Pizza Hut(R) BOOK IT! (R) Donates 100,000 Books to Hurricane-Affected Gulf Coast on National Young Reader's Day

With the help of 11,546 classrooms across the U.S., the PizzaHut(R) BOOK IT! (R) Program is donating 100,000 books to childrenaffected by Hurricane Katrina. This donation marks the fifteen-yearanniversary of National Young Reader's Day, celebrated today.

From Sept. 19 - 30, BOOK IT! challenged teachers in schools acrossthe country to read aloud up to an extra hour to their students, andin return, BOOK IT! would donate a book for every extra minute read,up to 100,000 books.

"Research has proven that reading aloud to kids is the single mostimportant factor in raising a reader," said Leslie Tubbs, director ofthe BOOK IT! National Reading Incentive Program. "It's important forus to celebrate National Young Reader's Day this year knowing that weare helping to put books back into the Gulf Coast children's hands sothey can once again experience the joy of reading with theirfamilies."

National Young Reader's Day, established 15 years ago by theLibrary of Congress Center for the Book and the Pizza Hut(R) BOOK IT!(R) National Reading Incentive Program, is an annual reminder of thebenefits and rewards of reading, with the mission of encouragingparents across the country to take time to experience the fun andpleasure of reading aloud as a family.

The 100,000 books will be distributed through First Book, anational non-profit organization that gives children in need theopportunity to read and own their first new books. The donation willbe sent to the Gulf Coast region where more than 370,000 children weredisplaced and 600 schools were destroyed.

"We were overwhelmed with the participation from the thousands ofelementary schools that took on the challenge to donate books to otherkids by reading extra minutes in their classrooms," said Tubbs. "Thiswas an opportunity for our BOOK IT! readers to help us make booksavailable to kids Pizza Hut National Young Readers Day who may nothave any or may have lost their favorite library selections in theaftermath of the storm. These BOOK IT! kids were more than up to thechallenge and eager to help others in need."

In addition to donating 100,000 books, and in celebration ofNational Young Reader's Day, thousands of schools nationwide will hostlocal reading role model "celebrities" - such as local officials,sports figures, public safety officers and other guests from thepublic and private sector - to read aloud a favorite children's bookto students.

Founded in 1985 by Pizza Hut, the BOOK IT! Program is the largestreading incentive program in America, with more than 22 millionstudents in 900,000 elementary classrooms participating. BOOK IT!rewards students with praise, recognition and Pizza Hut(R) pizza fortheir reading accomplishments.

About BOOK IT! (R)

The BOOK IT! Program is a reading incentive program created byPizza Hut in 1985. The program is available to public, private andparochial elementary schools at no cost. More than 22 millionchildren, in more than 900,000 classrooms, currently enroll in thesix-month program each school year. For more information about BOOKIT!, call 1-800-4-BOOKIT or visit www.bookitprogram.com.

About Pizza Hut

Pizza Hut Inc., a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc. (NYSE: YUM), isthe world's largest pizza restaurant company with almost 6,600 unitsin the United States and more than 4,000 units in 100 other countries.The company is the recognized leader in the $37 billion pizzacategory. Those hungry for more information can go to the officialPizza Hut web site at www.pizzahut.com

About First Book

First Book is a national nonprofit organization that hasdistributed more than 35 million new books to children in need inthousands of communities nationwide. In neighborhoods across thecountry, First Book unites leaders from all sectors of the communityto identify the most effective community-based literacy programs andprovide them with grants of free books and educational materials. Inresponse to the terrible devastation of Hurricanes Katrina, First Bookrecently launched Book Relief, an unparalleled, publishingindustry-wide program to place at least five million books into thehands of those displaced by hurricanes, as well as into the schools,libraries, and literacy programs in the devastated areas as they arerebuilt. To learn more about First Book, please visitwww.FirstBook.org.