Some are given every warning and still choose pride. Some are handed love and still choose control. Some are shown the truth and still cling to a lie because the lie protects their ego. Some stand at the door of redemption, look inside, and walk away because changing would require them to admit they were wrong. That refusal can be frustrating, heartbreaking, terrifying, and unforgettable when it is written with purpose.

To some, Wishbone may sound like a simple children’s show about a dog with a big imagination. But for those of us who remember it, the show was much more than that. It was a doorway into stories that many children might have otherwise avoided, feared, misunderstood or never discovered at all. It took names like Homer, Shakespeare, Mark Twain, Charles Dickens, Alexandre Dumas, Victor Hugo, Jules Verne and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and made them feel exciting, funny, dramatic and

Too many writers give their characters a tragedy, mention it once or twice, and then act like the job is done. A dead parent. A lost love. A childhood betrayal. A friend who disappeared. A fire. A war. A mistake that cost somebody everything. All of that can be powerful material, but only if it continues to matter after the flashback ends.

Hosted by LeVar Burton, Reading Rainbow launched June 6, 1983 and became one of the most beloved educational programs in American television history. Its official site describes it as a program created in response to “summer loss,” the learning slide that can happen when children stop reading over school breaks, but what began with an educational purpose grew into a classroom staple and cultural icon.