Just a few quick examples that might be helpful for those who are joining in ...

• One APPLE Partnership program encourages older siblings to read to younger ones. For every book read, they receive a chance to win a computer. PBS&J awards a computer to the school whose students read the most books. 

• Barnes & Noble supports local and national requests from nonprofit organizations that focus on literacy, the arts, or education for children, pre-K to grade 12. It also considers sponsor opportunities that focus its business on higher learning. Its summer reading program puts more than one million books in the hands of children every year. 

• FedEx, which supports several education programs, has pledged more than $1 million to assist Junior Achievement Worldwide, which is the world’s largest organization dedicated to educating students about workforce readiness, entrepreneurship and financial literacy through experiential, hands-on programs. 

• Wal-Mart, which has initiated several literacy programs over the years, and the Wal-Mart Foundation, which continues to support high school success, access and retention of first generation college students, and adolescent literacy.

• UNESCO will be hosting a day-long event at its headquarters in Paris. It will include an International Literacy Day Message by Koïchiro Matsuura, director-general of UNESCO, and an address by Laura Bush, honorary ambassador for the UN Literacy Decade.