Teen Read Week sponsor Hartcourt, Inc. encourages teens to Get Graphic @ your library

Contact: Cindy Welch


312-280-4391

cwelch@ala.org


For Immediate Release


August 2002

Teen Read Week sponsor Hartcourt, Inc. encourages teens to "Get Graphic @ your library™"

The latest corporate sponsor of Teen Read Week is Harcourt, Inc., publisher of quality hardcover and paperback trade books for children and young adults.

"At Harcourt we have a long and proud tradition of publishing the best fiction for young people," said Lori Benton vice president and publisher of the children's books division of Harcourt, Inc. "Our fiction list is small but growing and we have a deep commitment to identifying the best voices who can speak directly to young adults. All of us at Harcourt are thus very pleased to support the Teen Read Week effort."

"Get Graphic @ your library™" is the theme of Teen Read Week 2002, which is celebrated in hundreds of schools, bookstores and libraries across the country October 13-19, 2002. Teens are encouraged to "Read For The Fun Of It," so their reading skills will stay sharp and they will develop a lifelong reading habit.

"YALSA is delighted to once again welcome Harcourt, Inc., as a sponsor of Teen Read Week," said Caryn Sipos, Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) president. "Getting books into the hands of teens is our job, without the publishers we wouldn't have books, without us they wouldn't have readers. With this great cooperation between publishers and libraries the teens win big time!"

Now in its fifth year, Teen Read Week is a nationally recognized literacy initiative of the YALSA, a division of the American Library Association. This initiative is aimed at teens, their parents, librarians, educators, booksellers and other concerned adults. Its goals are:

  • Give teens time to read for the fun of it
  • Allow teens to select their own reading materials
  • Help teens get in the habit of reading regularly and often

In year-round support of this literacy initiative, a special Web site has been developed that allows YALSA to offer booklists, reading research and survey results related to teen reading habits. The Web site can be found at
www.ala.org/teenread.

The corporate sponsorship program invites companies to make donations for the development and promotion of Teen Read Week. Other Teen Read Week corporate sponsors include New Line Cinema and Barnes & Noble, Inc.

Friends include CrossGen Comics, Scholastic, Dark Horse Comics and Pamela Spencer Holley. Nonprofit partners include: American Association of School Administrators, American Booksellers Association, Kidsnet, National Association of Secondary School Principals, National Council of Teachers of English, SmartGirl.org, The N/Noggin, National Education Association, National School Boards Association, Speak Up Press, International Reading Association and
TeenInk.

For more information about Teen Read Week, visit
www.ala.org/teenread or contact the YALSA Office at 1-800-545-2433, ext. 4390, or e-mail
yalsa@ala.org.