(EMAILWIRE.COM, January 09, 2001 ) -- There are 90 million people in the United States whose limited reading, writing and computation skills relegate them to low earnings and limited opportunities. They are considered to be functionally illiterate.

Mitch Albom, author of "Tuesdays with Morrie," joins the fight for literacy with Country Inns & Suites By Carlson. Together, Albom and Country Inns & Suites launch the Book It And Return library program, which benefits Laubach Literacy, the world's oldest and largest nonprofit educational literacy organization.

Book It And Return, a one-of-a-kind program, encourages guests to borrow a book from one of Country Inns & Suites hotel libraries, read it and then return it to any Country Inns & Suites North American property.

For every book returned, $5.00 will be donated to Laubach Literacy.

Did you know?

* Worldwide, one out of every four adults is functionally illiterate.(1)
* More than 20 percent of adults read at or below a 5th grade level, far below the level needed to earn a living wage. (2)
* Approximately 20 percent of American adults do not have a high school diploma. (3)
* Children who have not already developed some basic literacy practices when they enter school are three to four times more likely to drop out in later years.(2)
* A child who grows up in a home with at least one illiterate is twice as likely to become an illiterate. (1)
(See footnotes below)

(1) Laubach Literacy Statistics
(2) National Adult Literacy Survey, 1993
(3) U.S. Census, 1990

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Produced for Country Inns & Suites By Carlson

CONTACT:
Julie Atkins, 612-375-8506

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