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00:00Help all kids learn and grow with PBS Kids. Thank you for supporting your PBS station.
00:30Friends to know and ways to grow.
00:33A written rainbow, I can be anything.
00:42Take a look, it's in a book.
00:46A written rainbow, written rainbow.
01:00Have you ever seen a carousel when the horses
01:29are sleeping?
01:32Well, maybe not sleeping exactly, but certainly resting.
01:36This carousel has been closed for the winter, but tonight the doors will be thrown open,
01:42music will be cranked up, the platform wheel will spin, and these horses will start their
01:47ride, round and round, up and down.
01:51If you close your eyes and let the wind blow on your face, you can almost imagine that
01:57these horses are alive.
01:59Whinnying and clapping their hooves.
02:02For the brief moments that you ride a carousel, you feel that anything is possible.
02:10Here's the story of two sisters who rode the carousel one misty, rainy night and found a
02:16part of their lives they thought they had lost.
02:19It's called The Carousel.
02:21The Carousel by Liz Rosenberg, illustrated by Jim LaMarche, read by Sarah Hubbard.
02:36The time my sister and I saw the horses, she picked me up after her band practice, and we walked
02:46into the park through a ring of old oak trees.
02:49It began to drizzle, and I thought my sister would head for home.
02:53Instead, she took my hand in one hand and swung her flute case in the other.
02:59The horses are asleep, she said in a whisper.
03:02I smiled, because that was something our mother used to say, that the carousel horses slept all winter long
03:10in woken spring.
03:12But our horses had been broken a long time.
03:15We heard the raindrop striking the swings and slides.
03:20The canvas over the carousel pavilion flapped in the wind.
03:24And then, we heard a strange sound.
03:28A long, whinnying noise.
03:33We hurried closer to the carousel and pulled the heavy white canvas aside.
03:39Inside, the carousel horses were moving around, clapping their hooves.
03:45Their harnesses chimed like Christmas bells.
03:50I recognized my favorite horse right away, the silver-gray mare.
03:57I jumped on her back, the way I had a hundred times before.
04:03Wait, my sister called to me, but we were off.
04:08My sister climbed on a black-and-white striped zebra and rode after us.
04:12The mare broke into a run as soon as she reached the air.
04:17Higher and higher we flew, faster and a little more reckless.
04:22The others galloped close behind.
04:27They threw back their heads and snorted.
04:30They started running harder and wilder.
04:34One stallion kicked over a park bench.
04:38Another sent a trash can spinning through the air.
04:41We both watched for a minute.
04:49They're wild because they're broken, my sister said.
04:53Maybe Mom's tool kit? I asked.
04:55Our mother had been someone who could fix anything.
05:01Her red toolbox was still kept out in the garage, along with her bicycle and some of her old clothes.
05:07I'll go, I said quickly.
05:11We'll all go, my sister said.
05:16The toolbox was covered with dust, but the tools inside were still shining.
05:23Take good care of your tools, my mother had said, and they'll take good care of you.
05:28Lightning flashed close by.
05:34A few of the horses reared up, panicky, ready to bolt.
05:38Hurry, my sister said. Hurry!
05:41We raced back to the park.
05:44Thunder rumbled all around us.
05:49Inside the pavilion, I worked till I had the carousel machinery laid out in pieces.
05:55At last, I found something.
05:58A bolt that had fallen into the machinery.
06:01I worked it loose and held it up in the air.
06:05The carousel will work now.
06:08But the horses had gone mad.
06:11They ran wild.
06:13Two spotted ponies began to fight over a paper bag filled with leftover lunch food,
06:18slashing at each other through the air.
06:21My sister sat tall and straight on the zebra.
06:25She was watching the horses.
06:27The same way she sometimes watched me.
06:31Then she took out her flute and began to play.
06:37She played Claire de Lune, the song my mother used to play when we couldn't sleep at night.
06:44The horses moved slower and slower, almost in a dance.
06:53One by one, they jumped up onto their places on the carousel.
06:57Each knew exactly where to stand.
07:00I buried my face in the mare's silvery neck.
07:05She smelled like new mown grass and my mother's old wool coat.
07:10Father's car was pulling into the driveway just as we reached the house.
07:17He was tired and worried.
07:20What were you girls doing out so late?
07:22My sister and I exchanged glances.
07:27We walked to the park, she told him.
07:31Your mother used to say that the park was magical in the rain.
07:34He put up his big black umbrella.
07:40And we stood there for a minute.
07:42All three of us.
07:44Safe inside the umbrella.
07:46For the girls in the story, the carousel brought back memories of their mom who died.
08:00Someone they missed a lot.
08:02They remembered all the things their mother had left them.
08:05Her laughter and music, her tools, and a talent for fixing things.
08:10These were the legacies from their mom that they carried in their hearts.
08:16How about you?
