A Bibliophile’s Nostalgia: Between The Lions
I’m back again in my newest blog post series to revisit some bookish things that give me all the nostalgia feels. So today, I’ll be talking about another literary show that I watched as a child, Between The Lions.
In my childhood, I spent many summers at my Grandma’s house who didn’t have cable at all. Hence, I watched a ton of public television. One show that I always looked towards to every afternoon was Between The Lions. With it’s catchy theme song stating “Between the covers of a book
It’s time to look, between the Lions” I was already ready for a new episode.
From the year 2000 to 2010, this American animated/live-action/puppet children’s television series designed to promote reading. The show won seven Daytime Emmy awards between 2001 and 2007.
The series focuses on a family of anthropomorphic lions operating and living in a large, busy library called, “The Barnaby B. Busterfield III Memorial Public Library” where in each episode, the lions introduce a picture book to the audience and read it. The series often featured an array of educational segments that parodies of well-known media redesigned educationally for younger audiences.
I have always been a fan of puppeteering and the lion puppets as well as all of the other characters always stood out to me as a child. I was already an avid reader when this show aired as a child and I liked how it showed me new ways that reading could be fun. I enjoyed the premise of the show being set inside this magnificent library and all of the sketches in each episode. They packed a lot of content into a short time frame.
It was always cool to see what new words I could learn and it made me want to seek out new stories. I hear people talk about Reading Rainbow all the time (which I adore), but not enough about this show. And thinking back on it now I realize how much an impact it left on me.
Between the Lions promote a general love of reading in its viewers. But it explores the many subjects that books can cover and demonstrates the importance of reading in other everyday activities. It’s a show that will continue to stay with me as an adult.
Did you watch Between The Lions growing up? Did the show leave an impact on you? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.
I watched it because I love cats and started again this past spring 🐈🐈🐈🐈
It’s such a good show!
Since this show taught a lot about vowels, how come it never had a game show similar to Wheel of Fortune in which Theo hosts the show and Cleo turns over the letters?
That would have been great segement for this show!