talks to a brother-sister figure skating team, the skaters show how hard they must work to achieve their goals.