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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 26, 2002

News Release

Television Stars to Co-Chair 2003 Literacy Event

Ming-Na and Esai Morales to Lead NEA's Read Across America

Washington, D.C. - What happens when a police detective, a doctor, and a very special Cat get together? The sixth annual National Education Association's (NEA) Read Across America, that's what!

The year-long reading extravaganza that culminates on - or near - the birthday of the late great Dr. Seuss will be headlined in 2003 by Ming-Na (better known as Dr. Chen on NBC's ER and the voice of Mulan in the Disney classic of the same name and Esai Morales (Lt. Tony Rodriguez on ABC's NYPD Blue). The two will be joined by the ubiquitous Cat in the Hat, a Read Across America star for the past six years.

Together the three will lead what has become the largest one-day literacy celebration in the U.S. The 2002 event, headlined by Garth Brooks, attracted more than 45 million participants in all 50 states as well as well as in a number of Department of Defense schools in Germany and Japan.

NEA President Bob Chase said: " We're pleased as punch to have two rising stars willing to take the time and spend the energy to promote reading. They can speak firsthand of the importance of the written word to their careers and will, no doubt, have a great influence on making NEA's Read Across America '03 the most successful ever."

Ming-Na, who moved to New York City from China when she was four, says her first love is the theater, but she's been equally at home on both the large and small screens in such productions as The Joy Luck Club, The Single Guy, and of course, as the plucky Dr. Chen on the award-winning ER.

Ming-Na can't imagine a world without books: "They are my refuge, my escape." In her role as co-chair of NEA's Read Across America, she says: " I want to convince young people of the importance - and sustained joy - that reading can bring to anyone's life. It's a life-lesson that I'm thrilled to be able to share."

Morales, no stranger to the NEA reading event, recorded public service announcements in both English and Spanish for the 2002 celebration and was featured in a Read Across America poster that was distributed by the American Library Association as well as the NEA. He says he welcomes the opportunity to spread the word about the importance of literacy: "Young people need to know that reading is the key to their future. Not to be able to read limits where you can go, and deprives you of the fun - and friends - that books can bring. Reading exercises the mind of the reader ...and it's the cheapest form of travel!"

As a child Morales enjoyed reading as well as being read to. Among his favorites: the "Curious George" series, books by Dr. Seuss, and "The Good Earth," by Pearl Buck. "Later," he says, "I graduated to Isabel Allende's "The House of the Spirits," and Gabriel Garcia Marquez's "100 Years of Solitude." Today when he isn't reading television scripts for NYPD Blue, PBS's American Family, or Showtimes' Resurrection Blvd., he favors biographies. His most recent subjects: Paul Robeson and Simon Bolivar.

A member of the board of directors of the Screen Actors Guild Foundation, which is a Read Across America partner, the Brooklyn-born Morales was one of the founders of the Hispanic Arts Foundation.

As honorary co-chairs of NEA's Read Across America 2003, Morales and Ming-Na will be featured in radio, television, and print public service announcements and will serve as official spokespersons for the event.

Started in 1998 as a way to promote reading while celebrating Dr. Seuss's birthday on March 2, NEA's Read Across America has become a national tradition over the past five years. Today more than 40 national partners including PBS, Saturn, Random House Children's Books, Youth Service America, Boys and Girls Clubs of America, the NAACP, the Urban League, the Organization of Chinese Americans, and LaRaza are players in the national literacy effort.

In 2003, NEA's Read Across America will be celebrated on March 3 since Theodor Geisel's (Dr. Seuss) birthday - March 2 - falls on a Sunday.

For more information about NEA's Read Across America, log on to www.nea.org/readacross.

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The National Education Association is the nation’s largest professional employee organization, representing 2.7 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty, education support professionals, school administrators, retired educators, and students preparing to become teachers.