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Hundreds of Alachua County elementary and middle school students celebrated summer reading and received free books from Disney during an event today with U.S. Secretary of Education Rod Paige and the characters "Belle" and "Pierre" from DisneyHand's Reading Together with Belle tour. The event took place at the Alachua County Boys & Girls Club in Gainesville, Fla.

"Reading is the cornerstone of all learning," Secretary Paige said. "Research shows that students often lose some of their reading skills during the summer break, so it's important to encourage children to keep up those skills. Through this summer reading program, we hope that children will be inspired to read for fun and to make reading a regular part of life."

Alachua County is one of 11 sites throughout the country participating in the No Child Left Behind Summer Reading Achievers Program, which encourages students in grades K-8 to read actively during the summer months. Atlanta Public Schools piloted the program last year, with nearly 18,000 students participating and reading over 150,000 books. First Book and Disney, as well as other national partners, donated books towards the program.

"First Book has a long-standing partnership with the leaders at the U.S. Department of Education, as well as with private-sector leaders like those at the Walt Disney Company," First Book President Kyle Zimmer said. "Through these relationships and others, including Scholastic Inc., Children's Book Group, Random House Children's Books, Harper Collins Children's Books and Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, First Book has the ability to provide new books to children participating in summer reading programs.

"We are pleased to have the opportunity to bring the DisneyHand Reading Together with Belle tour to Gainesville and lend support again this year to the No Child Left Behind Summer Reading Achievers Program," Walt Disney's Kim Piercy said. "This program complements our DisneyHand Reading Together initiative, which aims to help parents and caregivers learn more about reading to children in ways that are both fun and engaging. I am grateful that a portion of the one million books Disney has donated to the First Book National Book Bank will be used to support the reading goals of students here in Alachua County and across the country."

This year's program is at the following sites: Springfield, Mass.; Portsmouth, N.H.; Pittsburgh, Pa.; Camden, N.J.; Atlanta, Ga.; Gainesville, Fla.; Kansas City, Kan.; Minneapolis, Minn.; Albuquerque, N.M.; San Diego, Calif., and the state of South Dakota. The sites were selected based on the presence of supportive community and business groups and active school district leaders who are working to reduce the achievement gap.

To participate in the program, students must read 10 age-appropriate books during the summer months. Students are required to describe briefly the books they have read by completing a simple form. Prizes and certificates will be awarded to successful students and special recognition will be given to schools with the highest percentages of participating students.

Contributing sponsors for the 2004 program include First Book, Target Stores, Scholastic, Inc., USA Football, National PTA, Boys & Girls Clubs of America, Communities in Schools, Inc., Verizon, Barnes and Noble, MeadWestvaco, and Time, Inc. National and local partner organizations will provide other incentives and forms of recognition. In Gainesville, local sponsors Gator Domino's Pizza, Florida Coca-Cola Bottling Company, Starbucks, TDC Entertainment and the University of Florida Athletic Association provided support for this summer reading event.

One of President Bush's first actions after taking office was to promote children's reading achievement because studies show that when children fail to learn to read early in school, every aspect of school success is affected. By providing early diagnosis and help for reading difficulties, Reading First-supported programs help improve student motivation and academic achievement.

Reading First is designed around an extensive knowledge base of the essential skills children must have to learn to read. The program reflects the findings of a congressionally mandated, extensive review of scientifically based research on how students learn to read, which was completed by the National Reading Panel in 2000.

Reading First was passed into law by a bipartisan majority of Congress under the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 and centers on the following priorities: raising the caliber and quality of classroom instruction; basing instruction on scientifically proven methods; providing professional training for educators in reading instruction; and supplying substantial resources to support the unprecedented initiative.

President Bush's FY 2005 budget includes $1.3 billion in reading funding, including $1.1 billion for Reading First, $132 million for Early Reading First and $100 million for the Striving Readers program to meet the president's goal of ensuring that all children can read on grade level by the third grade.

More information about the No Child Left Behind Act is available at www.nochildleftbehind.gov/.

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