Disney To Host “Disneyhand Reading Together With Belle”

Burbank, Calif, June 2, 2003 – As part of its ongoing “Reading Together” initiative, The Walt Disney Company and its affiliates will present “DisneyHand Reading Together with Belle” in 12 cities this June to kick off the summer reading season. The tour will feature interactive readings performed by Belle from Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast.” In each city, Disney will present two shows, one morning and one afternoon, at which children ages 6-to-8-years-old will be present.

The schedule is as follows:

    • o June 3 – Glendale, Calif.
    • o June 6 – Burbank, Calif.
    • o June 9 – San Francisco
    • o June 11 – Denver
    • o June 13 – Chicago
    • o June 16 – Minneapolis
    • o June 18 – Atlanta
    • o June 20 – Houston
    • o June 23 – Northern Virginia
    • o June 25 – Pittsburgh
    • o June 27 – Des Moines
    • o June 30 – Dallas

DisneyHand will work with ABC-TV, Radio Disney, Toon Disney and Bank One in several locations to present the program.

Disney’s “Reading Together” program is an initiative aimed at supporting parents and caregivers in reading with their children and is administered by DisneyHand, the worldwide outreach program for The Walt Disney Company. As part of the “Reading Together” program, Disney Publishing is donating one million books to First Book, a national nonprofit organization with a single mission: to give children from low-income families the opportunity to read and own their first new books. Further, last fall, Radio Disney introduced “Reading Together with Laura Bush,” which features celebrity readings and reading tips helpful to both children and parents. “Reading Together” is also a primary component of ABC Cable Network Group’s “Learning Together” campaign, designed to encourage family involvement in a child’s learning process.

DisneyHand is dedicated to making the dreams of families and children a reality through focused public service initiatives, community outreach and volunteerism in areas such as learning, compassion, the arts and the environment. The Walt Disney Company, together with its subsidiaries and affiliates, is a diversified, international family entertainment and media enterprise which includes Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, The Walt Disney Studios, ABC, Inc., ESPN, Disney Channel, Disney Stores, television and radio stations and Internet web sites. For more information on Disney’s corporate public service efforts and for a list of “Reading Together” tips, please visit our Web site at www.disneyhand.com.