Visa Launches Read Me a Story Website

Posted on October 30, 1997

A virtual storybook and fun reading games galore can now be accessed online for free on the new "Read Me a Story" website. The site is the online counterpart/supplement to Visa U.S.A.'s "Read Me a Story" program. The site uses Shockwave software and Live! sound technology to offer online reading games and full audio stories.

The Visa "Read Me a Story" program is a national campaign designed to help address America's reading crisis and help children learn to read. The program will run from November 1 through December 31 and benefit Reading Is Fundamental (RIF), the nation's largest and oldest children's literacy organization, with a guaranteed $1 million minimum contribution, based on Visa card transactions from November 1 through December 31, 1997. At least 4,000 participating RIF sites around the country will benefit from the donation.

"Read Me a Story" is appropriate for all ages, with its reading resources, performance tours and celebrity appearances. The Visa "Read Me a Story" website, however, is targeted towards parents and caring adults who can influence the reading habits of our nation's children. This year, when these adults make their way to the website, they will find a complete online version of America's first Reading Checkup Guide. The guide, developed in cooperation with RIF and reviewed and endorsed by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), can be read in its entirety on the site or downloaded, and is a useful new tool to help in assessment of reading skills and growth requirements of young readers.

Note: The site is no longer online.