LeVar Burton Launches Kickstarter Campaign To Bring Back 'Reading Rainbow'

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — LeVar Burton has launched a Kickstarter campaign to bring back the popular children's learning show he once hosted.

"Reading Rainbow" started in 1983 and went off the air in 2009, but is currently a successful children's app for tablet devices.

Burton's campaign, which had earned more than $1.7 million as of Thursday morning, aims to bring interactive books and video field trips from Reading Rainbow's app to both the home and the classroom.

According to the campaign, one in four children in the United States will grow up illiterate, and those who can't read at grade level by fourth grade are 400 percent more likely to drop out of high school.

In a video posted to the fundraising site, Burton says his goal is to develop a web-enabled Reading Rainbow for the home, to create a classroom version with tools for teachers, and to subsidize the cost so schools in need can use it for free.

For more information on the campaign, visit Kickstarter.