Learn how parents, childcare providers, and kindergarten teachers can get children started on the road to literacy.

The program looks at the earliest stages of literacy in such locations as a baby speech lab and a Head Start center. Features host Fred Rogers and children's book author and illustrator Rosemary Wells (Max and Ruby).


The Roots of Reading is the first episode of Reading Rockets: Launching Young Readers, WETA's award-winning series of innovative half-hour programs about how children learn to read, why so many struggle, and what we can do to help.

Available in VHS format.

Running time: 26 minutes