BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss.—U.S. Department of Education Deputy Secretary Raymond Simon, First Book® Senior Advisor Kit Lunney and Bay Saint Louis-Waveland School District Superintendent Kim Stasny today highlighted the importance of reading and presented free books to students at Bay St. Louis-Hancock County Library, after visiting their school, North Bay Elementary, in Bay St. Louis. The donation included some of the 200,000 books provided by First Book and the U.S. Department of Education as part of the Gulf Coast Holiday Book Donation. The effort is designed to help replenish reading materials in the communities devastated by the Gulf Coast hurricanes of 2005.

"We know that reading is the essential skill for success in school and throughout one's lifetime," Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings said. "Children need access to books in their schools, homes and libraries in order to improve and maintain their reading skills. The books we're donating today in partnership with First Book through its Book Relief initiative will ensure that students in Bay St. Louis, and other communities affected by the hurricanes, have the resources they need to continue reading and learning."

"The Gulf Coast Holiday Book Donation is a wonderful way to bring some joy this holiday season to children who lost so much in last year's hurricanes," said First Book President Kyle Zimmer. "First Book has placed more than 3.5 million new books in the Gulf Coast region since last fall with the help of partners like the Department of Education, but our work is not yet done," Zimmer continued. "We will not leave these communities until we have reached our goal of putting 5 million books back into the hands of children and families and onto the shelves of schools and libraries affected by the storms."

The Gulf Coast Holiday Book Donation by the U.S. Department of Education and First Book is part of First Book's Book Relief program, an unprecedented, publishing industrywide effort to distribute 5 million new books to those affected by the 2005 hurricanes via organizations, schools and libraries. The program will help support those displaced by the hurricanes and replenish books in schools and libraries being rebuilt on the Gulf Coast.

For more information about Hurricane Help for Schools, visit: http://hurricanehelpforschools.gov/

For more information about Book Relief, visit: www.BookRelief.org

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