Reader Rabbit
Reader Rabbit is an edutainment software franchise created in 1986 by The Learning Company. This series currently makes up the greater part of a franchise of grade-based and subject-based titles, where the games for infancy through second grade feature Reader Rabbit. The games for third grade through sixth grade instead feature The ClueFinders.
The first game in the series taught language arts, featuring a variety of simple games designed to teach schoolchildren basic reading and spelling skills. Originally, the title character's name was changed to reflect a change in subject, as with Math Rabbit, but it has apparently since been decided to retain the character's original name regardless of the subject area covered by a particular game.
In 2011, a game for the Nintendo Wii was announced.[1]
Characters
Major
| Name | First Appearance | Voiced by | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reader Rabbit | Reader Rabbit (1986) | Jeanne Hartmann Charlie Borland Marina Cashmark Marina Chinchilla | |||||||||||
| Reader Rabbit is the protagonist of all the games. He was a greyish blue rabbit. In Reader Rabbit Math Adventures Ages 6–9, when the Sealion is wrecked by the momentum of the storm, he has a plan to fix it while Sam the Lion was on a search for parts. In the 1986-1993 games, he wears a scarlet T-shirt rather than his trademark red sweater. In the 2000s games, he wears a red T-shirt and blue jeans and in the 1995–present games he wears a red and blue striped sweater. | |||||||||||||
| Sam the Lion | Dai Jenkins Pete Shoemaker Lucille Harris (Read Now! series) Terence McGovern | ||||||||||||
| Sam is one of Reader Rabbit's best friends. He is a lion who likes to go on adventures. He also appears as a cub in Reader Rabbit Math Adventures Ages 6–9 where he was driving a ship in the flashback. He also teams up with Penelope the Parrot in all activities except the one that involves fractions on pizza and the song he sings is Sam's Song. In the 1986-1993 and in the 1997-present games he wears a green T-shirt. He also appears as the leader and the main protagonist in the live-action/animated video series Read Now! with a shiny red nose, a red mane and a matching tuft of hair on his tail. | |||||||||||||
| Matilda the Mouse | Laura Rice | ||||||||||||
| Matilda (nicknamed "Mattie" or "Mat") is one of Reader Rabbit's best friends. She is a feisty young mouse who likes to do everything and wears a yellow shirt, a blue dress with white buttons and a blue ribbon on her tail (after 1989). As a main character in Reader Rabbit Kindergarten, she finds some things that Spike is stealing. In Reader Rabbit Toddler, she visits Reader Rabbit and goes into the book where it has so many fun worlds you can select. Mattie makes plenty of jokes! The song she sings is Mat's Song. She also appears in Interactive Math Journey and in the video series Read Now!. | |||||||||||||
| Charlie the Chipmunk | |||||||||||||
| Charlie is the head councillor in Reader Rabbit Kindergarten and a stage manager in 1st Grade. He wears a red baseball cap and a red and white striped shirt. | |||||||||||||
| Wonder Pony | Let's Start Learning | ||||||||||||
| Wonder Pony is a very elegant pony. She is blue with a blonde mane and tail. | |||||||||||||
| Mimi Rabbit | |||||||||||||
| Mimi Rabbit is Reader's younger sister. She rarely appears in any of the games and is apparently four years old. She may not only appear more often in the games with the young version of Reader Rabbit, but may also appear in the DVDs of Reader Rabbit. | |||||||||||||
| Ernest the Train | |||||||||||||
| Ernest is a blue train who appears in Reader Rabbit's Reading 1 and 2. | |||||||||||||
| Buster the Transforming Car | Reader Rabbit's Interactive Reading Journey 2 | ||||||||||||
| Buster is a red, blue and orange car. | |||||||||||||
| Paige the Adventure Manual | |||||||||||||
| Paige is Reader Rabbit's pink manual who appears in the 2001 versions of Preschool, Kindergarten, 1st Grade and 2nd Grade. | |||||||||||||
| Chester | |||||||||||||
| Reader Rabbit's safe for keeping things in and he appears in the 2001 versions of Preschool, Kindergarten, 1st Grade and 2nd Grade. | |||||||||||||
| Grandma Rabbit | |||||||||||||
| Reader's grandmother. | |||||||||||||
| Grandpa Rabbit | |||||||||||||
| Reader's grandfather. | |||||||||||||
Minor
| Name | First Appearance | Voiced by | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Penelope the Parrot | Reader Rabbit Math Adventures Ages 6–9 | Brett Abramson | |||||||||||
| Penelope is a very bright green parrot. She has been found on an island by Reader Rabbit and Sam the Lion. She likes to fly. As you click on the icons for math activities, she will be your guide. She is also the responsibility of the pizza activity where you can help her put the right ingredients in the dough for making pizza. In the trap activity, you can pick out the money from her hand. After you have collected all the parts of the boat (including the supplies), she joins Sam and Reader for the boat race which they win in the end. Note that when she first appears at the beginning of Reader Rabbit Maths, Sam says "It feels so good to see a familiar face." implying that they already knew Penelope before the events of Reader Rabbit Maths, but Penelope only appears in Reader Rabbit Maths, so players would not know who she was beforehand. | |||||||||||||
