''Readalong'' was an educational

Canadian television Television in Canada officially began with the sign-on of the nation's first television stations in Montreal and Toronto in 1952. As with most media in Canada, the television industry, and the television programming available in that country, a ...

program for young children, first produced in 1975 for

TVOntario TVO Media Education Group (often abbreviated as TVO and stylized on-air as tvo) is a publicly funded English-language educational television network and media organization serving the Canadian province of Ontario. It is operated by the Ontario ...

. A total of 90 episodes were produced, each about 10 minutes in length. The first set of 30 shows were produced in 1975 and 1976, and focused on simple word recognition. The next 30 were produced in 1977, and began to incorporate more sophisticated reading skills. The final 30 episodes were produced in 1979, and had segments that focused on reading full sentences. The show was seen throughout Canada on various provincial educational networks, and throughout the United States on various

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

affiliates. Episodes continued to air in some markets through the 1980s and into the early 1990s. The program taught fundamentals of

reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...

with the help of live child actors,

puppet A puppet is an object, often resembling a human, animal or Legendary creature, mythical figure, that is animated or manipulated by a person called a puppeteer. The puppeteer uses movements of their hands, arms, or control devices such as rods ...

s, and animated interstitial segments. The show was hosted by a cheerful talking boot named Boot, voiced by

Jack Duffy Jack Duffy (September 27, 1926 – May 19, 2008) was a Canadian singer, comedian and actor. Life and career Born in Montreal, Duffy grew up in Toronto, dropping out of Central Technical School to become a singer. At age 19, he was hired as a st ...

. Another puppet character included from the very beginning was a comically dressed grandmother figure named Granny, voiced by

Max Ferguson Max Ferguson, OC (February 10, 1924 – March 7, 2013) was a Canadian radio personality and satirist, best known for his long-running radio programs ''Rawhide'' and ''The Max Ferguson Show'' on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). Bi ...

. Other puppets were gradually added to the mix, most notably a pink, female shoe named Miss Pretty, voiced by Julie Amato. Later puppet characters that appeared over the years included Mister Bones (a skeleton), the Explorer, House, and the Thing. All were voiced by Ferguson and Duffy. Amato also voiced a female auto racing boot named Dynamite Dinah. The program was a marketing hit for TVOntario and had strong international sales lasting many years. The Granny, Boot, and Pretty puppets are now housed at the

Canadian Museum of History The Canadian Museum of History (french: Musée canadien de l’histoire) is a national museum on anthropology, Canadian history, cultural studies, and ethnology in Gatineau, Quebec, Canada. The purpose of the museum is to promote the heritage of C ...

Noreen Young Noreen Isabel Young CM (born September 11, 1952) is a Canadian producer, puppeteer and puppet builder. She grew up in Old Ottawa South, Ontario, with her two younger brothers, John and Stephen Brathwaite, then studied drawing and painting at the ...

, who designed the puppets, also created puppets for other programs, including ''

Under the Umbrella Tree ''Under the Umbrella Tree'' is a Canadian children's television series created by Noreen Young that originally aired on CBC from 1987 to 1993. It was produced by CBC and Noreen Young Productions, and later by The Disney Channel, which began airi ...

''. The characters were developed by Ken Sobol, who also wrote all the scripts for the series. The show's music was composed by Eric Robertson.

Credits

* Children: Reena Schellenberg, Moira Knott, Bobby Prochaska, Eric Braslis, Adrian Rajaram * Puppeteers: Noreen Young,

Bob Dermer Bob Dermer (born 1946) is a Canadian actor who first made his contributions to Canadian television in 1965 as an actor in Ottawa on a late night serial called ''Milk and Honey'' which ran for 200 episodes. Prior to '' Readalong'', Dermer was also ...

Nina Keogh Nina Keogh ( ) is a Canadian puppet builder, voice actress and puppeteer. She is a former member of the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television, Canadian Actors' Equity Association, UDA, and is an ACTRA member since 1968. She was on the board of ...

* Voices: Max Ferguson, Jack Duffy, Julie Amato * Music: Eric Robertson * Animation: Bill Reed, Patricia Crudden, John Leach, Bill Borg * Editors: Brian Elston, Paul Spencer, Doug Beavan, Bob Baker * Writer: Ken Sobol * Educational Supervisors: Ruth Vernon, Jennifer Harvey * Production Assistant: Jeannie Mougeot, Janice Newland, Frances Revell * Producer/Director: Peter McLean, Chris Homer, Jeremy Pollock

External links

* 1970s Canadian children's television series TVO original programming Television shows filmed in Toronto 1976 Canadian television series debuts Reading and literacy television series Canadian television shows featuring puppetry Canadian children's education television series Canadian television series with live action and animation English-language television shows {{Canada-kids-tv-prog-stub