Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Participates in OfficeMax Cause Program to Support Teachers

NAPERVILLE, Ill., March 25 /PRNewswire/ -- OfficeMax® (NYSE: OMX), a leader in office products and services, and Simon & Schuster's Children's Publishing will make some lucky teachers' days this year by surprising them with classroom supplies and a visit from a popular children's book author. On behalf of OfficeMax's "A Day Made Better" cause, the companies plan to surprise extraordinary teachers at Title 1 schools with more than $1,000 in school supplies presented by local OfficeMax associates and accomplished children's literary authors. Simon & Schuster first participated in the cause in October 2009 and has selected to expand its involvement in 2010 to call attention to the issue of teacher-funded classrooms and encourage support for teachers nationwide.

"We're pleased to have the support of Simon & Schuster's Children's Publishing to help raise awareness and generate widespread support for teachers nationwide," said Bob Thacker, senior vice president of marketing and advertising for OfficeMax. "We are deeply committed to supporting teachers and their classrooms and are excited to include renowned children's authors in our classroom surprises."

Simon & Schuster's 2009 participating authors included Mac Barnett, author of The Brixton Brothers series, Sarah Rees Brennan, author of The Demon's Lexicon trilogy, Jon Scieszka, author of the SPHDZ and Trucktown series, and Scott Westerfeld, author of Leviathan. Expanding participation in 2010, Simon & Schuster children's authors will join OfficeMax throughout the year to surprise a teacher during their ongoing book tours and donate copies of their latest book to the classroom receiving the "A Day Made Better" award.

"It's an honor to be working with OfficeMax to support its 'A Day Made Better' cause and enable our children's authors to give back to teachers and their communities," said Paul Crichton, director of publicity, Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing. "We look forward to helping generate support for teachers and reward them for their incredible contributions in the classroom."

"A Day Made Better" was founded by OfficeMax in response to the fact that teachers are now spending on average $1000 out-of-pocket annually on classroom supplies to offset budget shortfalls. This figure was first cited by a National Education Association survey in 2005 and confirmed by an OfficeMax survey of teachers in June 2009. Since 2007, OfficeMax has presented over 3,500 teachers with a year's supply of classroom materials on behalf of "A Day Made Better" to honor teachers for demonstrating passion, dedication and innovation in the classroom and create awareness of teacher out-of-pocket spending. As a result, OfficeMax has helped garner donations for more than 10,000 classrooms through OfficeMax's nonprofit partner, Adopt-A-Classroom.

To learn more about "A Day Made Better," please visit ADayMadeBetter.com. To donate to the cause, please visit AdoptAClassroom.org.

About OfficeMax

OfficeMax Incorporated (NYSE: OMX) is a leader in both business-to-business office products solutions and retail office equipment. The OfficeMax mission is simple. We help our customers do their best work. The company provides office supplies and paper , in-store print and document services through OfficeMax ImPress®, technology products and solutions, and office furniture to consumers and to large, medium and small businesses. OfficeMax customers are served by more than 30,000 associates through direct sales, catalogs, e-commerce and more than 1,000 stores. For more information, visit OfficeMax.com.

About Simon & Schuster

Simon & Schuster, a part of the CBS Corporation, is a global leader in the field of general interest publishing, dedicated to providing the best in fiction and nonfiction for consumers of all ages, across all printed, electronic, and audio formats.  Its divisions include Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing, Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, Simon & Schuster Audio, Simon & Schuster Digital, and international companies in Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom.  For more information, visit our website at www.simonandschuster.com.

SOURCE OfficeMax

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