Secretary of Education Joins National Center for Family Literacy, Local Families to Launch 8th Annual Zany Brainy Summer Reading Club

5/21/2002

From: Alan Marcus or Bob Friedland, 212-644-9410, both of FAO, Inc.

WASHINGTON, May 21 -- U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige will read "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day," written by Judith Viorst to local Washington, D.C., school children on May 22 at 2 p.m. to help launch the 8th annual Zany Brainy Summer Reading Club, which supports children's literacy development and the National Center for Family Literacy.

The Summer Reading Club, sponsored this year by Snuggle, is a fun-filled, six-week program for children designed to promote reading during the summer months and will be held at all 169 Zany Brainy locations nationwide from June 10 through July 25. The Summer Reading Club is designed to encourage families to continue supporting reading and literacy development when school is not in session. Research shows that children can lose a substantial amount of their reading skills over the summer, despite having a successful school year. To support opportunities for disadvantaged families, Zany Brainy will make a contribution to the National Center for Family Literacy, which supports yearlong literacy services for families across the United States.

Paige, a long time children's literacy and education advocate, is showing his support for the Summer Reading Club by visiting the Zany Brainy store in Alexandria, Va., and reading a few short stories to a group of local school children. Paige will also distribute materials developed by the U.S. Department of Education designed to give parents key pieces of information to help their children learn to read. More than 40,000 families will be participating in the Summer Reading Club this year, which kids can join free of charge.

"If children can apply their reading skills regularly, they won't risk losing them during school breaks," said Paige. "To address this problem, families should read with their children during the summer months -- every day. Such activities support the key components of President Bush's `Reading First' program, designed to have every child reading by third grade."

Throughout the weekly Summer Reading Club meetings, children in four different age groups will take part in a range of educational activities, in addition to book reading, designed to reinforce the themes of books and the building of reading skills. One of the featured activities will be Kid Q Reading Cards from Funosophy, a set of reading cards with fun questions and games kids can play based on the stories they've read. The club is open to all families free of charge.

Literacy groups and teachers recommend that children read during the summer to maintain skills and to build a lifelong tradition of reading as a quality and pleasurable activity. Since its inception in 1995, more than 140,000 children have participated in the Summer Reading Club.

"Parents play such an important role in ensuring that their children retain the reading skills and continue to grow their reading ability during the summer months. The Summer Reading Club provides a unique venue for children to enjoy reading and develop a tradition of reading for pleasure. The materials distributed in Zany Brainy stores by the U.S. Department of Education provide enormous opportunities for parents to gain knowledge about how children learn to read and what they can do to raise good readers," said Sharon Darling, president & founder of the National Center for Family Literacy.

"The Summer Reading Club is a terrific venue for kids to continue reading over the summer and to have some fun while they're doing it," said Jerry Welch, CEO, FAO, Inc. "The activities really help bring the books to life."

For more information about the Summer Reading Club and other free, educational activities for families, visit http://www.zanybrainy.com.

------ About NCFL: The National Center for Family Literacy has pioneered a program that combines early childhood education, adult literacy education, parent support and structured interaction between parents and their children. NCFL works to ensure that all families at the lowest ends of both the literacy and economic continua will have opportunities to improve their education and social well being through quality, family literacy programs. For more information, visit http://www.famlit.org or call the Family Literacy InfoLine: 877-FAMLIT-1.

About Zany Brainy Zany Brainy is an award winning, leading retailer of the best kids' products, specializing in interactive items that encourage a sense of wonder, stimulate creativity and promote imaginative play. Each of these products is safe, top quality and fun. Zany Brainy stores offer hands-on, interactive, kid-friendly experiences with one goal in mind -- the intellectual and creative development of our children through fun activities and games. Zany Brainy currently operates 169 retail stores nationwide and is owned by FAO, Inc. (Nasdaq: FAOO), a family of high quality, educational brands for toddlers and children and a leader in children's specialty retailing.