WordGirl - Becky Botsford

As a Black Rebecca and one who appreciates the power of language, it's easy to tell why I love WordGirl! The Emmy winning PBS Show, created by Dorothea Gillim and Jack Ferraiolo, focuses on explaining the meanings of complex words to children in a setting that won't alienate them - while being very entertaining to watch.


Becky Botsford, an alien from the planet Lexicon, is the adopted daughter of Tim & Sally Botsford, loving parents of their biological son, TJ, WordGirl's biggest fan (though neither he, nor his parents know that Becky and the superheroine WordGirl are one in the same). WordGirl has super speed and strength as well as an expansive vocabulary. While the 5th grader fends off evildoers, she often gives them grammar and vocabulary lessons. Her sidekick, Captain Huggy Face is responsible for her spaceship's crashlanding on Earth; he is proficient in martial arts and has an appetite for crime fighting.

WordGirl's origins harbor echoes of Clark Kent's - and that's great. Maybe it will get kids interested in comics!



Any cartoon that can get children interested in reading and language is close to my heart. I grew up watching Wishbone (to which I attribute my early interest in Jane Austen!), Ghostwriter, and X-Men (Beast's literary quotes and allusions still hold up today!) - so it's great to see that kids still have substantive programming.