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U.S. Deputy Secretary of Education Raymond Simon and First Book Senior Vice President Lynda Lancaster today announced the availability of free books through the 2008 Back to School Book Donation. Mark Bounds, deputy state superintendent, and Nancy J. McGinley, Charleston County, S.C., superintendent of schools, joined them for the announcement at Jennie Moore Elementary School, Mt. Pleasant, S.C. The initiative will make available more than 300,000 new Random House books, which will be distributed nationally to schools, libraries and literacy organizations serving low-income youth.

"Reading is the foundation of all academic success," said Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings. "I'm proud that by giving children their own books, this partnership is helping to foster the love of learning in schools and communities across our country."

"There is no better way to transform children into readers than to grant them access to books and the power of book ownership," said First Book President Kyle Zimmer. "We are grateful for the reading heroes at the Department of Education and to our steadfast partner, Random House Children's Books, who have helped bring literally hundreds of thousands of books to children who need them most. That's thousands of children turning millions of pages, and learning the joy of reading one page at a time."

First Book is a national nonprofit organization whose mission is to give children from low-income families the opportunity to read and own their first new books. They provide an ongoing supply of new books to children participating in local mentoring, tutoring, and family literacy programs. Since its creation in 1992, First Book has distributed more than 60 million books to children in over 3,000 communities around the country.

"Reading is a gift that sparks the imagination and opens new doors for children of all ages," said Chip Gibson, president of Random House Children's Books. "Random House is proud to be part of the 2008 Back to School Book donation to help make a lifetime of difference to children in need."

Random House Children's Books is the world's largest English-language children's trade book publisher, creating books for toddlers through young adult readers, in all formats, from board books to activity books to picture books and novels. The company's website, www.randomhouse.com/kids offers an array of materials and activities free of charge for children, teens, parents and educators.

Today's announcement marks the latest phase in the Book Donation Campaign. The Campaign is a multi-year effort of the U.S. Department of Education, First Book and a host of major U.S. book publishing companies to promote literacy and supply books to children in need. Since June 2006, the Department, First Book and major book publishers have collaborated to distribute over 2.9 million children's books to schools, libraries and literacy organizations serving low-income youth across the country.

For more information on the U.S. Department of Education and First Book's book donation campaign, visit: www.ed.gov/about/inits/ed/bookcampaign/index.html

For more information on First Book, visit: www.firstbook.org

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