Burton Puts Literacy First

"Of all the things I've done in my career, I'm probably most proud of Reading Rainbow," LeVar Burton (Geordi LaForge) said, anticipating his attendance at the Palm Beach County Literacy Coalition's "Love of Literacy Luncheon" on March 12th.

"Our mission is to communicate to a child who is in that decision-making process that reading is an adventure that can be with you for the whole of your life," Burton told The Palm Beach Post. "Once that light is lit, it burns forever."

The son of an English teacher, Burton said that reading was not optional in the house where he grew up, and cited Rudyard Kipling's Captains Courageous as the book that made him realize he could think of fictional characters as people who mattered to him.

"To this day, as I approach the end of a novel I'm really loving, I slow down to postpone that inevitable moment," he added.

In addition to hosting Reading Rainbow on PBS, Burton directs television - he's helmed several Star Trek episodes - and his first feature film, the Christmas story Blizzard, will be released in November.

"It's about a reindeer who talks and flies," he explained, joking that since he couldn't find a real one for the role, former Star Trek castmate Whoopi Goldberg took on the part instead.

More information about the Love of Literacy Luncheon is available at (800) 273-1030. The Palm Beach Post article is here.

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