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
• Previously aired episodes
• Program description
• Go to website
• Channel guide

Upcoming episodes

Previously aired episodes

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

Via antenna	26.4	26.1	26.2	26.3
Comcast	26, 92	220 (DC), 219 (Balt)	265	266
Cox	26, 802	1026 (Fairfax), 1003 (Fredericksburg)	800	801
Verizon FIOS	26, 471	526	474	472
RCN	26	613	39	38
DirecTV	26	26
Dish Network	8076