Skip to Main Content

Between the Lions

Leona and Lionel Get Wild About Reading with the help of their dad Theo on BETWEEN THE LIONS.

Theo, Cleo, Lionel and Leona — a family of lions — run a magical library where characters pop out of books, vowels sing and words take on a life of their own. The series combines puppetry, animation and live action to help young children learn to read. For children 4 to 7 years old.

Upcoming episodes

WETA Kids

Airs on
WETA Kids Channel

Mon., November 23, 2009
1:00 am
(30 minutes)

Library lions teach their cubs to read in this acclaimed children's show, which blends puppetry, animation and live action for an audience (ages 4-7) already familiar with its ABCs.

Closed Captioning Rating: TV-Y

WETA Kids

Airs on
WETA Kids Channel

Mon., November 23, 2009
1:30 am
(30 minutes)

Library lions teach their cubs to read in this acclaimed children's show, which blends puppetry, animation and live action for an audience (ages 4-7) already familiar with its ABCs.

Closed Captioning Rating: TV-Y

WETA Kids

Airs on
WETA Kids Channel

Mon., November 23, 2009
2:00 am
(30 minutes)

Library lions teach their cubs to read in this acclaimed children's show, which blends puppetry, animation and live action for an audience (ages 4-7) already familiar with its ABCs.

Closed Captioning Rating: TV-Y

WETA Kids

Airs on
WETA Kids Channel

Mon., November 23, 2009
2:30 am
(30 minutes)

Library lions teach their cubs to read in this acclaimed children's show, which blends puppetry, animation and live action for an audience (ages 4-7) already familiar with its ABCs.

Closed Captioning Rating: TV-Y

WETA Kids

Airs on
WETA Kids Channel

Mon., November 23, 2009
3:00 am
(30 minutes)

Library lions teach their cubs to read in this acclaimed children's show, which blends puppetry, animation and live action for an audience (ages 4-7) already familiar with its ABCs.

Closed Captioning Rating: TV-Y

WETA Kids

Airs on
WETA Kids Channel

Mon., November 23, 2009
6:00 am
(30 minutes)

Library lions teach their cubs to read in this acclaimed children's show, which blends puppetry, animation and live action for an audience (ages 4-7) already familiar with its ABCs.

Closed Captioning Rating: TV-Y

WETA Kids

Airs on
WETA Kids Channel

Tue., November 24, 2009
6:00 am
(30 minutes)

Library lions teach their cubs to read in this acclaimed children's show, which blends puppetry, animation and live action for an audience (ages 4-7) already familiar with its ABCs.

Closed Captioning Rating: TV-Y

WETA Kids

Airs on
WETA Kids Channel

Wed., November 25, 2009
6:00 am
(30 minutes)

Library lions teach their cubs to read in this acclaimed children's show, which blends puppetry, animation and live action for an audience (ages 4-7) already familiar with its ABCs.

Closed Captioning Rating: TV-Y

WETA Kids

Airs on
WETA Kids Channel

Thu., November 26, 2009
6:00 am
(30 minutes)

Library lions teach their cubs to read in this acclaimed children's show, which blends puppetry, animation and live action for an audience (ages 4-7) already familiar with its ABCs.

Closed Captioning Rating: TV-Y

WETA Kids

Airs on
WETA Kids Channel

Fri., November 27, 2009
6:00 am
(30 minutes)

Library lions teach their cubs to read in this acclaimed children's show, which blends puppetry, animation and live action for an audience (ages 4-7) already familiar with its ABCs.

Closed Captioning Rating: TV-Y

WETA Kids

Airs on
WETA Kids Channel

Mon., November 30, 2009
1:00 am
(30 minutes)

Library lions teach their cubs to read in this acclaimed children's show, which blends puppetry, animation and live action for an audience (ages 4-7) already familiar with its ABCs.

Closed Captioning Rating: TV-Y

WETA Kids

Airs on
WETA Kids Channel

Mon., November 30, 2009
1:30 am
(30 minutes)

Library lions teach their cubs to read in this acclaimed children's show, which blends puppetry, animation and live action for an audience (ages 4-7) already familiar with its ABCs.

Closed Captioning Rating: TV-Y

WETA Kids

Airs on
WETA Kids Channel

Mon., November 30, 2009
2:00 am
(30 minutes)

Library lions teach their cubs to read in this acclaimed children's show, which blends puppetry, animation and live action for an audience (ages 4-7) already familiar with its ABCs.

Closed Captioning Rating: TV-Y

WETA Kids

Airs on
WETA Kids Channel

Mon., November 30, 2009
2:30 am
(30 minutes)

Library lions teach their cubs to read in this acclaimed children's show, which blends puppetry, animation and live action for an audience (ages 4-7) already familiar with its ABCs.

Closed Captioning Rating: TV-Y

WETA Kids

Airs on
WETA Kids Channel

Mon., November 30, 2009
3:00 am
(30 minutes)

Library lions teach their cubs to read in this acclaimed children's show, which blends puppetry, animation and live action for an audience (ages 4-7) already familiar with its ABCs.

Closed Captioning Rating: TV-Y

WETA Kids

Airs on
WETA Kids Channel

Mon., November 30, 2009
6:00 am
(30 minutes)

Library lions teach their cubs to read in this acclaimed children's show, which blends puppetry, animation and live action for an audience (ages 4-7) already familiar with its ABCs.

Closed Captioning Rating: TV-Y

WETA Kids

Airs on
WETA Kids Channel

Tue., December 1, 2009
6:00 am
(30 minutes)

Library lions teach their cubs to read in this acclaimed children's show, which blends puppetry, animation and live action for an audience (ages 4-7) already familiar with its ABCs.

Closed Captioning Rating: TV-Y

WETA Kids

Airs on
WETA Kids Channel

Wed., December 2, 2009
6:00 am
(30 minutes)

Library lions teach their cubs to read in this acclaimed children's show, which blends puppetry, animation and live action for an audience (ages 4-7) already familiar with its ABCs.

Closed Captioning Rating: TV-Y

WETA Kids

Airs on
WETA Kids Channel

Thu., December 3, 2009
6:00 am
(30 minutes)

Library lions teach their cubs to read in this acclaimed children's show, which blends puppetry, animation and live action for an audience (ages 4-7) already familiar with its ABCs.

Closed Captioning Rating: TV-Y

Previously aired episodes

WETA Kids

Airs on
WETA Kids Channel

Fri., November 20, 2009
6:00 am
(30 minutes)

Library lions teach their cubs to read in this acclaimed children's show, which blends puppetry, animation and live action for an audience (ages 4-7) already familiar with its ABCs.

Closed Captioning Rating: TV-Y

WETA Kids

Airs on
WETA Kids Channel

Thu., November 19, 2009
6:00 am
(30 minutes)

Library lions teach their cubs to read in this acclaimed children's show, which blends puppetry, animation and live action for an audience (ages 4-7) already familiar with its ABCs.

Closed Captioning Rating: TV-Y

WETA Kids

Airs on
WETA Kids Channel

Wed., November 18, 2009
6:00 am
(30 minutes)

Library lions teach their cubs to read in this acclaimed children's show, which blends puppetry, animation and live action for an audience (ages 4-7) already familiar with its ABCs.

Closed Captioning Rating: TV-Y

WETA Kids

Airs on
WETA Kids Channel

Tue., November 17, 2009
6:00 am
(30 minutes)

Library lions teach their cubs to read in this acclaimed children's show, which blends puppetry, animation and live action for an audience (ages 4-7) already familiar with its ABCs.

Closed Captioning Rating: TV-Y

WETA Kids

Airs on
WETA Kids Channel

Mon., November 16, 2009
6:00 am
(30 minutes)

Library lions teach their cubs to read in this acclaimed children's show, which blends puppetry, animation and live action for an audience (ages 4-7) already familiar with its ABCs.

Closed Captioning Rating: TV-Y

WETA Kids

Airs on
WETA Kids Channel

Mon., November 16, 2009
3:00 am
(30 minutes)

Library lions teach their cubs to read in this acclaimed children's show, which blends puppetry, animation and live action for an audience (ages 4-7) already familiar with its ABCs.

Closed Captioning Rating: TV-Y

WETA Kids

Airs on
WETA Kids Channel

Mon., November 16, 2009
2:30 am
(30 minutes)

Library lions teach their cubs to read in this acclaimed children's show, which blends puppetry, animation and live action for an audience (ages 4-7) already familiar with its ABCs.

Closed Captioning Rating: TV-Y

WETA Kids

Airs on
WETA Kids Channel

Mon., November 16, 2009
2:00 am
(30 minutes)

Library lions teach their cubs to read in this acclaimed children's show, which blends puppetry, animation and live action for an audience (ages 4-7) already familiar with its ABCs.

Closed Captioning Rating: TV-Y

WETA Kids

Airs on
WETA Kids Channel

Mon., November 16, 2009
1:30 am
(30 minutes)

Library lions teach their cubs to read in this acclaimed children's show, which blends puppetry, animation and live action for an audience (ages 4-7) already familiar with its ABCs.

Closed Captioning Rating: TV-Y

WETA Kids

Airs on
WETA Kids Channel

Mon., November 16, 2009
1:00 am
(30 minutes)

Library lions teach their cubs to read in this acclaimed children's show, which blends puppetry, animation and live action for an audience (ages 4-7) already familiar with its ABCs.

Closed Captioning Rating: TV-Y

Program description

Between the Lions is funded in part by a Ready To Learn cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Education through PBS.

Theo, Cleo, Lionel and Leona — a family of lions — run a magical library where characters pop out of books, vowels sing and words take on a life of their own. The series combines puppetry, animation and live action to help young children learn to read.

For children 4 to 7 years old.

Series Goals

  • Dramatize the benefits of reading
  • Show that learning to read and spell can be a struggle, but a worthwhile one
  • Show that there are many reasons to write
  • Introduce new vocabulary words and their meanings
  • Show how words work through phonemics, alphabetic principle and spelling conventions

Between the Lions gives young viewers a chance to have meaningful and manageable reading experiences by using key words in simple, decodable, connected text onscreen. The program also reinforces high-frequency "sight" words to help children become more comfortable with reading.

Helping Kids Prepare for School

The series aims to support children's early reading skills by:

  • modeling reading, writing and speaking skills
  • motivating children to read and write
  • introducing children to phonemics and letter-sound relationships
  • acquainting children with a wide range of texts in different media

Channel guide

 WETA TV 26 LogoWETA HD LogoWETA Create LogoWETA Kids
Via antenna
26.4
26.1
26.2
26.3
Comcast
26, 267
220 (DC), 219 (Balt)
265
266
Cox
26, 802
726
800
801
Verizon FIOS
26, 471
526
474
472
RCN
26
613
39
38
DirecTV
26
26
  
Dish Network
8076