‘Butterfly in the Sky’ review: LeVar Burton soars in ‘Reading Rainbow’ doc
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Ken Makin Cultural commentator
“Reading Rainbow,” which ran on PBS from 1983 until 2006, is just that – a prism that showed up after the proverbial rain. It was diverse, a celebration of humanity, regardless of race or age. It gave young people the freedom to speak during a time when children were encouraged to be “seen and not heard.”
A new documentary, “Butterfly in the Sky,” is a triumph rather than a requiem. Aside from its praise of programming that advocates for literacy, and host LeVar Burton himself, there’s a sense of humanity that perseveres and goes beyond the warmness of nostalgia. Maybe it’s watching the smiling kids who became loving adults. Or it could be watching the series’ founders speak about familial ties that went beyond educational rhetoric.
It reminded me of my own family, my community – all of the folks who believed in me since I was old enough to write my own book reports.
Why We Wrote This
A story focused on“Reading Rainbow” remains a touchstone for generations of American children. But as a new documentary shows, it – and host LeVar Burton – means so much more than nostalgia.
“Butterfly In the Sky,” a documentary about the iconic “Reading Rainbow” TV series, opens with an elegance befitting that kaleidoscopic feat of nature.
LeVar Burton, the host of “Reading Rainbow,” and my friend and yours, is holding a copy of “Amazing Grace” by Mary Hoffman. It is fitting, as Burton sits majestically in the middle of a library, his graying goatee pristinely trimmed. He is a Black man, a fact that doesn’t go unnoticed or underappreciated during this roughly 90-minute blast from the past.
“For the kids like me watching LeVar, for those of us who look like me, it mattered that LeVar was a Black man,” offered Jason Reynolds, a young adult author whose commentary stole many scenes.
Why We Wrote This
A story focused on“Reading Rainbow” remains a touchstone for generations of American children. But as a new documentary shows, it – and host LeVar Burton – means so much more than nostalgia.
Both of my parents encouraged me to read, but it was my dad whom I remember standing over me as I pored over the same newspapers he read. When my parents went to their favorite soul food restaurant, the servers got a kick out of the 3-year-old who read the menu word for word. Let my parents tell it, that gift picked up the tab a few times.
“Reading Rainbow,” which ran on PBS from 1983 until 2006, is just that – a prism that showed up after the proverbial rain. It was diverse, a celebration of humanity, regardless of race or age. It gave young people the freedom to speak during a time when children were encouraged to be “seen and not heard.”
Burton remains the perfect conduit for this journey – a wise sage whose salt-and-pepper hair is the visualization of a beautiful juxtaposition. He displays the wisdom that comes with experience and combines it with the freshness and relatability of a man who harbors the heart of a child. He is Afrofuturism and “the old way” all at the same time. If not for his graying hair, Burton today and the man who shows up in the flashbacks of “Reading Rainbow” episodes would be virtually indistinguishable.
His various incarnations are the stuff of documentaries as well. My dad had a small paperback version of “Roots,” which was translated into a TV miniseries that broke viewing records. Burton became a household name as Kunta Kinte. As a nearsighted kid who grew up during a less forgiving time of “Family Matters” and Steve Urkel, I longed to trade my glasses in for the cool VISOR that Burton wore as Geordi La Forge on “Star Trek: The Next Generation.”
And yet, Burton is no mere symbol. He is an actor and activist, his defiance apparent in everything from how he wore his facial hair, to his rebuke of legislators who sought to take federal funding from public TV shows like “Reading Rainbow.”
The documentary, on which Whoopi Goldberg served as executive producer, describes how Burton pushed back against producers who were splitting hairs over how he wore his mustache. They asked him to shave it off. He refused. The idea from the brass was to foster uniformity. Burton prioritized his authenticity.
“I’ve been told my whole life by society that there was something intrinsically wrong with me, or undeserving of me, because of the color of my skin,” he said. “And I think that made me especially recalcitrant to give in.”
I think of Darryl George, the young man in Texas who is still being punished and discriminated against at school for how he wishes to wear his hair. Even legislation such as the CROWN Act, designed to protect Black people from having such matters policed, falls woefully short.
This, among other reasons, was why it was so important for Burton to testify in defense of “Reading Rainbow,” and by extension, all of us. It’s easy to read that as protecting Black men, but no, I mean all of us. This is part of the mosaic which makes up civil rights: Black people putting themselves on the stand to secure the privileges of all.
Ultimately, the documentary is more of a triumph than a requiem. Aside from its praise of programming that advocates for literacy and of Burton himself, there’s a sense of humanity that perseveres and goes beyond the warmness of nostalgia. Maybe it’s watching the smiling kids who became loving adults. Or it could be watching the series’ founders speak about familial ties that went beyond educational rhetoric.
It reminded me of my own family, my community – all of the folks who believed in me since I was old enough to write my own book reports, or read a menu. Reynolds spoke to that beautifully as well:
“[Burton] reading is awesome. But a lot of us read. So, for me, turning him into a positive figure simply because he was promoting reading is dangerous because it assumes there weren’t a lot of us reading,” he said. “Or there weren’t a lot of Black teachers who were doing the same thing, Black librarians … Black parents, Black scholars, Black coaches and counselors, that all existed.
“Really, what [Burton] was doing was saying, Yeah, yeah, yeah, we’re him, too. So now what?”
“Butterfly in the Sky” debuts on Netflix on May 24, after a brief theatrical run. It is rated TV-G.
