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Dear 'DIARY': 'WIMPY KID' Premiere Goes to Fairfax County, Va. Elementary School

The premiere event is being held in conjunction with the National Education Association's (NEA) "Read Across America" program, which focuses on motivating children and teens to read through events, partnerships, and reading resources; the NEA has designated March as National Reading Month. NEA also sponsored the contest, along with 20th Century Fox, School Library Journal, and publisher Harry N. Abrams Inc. The School Library Journal hosted and facilitated the promotion, and Promethean, a leading provider of interactive learning technology, is presenting the school with an ActivClassroom, which includes an ActivBoard, a set (32) ActivExpressions, ActivSlate and ActivSound.

Fox releases DIARY OF A WIMPY KID everywhere this Friday (March 19).

Kinney will attend the premiere, along with Zachary Gordon, who nabbed the part of Greg Heffley - the Wimpy Kid - after a nationwide casting search, and Robert Capron, who portrays Greg's best pal, Rowley.

The Riverside Elementary safety patrol will have special "security" duties on the red carpet. Also providing key assistance is WRES-TV, where some Riverside pupils - and budding news anchors - serve as part of the morning news team. For more information on Riverside Elementary, please visit: http://www.fcps.edu/RiversideES/.

From its origins as a series of online cartoons, Diary of a Wimpy Kid exploded onto the pop culture scene when Jeff Kinney's first "novel in cartoons" was published in 2007. Diary of a Wimpy Kid spent almost three years on The New York Times' children's best-seller list, and was translated into 33 languages. The book captured the imaginations of an army of formerly "reluctant readers," and launched countless video reviews, social networking fan groups, and parties celebrating the release of each new Wimpy Kid book.

Since 1857, the National Education Association (NEA) has crusaded for the rights of educators and children. The NEA's mission is to advocate for education professionals and to unite its members and the nation to fulfill the promise of public education to prepare every student to succeed in a diverse and interdependent world.

School Library Journal, is the leading print magazine, and now SLJ.com, serving librarians who work with young people in schools and public libraries. The two resources give librarians up-to-date information needed to integrate libraries into the school curriculum, become leaders in the areas of technology, reading, and information literacy, and create high-quality collections for children and young adults.

Promethean's aim is to unlock the potential of human achievement in education and training at all ages around the world. It does so by creating, developing, supplying and supporting leading edge, interactive learning technology and by encouraging the growth of the world's largest online teacher community in this field. In these ways, Promethean is helping bring to life the promise of 21st century learning, improving engagement and results for learners and teachers alike.

ABRAMS was the first company in the United States to specialize in the creation and distribution of art and illustrated books. It recently published Jeff Kinney's The Wimpy Kid Movie Diary, which chronicles how the book was adapted into a major motion picture. Abrams' Amulet Books imprint, which releases the Wimpy Kid books, was created in 2004 to specialize in books for middle grade and young adult readers.

About Fox Filmed Entertainment

One of the world's largest producers and distributors of motion pictures, Fox Filmed Entertainment produces, acquires and distributes motion pictures throughout the world. These motion pictures are produced or acquired by the following units of FFE: Twentieth Century Fox, