Deon Flood

In the book My Life with the Wave, a boy gets into a boat-load of trouble when he brings home a naughty little wave. After pondering what it would be like to bring home something as outrageous as a wave, LeVar takes a swim in the ocean and learns about the manatee, a 2,000-pound aquatic mammal related to the elephant. Then he meets a "reef doctor" who brings life to the ocean by transplanting healthy coral to barren parts of the deep. Other books reviewed are Water Dance by Thomas Locker, Our Wet World, and Here Is the Coral Reef.

Explores how math is used to find solutions to problems. In the book Math Curse, a little girl feels cursed when everything she sees or thinks about becomes a math problem. In the studio, an artist demonstrates how she uses math to create art. Other featured books: Pigs on a Blanket, Twelve Snails to One Lizard, and Marvelous Math.

The Carousel, narrated by Sarah Hubbard, shows that a legacy is a special gift passed down from generation to generation. Other recommended books about legacies are The Long Silk Strand, The Always Prayer Shawl, and Up and Down on the Merry Go Round.

LeVar discovers his creativity as he works on a pottery model of his childhood home, then talks with Michael Ives, who makes works of art out of old cardboard boxes. Anna Holbrook narrates the featured book, Regina's Big Mistake. Other suggested books: The Little Painter of Sabana Grande, The Art Lesson, and I Am an Artist.

LeVar learns about jazz and the concept of improvisation while visiting with the musicians of the Bill Saxton Quartet and saxophonist Joshua Redman. Featured books include Hip Cat, Conga Crocodile, Charlie Parker Played BeBop, and Willie Jerome.

After a reading of Debra Frasier's book about how babies are born by Patrick Stewart, LeVar spends time with a family expecting a new addition. He shows a film about how babies grow inside the womb, accompanies the children to a special class for kids who are expecting a new sister or brother, and goes into the delivery room with mother Kay when it's time for the birth. The program includes close-up scenes of Kay's stomach as she gets an ultrasound.

LeVar shows his travel room, where he keeps maps and globes of places he's visited, and hosts a series of short visits that give a taste of what life is like in New York City, on the high seas, and in Hawaii. Books include Someplace Else; Me on the Map; Town Mouse, Country Mouse; and Somewhere in the World Right Now.

LeVar dreams that he is miniature size and that everything around him is huge. When he awakes and finds things back to normal, he realizes how size can influence your perception: Things look bigger and a little scary when you're small. But as you grow, your perception changes. Suggested books: Hotel Animal, The Three Bears, Mr. Tall and Mr. Small, and Zoom.

David M. Schwartz's book provides ideas for visualizing what a million, a billion, and a trillion really represent. LeVar visits the Crayola factory and talks to workers about how they use grouping techniques to keep track of the huge number of crayons they handle every day. At Giants Stadium in New York, estimation techniques help vendors get ready to feed the crowd.

LeVar reminisces about his childhood with his mother and two sisters—his parents were divorced when he was 8, leaving him without a father—and visits with children who come from different types of family structures, not all of which are traditional.

On a visit to a playground, LeVar reminisces about being a little boy and growing up with his mother. Vignettes show a young LeVar parting with his favorite blanket and being jealous of all the attention his baby sister is getting. Matthew Broderick reads the book Owen by Kevin Henkes, and LeVar visits a company that creates comic books for children.

A black barber overcomes many obstacles to save enough money to open his own barbershop in the book by Margaree King Mitchell, read by Regina Taylor. After getting a trim from his own barber, LeVar talks to the members of the a cappella singing group the Persuasions about how they stuck with their dream of becoming performers despite discouragement from people who said that a singing group without musical instruments would never make it. A young woman who wants to be a veterinarian talks about the support she's gotten from others.

Daniel Saltzman reads Eve Bunting's moving story about a homeless father and son who go from terminal to terminal in an airport, hoping no one will realize they have no home to go to. LeVar talks to kids from homeless families about why they are homeless and about life in shelters and on the streets. He also meets the father and daughter who started Common Sense, an organization that collects pennies and uses them to buy items for homeless shelters, and an 18-year-old boy who volunteers for a food distribution charity.

LeVar heads to an amusement park to ride a giant roller coaster and try a scientific approach to winning midway games. Arnold Stang narrates the adventures of author Michael Chesworth's character Archibald Frisby.

Jamie Farr reads The Sign Painter's Dream, Roger Roth's book about the bright lights and big signs of Times Square. LeVar explores the importance of signs in everyday life and visits a sign company to watch the creation of a spectacular neon display.