John Robbins

John Nelson Robbins, Jr. (1938–2016) was an illustrator and educator, who hosted the public television program Cover to Cover, aired in the United States and Canada from the 1960s to the 1990s. Background Robbins was born at Greensboro, North Carolina on January 18, 1938, and studied art and music at East Carolina University. During summer breaks, he played the piano in various jazz ensembles. In 1959, he took a job as a fifth-grade teacher at Forestville Elementary School in Prince George's County, Maryland. Collaboration with WETA In 1962, Robbins was hired by the Greater Washington Educational Television Association (WETA), with the title of "Studio Teacher of Language Arts", in order to develop educational programming for elementary school students. Robbins collaborated with WETA for twenty-six years. In his signature program, Cover to Cover, Robbins would introduce young readers to one or two books, from which he or another narrator would read excerpts. As the story unfolded, Robbins illustrated a scene from the passage being read, bringing the story to life using colored pencils or other media. Viewers watched the picture develop as they listened to the story, usually ending with a cliffhanger or another dramatic point in the narrative. Robbins would then display the original book, and encourage children to visit the library, and read the books in question. The original series was followed by others with the same format, but varying titles, including More Books from Cover to Cover, Readit, Storybound, and The Book Bird. The series were broadcast on PBS stations across the country during their original run, and in reruns until the 1990s.