| Captain Ratbeard | Reader Rabbit Math Adventures Ages 6–9 | Charles Martinet | |||||||||||
| Captain Ratbeard is the leader of the Pirats and the nastiest member of the group. He wears a hat, boots, a coat, and a belt with a sword attached to it. Due to his name, he has a red beard with a mustache. He has been found by Sam the Lion in the beach version of the sail-drawing activity and is the first Pirat to be part of the time activity. The song he sings is "Captain Ratbeard's Song". | |||||||||||||
| Pearl | Reader Rabbit Math Adventures Ages 6–9 | Susan Parks | |||||||||||
| Pearl is a stout female Pirat who wears a fuchsia dress, and has short blond curly hair. She wants to be rough and tough in her way. She has been found by Sam the Lion in the cavern version of the sail-drawing activity and is the third Pirat to be part of the time activity. The song she sings is "Rough And Ready". | |||||||||||||
| Vermina | Reader Rabbit Math Adventures Ages 6–9 | Brett Abramson (1997–2001) Erin Roush (2001–present) | |||||||||||
| Vermina is a thin female light blue-eyed Pirat who wears a light blue shirt with a rope-like belt, dark blue pants with a yellow patch, and has long brown straight hair. She is the kindest Pirat who has a soft heart, a beautiful voice and loves to sing. She has been found by Sam the Lion in the beach and jungle versions of the sail-drawing activity and Connor McBrayer M.D. in Wordville Soup and is the first Pirat to sit by the fire in the cave. The song she sings is "This Is The Life For Me". In this song, she dreams of having the most wonderful life for herself. | |||||||||||||
| Cheester | Reader Rabbit Math Adventures Ages 6–9 | Roger L. Jackson | |||||||||||
| Cheester is a fat male Pirat who wears a shirt with sky blue and white stripes on, dark blue pants and a hunk of cheese on his head. His desire may be counting a lot of treasures he sees. He has been found by Sam the Lion in the jungle version of the sail-drawing activity and is the second Pirat to be part of the time activity. The song he sings is "Cheester's Song". | |||||||||||||
| Riley | Reader Rabbit Math Adventures Ages 6–9 | Derek Sorrentino | |||||||||||
| Riley is a thin male Pirat who wears a shirt with light orange and white stripes on and dark orange pants. He has a cockney accent. He has been found by Sam the Lion in the cavern version of the sail-drawing activity. The song he sings is "Riley's Song". | |||||||||||||
| The Performing Hamsters | Learn to Read | Irene Trapp Terry McGovern Marina Cashmark Derek Sorentino | |||||||||||
| Nellie is a gray hamster, and the song she sings is Nellie's Song.
Calhoun is a brownish red hamster, and the song he sings is Calhoun's Song. Lefty is a brown hamster, and the song he sings is Lefty's Song. Milton is an orangy red hamster, and the song he sings is Milton's Song. | |||||||||||||
| Sis the Snake | Reader Rabbit's Interactive Reading Journey 1 | ||||||||||||
| Sis is a purple snake. She also appears in the Read Now video series. | |||||||||||||
| Mit the Monkey | Let's Start Learning | Jeff Bennett Greg Walsh | |||||||||||
| Mit is a monkey who is very talkative. He is featured in Reader Rabbit's Preschool, Reader Rabbit Personalized Reading Ages 4–6 and Reader Rabbit Personalized Reading Ages 6–9. He also appears in the video series Read Now!. | |||||||||||||
| Ann the Giraffe | Reader Rabbit's Interactive Reading Journey 1 | Tress MacNeille | |||||||||||
| Ann is a tall giraffe. She also appears in the video series Read Now!. | |||||||||||||
| Ed the Dog | Let's Start Learning | Greg Walsh | |||||||||||
| Ed is a cook. He in Reader Rabbit's Preschool does the ABCs by asking the player to get him the right ingredients based on which letters he says. | |||||||||||||
| Ben the Ant | Reader Rabbit's Interactive Reading Journey 1 | Greg Walsh | |||||||||||
| Ben is the leader of ant band. He also appears in the video series Read Now!. | |||||||||||||
| Tally the Counting Cat | Reader Rabbit Preschool | Anndi McAfee | |||||||||||
| Tally is a good mathematician and she appears in Reader Rabbit's Preschool and Interactive Math Journey For Grades 1-3. She is also the math magician. | |||||||||||||
| Nanny Toucanny | Reader Rabbit's Interactive Reading Journey 1 | ||||||||||||
| Nanny (nicknamed "Nan") also appears in the Read Now! video series. | |||||||||||||
| Wheel Bear | |||||||||||||
| The Wheel Bear is a brown bear who wears a T-shirt and sits on a wheelchair. He is featured in Reader Rabbit Personalized Reading Ages 6–9 and seen in books 5 and 6. | |||||||||||||
| Sid the Horse | Reader Rabbit's Interactive Reading Journey 1 | ||||||||||||
| Sid is a yellow horse with a brown mane and tail and appears in the Interactive Reading Journeys. | |||||||||||||
| Pierre the Raccoon | |||||||||||||
| Pierre is a grey and black raccoon who wears a black beret and has a French accent, so he is presumably from France. He owns a performing arts studio as well as a kitchen and also likes cooking. | |||||||||||||
| The Bears | Reader Rabbit Kindergarten | ||||||||||||
| Baby Bear is a bear cub and one Matilda's good friends. In a 2001 Reader Rabbit Preschool game, she appeared as the drummer for 7 sing-alongs.