08:17Do you have a legacy, a treasure that someone you loved left especially for you?
08:24My grandmother loved to sew.
08:28And she loved to sew these beautiful elaborate dresses for dolls.
08:35And I think she passed that on to me because that's one of the things we used to do together and I love to do that.
08:41My grandfather has a love of sailing.
08:44In fact, he owns a sailboat.
08:47And he's really passing down that love of sailing to me by teaching me how to sail and by taking me sailing a lot.
08:55My grandfather loved to write poetry.
08:57And he used to read his poems to his children.
09:02And I thought, why don't I try to write poetry?
09:04This is a picture of my grandfather, Saul Kaplan.
09:08And he was a composer on the piano.
09:11And he played on a Steinway Baby Grand, which I now have and I play on.
09:16But whenever I see a sheet of music or a piano or somebody playing on the piano and really enjoying themselves, I think of my grandfather.
09:26I get my love of reading from my mother.
09:32That's her legacy to me.
09:34Every time I pick up a book, I give my mom a nod.
09:38A legacy is a special gift that a parent or friend gives you that stays with you forever.
09:45Peggy Hardwell's legacy is quilt making, passed down to her from the women in her family.
09:54I remember first sleeping beneath a quilt made by someone in my family.
10:00It was such a warm feeling.
10:03Since I was always around people sewing, I started quilting.
10:08It was a natural thing for me to do.
10:11Most of the quilts that I make are autobiographical.
10:13They tell a story about something that happened in my childhood.
10:19Now this is one of my favorite quilts because this scene depicts my cousin and myself climbing a tree.
10:29It's reminiscent of my childhood.
10:33I learned to sew as a child.
10:35And now my grandniece, Jocelyn, is interested in quilting.
10:38I've just begun to introduce her to my world of thread and fabric.
10:43Look at all these wonderful fabrics.
10:46What we need to do is try and match up these two colors.
10:50So, do you see anything you like?
10:52I like this over here.
10:54It's wonderful sharing this with her.
10:57Teaching her what I know.
11:00Watching her make choices of her own.
11:02Let's see how this is going to look.
11:08Now, you see that?
11:09Mm-hmm.
11:10Now, this is a good color selection here.
11:13So, does this match with all of these?
11:16It matches with this, but I think this one is a better choice.
11:19It goes with all of them, right?
11:20Yes.
11:21Mm-hmm.
11:21See, straight across.
11:24Like that.
11:25Mm-hmm.
11:25Ah, you decided, huh?
11:28Yes, I would like to have this cut, please.
11:30Quilt making is everything to me.
11:32It's a way for me to express myself.
11:35It is my legacy to pass on this to Jocelyn.
11:38Use these colors.
11:40Since Jocelyn's just beginning, I'm starting her on a traditional patchwork quilt.
11:46To help her understand how colors work together, we'll use paper squares to represent the fabric patches.
11:54Is the fabric the same as this?
11:57Well, if it's not, it would be almost the same.
11:59It would be the same color.
12:01You know, we don't...
12:02I will teach her what I know, but I want her to feel the freedom that I felt so that she can express herself in her own way.
12:12I like to not just buy things from stores, but I like to do things by hand and say, well, I did this myself and I didn't buy it.
12:24I will show her the technique, but she is so bright and so creative that she will take it beyond the technique.
12:32Does it look like four to you?
12:33It is very important for me to pass on quilt-making to Jocelyn because I feel that I'm passing on a tradition that goes way back in my family.
12:44It does.
12:45It really does.
12:46When the sisters in my family get together around my mother's table, we have such a grand old time.
12:53Today, you had four generations.
12:55My mother is the oldest and Jocelyn is the youngest.
12:59This is so pretty.
13:00This is pretty.
13:01You see, there's too many dark colors over here.
13:04When we get together, we try to pick out fabrics.
13:07In this case, today what we did was we had many different fabrics as far as colors are concerned.
13:16I guess it could stain, but this is not good.
13:18No.
13:19How about this one?
13:20That's better.
13:21Yeah.
13:21Just the blocks.
13:24This is my personal piece of fabric.
13:26Oh, that's beautiful.
13:26Isn't that beautiful?
13:27It reminds me of springtime.
13:29Jocelyn, did you bring a piece?
13:32I brought this.
13:33It reminds me of a baby's birthday party with the bears and the balloons with the little puppy inside of the present box.
13:41Oh, that's beautiful.
13:43It's very colorful.
13:44Where would you like to put it?
13:47Right here.
13:48Okay.
13:49Fantastic.
13:49Yeah, that'll work.
13:50That's perfect there.
13:51Yeah.
13:51To sit with the women in my family and create a quilt is such a fulfilling feeling.
13:59It's one of total togetherness, like one person making a quilt.
14:04Should that be there and this be here or should that be there and that be there?
14:07No, leave this here.
14:08Leave that there.
14:09But something needs to happen down here.
14:11Yeah.
14:11When I think of my family, I think of one big canvas.
14:15I think of each relative as a separate quilt or a separate painting.
14:21What we do is art.
14:23That doesn't look too bad.
14:25No, actually.
14:26My whole family has been very inspirational to me.
14:29I feel that I'm passing on a tradition that goes way back in my family.
14:34And wouldn't you feel good if you got up in the morning and you were covered with a quilt
14:39that you made?
14:40That would make you feel great.
14:43My secret wish is that Jazzy will teach her daughter as my mother and grandmother taught
14:49me.
14:50She'll be a part of a beautiful tradition.
14:57This carousel was built over 80 years ago by a master carver who lived right here in Brooklyn,
15:04New York.
15:05He's gone now, but his work is still creating wonderful memories for all of us who ride his
15:10carousel.
15:11Now, whenever I ride a carousel, I have some pretty serious rules.
15:17First, I have to be in the outside ring.
15:21That's where all of the horses ride like the wind.
15:24Now, for my horse.
15:27I always have to choose my horse very carefully.
15:31Some people like a prancer, like this one.
15:33Or a stander, like this deer.
15:36Now, they're nice to look at, but pretty tame as far as I'm concerned.
15:40I like a jumper.
15:43A jumper is a horse that goes up and down while the carousel spins.
15:47And this one, well, she's a beauty.
15:50Just look at her carvings and decorations.
15:52Even standing still, you can tell she's a fantastic ride.
15:56Hey, let's take her for a solo flight before everybody gets here.
16:03Hey, Lucio, can I take her for a spin?
16:05Here we are.
16:05Then, let's take her.
16:06Let's take her for a spin.
16:17Here we are.
16:17Thanks, Lucio.
16:40Great, Rob.
16:43A carousel can be an important part of the community
16:46and is a place that has special meaning
16:49for the artists who created it.
16:53This empty carousel house
16:56stands in the community of Harlem, New York City.
16:59Soon, it will be filled with jumping, prancing animals.
17:04Artist Milo Mottola is bringing this unique carousel to life
17:08with a little help from the neighborhood kids.
17:12I conducted many workshops in schools in Harlem.
17:16I would ride in on a sponge-rubber costume horse.
17:24Hi, everybody. My name's Milo.
17:26Hi, Milo!
17:29And asked them if they would help me build a carousel.
17:33I'm going to make one of these carousels, another carousel,
17:35but I can't do it alone. I need your help.
17:38And will you help me?
17:40And then I would set up these, what I call, workstations,
17:44which are basically a collage of 30 different pictures of an elephant
17:48and 30 different views of a lion and so on.
17:51Dinosaurs, monkeys, and elephants.
17:53What I'd like you to do is go around and find an animal
17:56that you'd like to draw and use that to inspire you for your picture.
18:00Or else you could use an animal from your imagination.
18:06Working with the kids was very enjoyable for me.
18:09What I would try to inspire is a beautiful drawing
18:13that's not inhibited by a sense of like,
18:16oh, that doesn't look like the animal.
18:18What I'm really looking for is an image
18:22that inspires me to sculpt it
18:24and go through all the various processes necessary
18:27into making it into a rideable carousel figure.
18:31The winners of the carousel contest,
18:35whose figures I use from the carousel,
18:37get free rides forever.
18:48Each of the drawings that I chose for the carousel
19:08were projected onto a huge foam board
19:10and then traced very carefully.
19:18I lay the big slab of foam
19:31with the kids' drawing on a table
19:34and I cut it out with a jigsaw.
19:41After I cut out the figure with the jigsaw,
19:44then I have to break off
19:47the pieces that I don't want
19:49to reveal the shape of the animal.
19:54The foam is a very soft material
19:56and it won't support the weight of a kid or an adult.
20:00So I just use a piece of pipe.
20:02That actually supports the weight
20:04of a person riding on the carousel.
20:08I actually end up cutting out two pieces
20:11and sandwiching the pipe in between.
20:13This gives it the support it needs
20:15and allows it to be mounted on the carousel.
20:20Now we're ready to actually get into
20:22the sculpting part of the process.
20:24This is the part I enjoy the most.
20:29You shave away the pieces you don't want
20:31to reveal the image within the foam.
20:35And it's quite a bit of fun
20:36just going back and forth
20:37and cutting off pieces of this material.
20:51The figure is revealed almost instantly
20:54and that's something I like.
21:00One thing that's important to remember
21:02is that this is a work in progress.
21:04But even at this point
21:06you begin to see the personality come through.
21:12My workshop is a fun and wacky place to be for me
21:16because it's filled with all these carousel figures
21:18and various stages of completion.
21:21So everywhere I look
21:22there's some wonderful thing around each corner.