Papa Bear is Baby Bear's father and runs a store. He wears a white apron. In a 2001 Reader Rabbit Preschool game, he appeared as the bassist for 7 sing-alongs. Mama Bear is Baby Bear's mother. | |||||||||||||
| Lolo | |||||||||||||
| Lolo is a racoon with crutches. | |||||||||||||
| Spike the Porcupine | Reader Rabbit Kindergarten | Roger L. Jackson | |||||||||||
| Spike is a porcupine. He is known for his devious personality, and wears a red baseball cap that is usually backwards and a pair of red and white sneakers. In Reader Rabbits Kindergarten, he takes an item from all the characters and the song he sings is Spike's Song. | |||||||||||||
| Lenny Loudspeaker | Reader Rabbit Kindergarten | ||||||||||||
| Lenny Loudspeaker is a loudspeaker that announces things to the campers. In addition, if the player clicks on him he will give offbeat facts about nature. He is also fond of cracking jokes, often in the form of puns. | |||||||||||||
| Babs the Beaver | |||||||||||||
| Babs is featured in Reader Rabbit Kindergarten. She is a brown beaver with buck teeth. She wears blue overalls with a yellow construction hat. She has a southern accent. In a 2001 Reader Rabbit Preschool game, she appeared as the pianist for 7 sing-alongs. | |||||||||||||
| Professor Olivia Owl | Reader Rabbit's First Grade | ||||||||||||
| Olivia is a great reader and she has a parrot named Penelope. | |||||||||||||
| Holey Mole | Reader Rabbit 2 | ||||||||||||
| Holey Mole works in a mine tunnel, and is depicted as a mole in a construction worker-type outfit. | |||||||||||||
| Sylvia Skunk | Reader Rabbit 2 | ||||||||||||
| Sylvia Skunk wears a pink sleeveless shirt and purple shorts and has a short ponytail. She sometimes wears a yellow polka-dot bikini. In a 2001 Reader Rabbit Preschool game, she appeared as the main singer for 7 sing-alongs. | |||||||||||||
| Go-Go Gophers | Reader Rabbit 2 | ||||||||||||
| The Go-Go Gophers are a couple of gophers who wear bow ties. | |||||||||||||
| Simon | Interactive Math Journey | ||||||||||||
| Simon is a donkey who owns a sugarcane store. He also has a Mexican accent. | |||||||||||||
| Sir Drayson Dragon | Reader Rabbit's 2nd Grade | Charles Martinet | |||||||||||
| Sir Drayson Dragon is a British-accented Fire-breathing dragon, who owns a supposedly haunted castle filled with obstacles and riddles of sorts that Sam the Lion must solve. At first Sam thinks he is an evil dragon who is holding Reader Rabbit as a prisoner but once he has passed every test, he finds out he is friendly and inventive and Reader Rabbit was helping him with an invention. | |||||||||||||
Songs
- "Captain Ratbeard's Song"
- "This Is the Life For Me"
- "Baby Basket Bingo"
- "Cheester's Song"
- "Rough And Ready"
- "Riley's Song"
- "Spike's Song"
- "Sam's Song"
- "Mat's Song"
- "Tally the Math Cat"
- "You and I"
- "Mr. Less and Mr. More"
- "The Measuring Rap"
Products in the franchise
| Year | Games | Platforms |
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| 1986 |
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| 1987 |
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| 1988 |
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| 1989 |
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| 1990 |
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| 1991 |
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| 1993 |
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| 1994 |
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| 1995 |
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| 1996 |
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| 1997 |
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| 1998 |
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| 1999 |
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| 2001 |
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References
- ↑ Jinny Gudmundsen, USA Today. "Reader Rabbit hops over to the Wii." May 29, 2011. Retrieve June 7, 2011.
External links
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Wikiquote has quotations related to: Reader Rabbit |
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