21:25A carousel like this takes about a year to build
21:30and I'm about halfway done right now.
21:33To my knowledge
21:35there's never been a carousel designed by kids.
21:37It'll be up forever
21:38and the kids will come back
21:41and bring their grandchildren
21:42and ride the figure that they drew.
21:45That carousel is a legacy
21:51that the children of Harlem
21:53will share with the community.
21:55Their children will ride the carousel
21:57and their children's children will too.
22:00It's a gift that will be passed on
22:02to each new generation.
22:04Well here are three gifts
22:06that I'll share with you.
22:07And like the carousel
22:08these stories will spin you
22:10into magical journeys
22:11that you'll want to take over
22:12and over again.
22:14But you don't have to take
22:15my word for it.
22:18Hi!
22:18Here's a beautiful and touching story
22:21about a girl
22:22and her love for her grandma.
22:24Let me tell you more about this book
22:26The Long Silk Strand.
22:29One day Yasuyo notices
22:31that grandma is taking strands of silk
22:35and tying them together.
22:37Each strand of silk is a memory.
22:40As the days pass
22:42the ball gets bigger
22:43and bigger.
22:46One morning Yasuyo's mom
22:48tells her
22:48that grandma died in her sleep.
22:52Yasuyo is broken hearted
22:54but she has an adventure
22:56that brings her grandma
22:58to her
22:59in a magical way.
23:01My name is K.S. Yoko.
23:03I love this book.
23:05It helped me understand
23:06that even when someone
23:08you love dies
23:09you can keep them
23:10with you
23:11in your heart.
23:13Hi!
23:14My name is Matthew
23:15and I just read a book
23:16called
23:17The Always Prayer Shawl.
23:19It describes
23:20how things are passed down
23:22from generation to generation.
23:24This story is about
23:27a young Jewish boy
23:28who grew up in Russia.
23:30But there was a war in Russia
23:32and Adam had to move
23:34to a different country.
23:36His grandfather gave him
23:37a prayer shawl
23:38to remember him by.
23:40When Adam grew up
23:42he put on his prayer shawl
23:43every Saturday.
23:45When Adam grew old
23:47he gave his prayer shawl
23:49to his grandson.
23:50This book was very well written
23:53and the pictures made me feel
23:55like I was really there.
23:57I really like this book
23:59and I think you will too.
24:01Do you have a memory
24:02of a carousel ride?
24:03Well this story
24:04will make you feel
24:05like you're on the back
24:06of a painted pony.
24:07It's called
24:08Up and Down
24:09on the Merry-Go-Round.
24:11This book is a poem
24:13about a carousel.
24:15The painted horses
24:16are beautiful
24:17but that's not all.
24:21See?
24:21There's a prancing pig.
24:24Look at that dancing bear.
24:27The music of the carousel
24:28rings out.
24:30Oom-ba-ba
24:31Oom-ba-ba
24:32Oom-ba-ba
24:33Oom-ba-ba
24:35I'm Rashad
24:36and I recommend you
24:38go gliding, striding
24:39and riding
24:40to find this book
24:41Up and Down
24:42on the Merry-Go-Round.
24:44Well, it's almost time
24:55to open up.
24:57You know,
24:58a carousel
24:59is a circle.
25:00It has no beginning
25:01and no end.
25:03And a legacy
25:04is like that too.
25:06Whether it's
25:06a special memory,
25:08a talent,
25:08or a way of life
25:10that's passed
25:11from one person
25:11to another
25:12or one generation
25:13to another.
25:15And if you're lucky enough
25:16to receive a legacy,
25:18well,
25:18then you'll have a chance
25:20to pass it along
25:21and keep the circle going.
25:23Come on, everybody.
25:32Come on in.
25:33Find the seat.
25:34Hey, are you two
25:35looking for a horse to ride?
25:36I got a horse for you.
25:38Why don't I pass along
25:40my favorite horse
25:42to this little girl
25:43right here?
25:45Okay.
25:47Here we go.
25:51See you next time.
25:53See you next time.
26:23See you next time.
26:53Today's reading rainbow books
27:03are The Carousel
27:05by Liz Rosenberg,
27:07illustrated by Jim LaMarche,
27:09published by
27:10Harcourt Brace and Company.
27:13The Long Silk Strand,
27:15a grandmother's legacy
27:16to her granddaughter,
27:17by Laura E. Williams,
27:19illustrated by
27:20Grace Bochak,
27:21published by
27:22Boyd's Mills Press.
27:25The All Ways Prayer Shawl,
27:27by Sheldon Oberman,
27:29illustrated by Ted Lewin,
27:31published by
27:31Boyd's Mills Press.
27:34Up and Down on the Merry-Go-Round,
27:37by Bill Martin, Jr.
27:38and John Arshamboe,
27:39illustrated by Ted Rand,
27:42published by
27:43Henry Holt and Company.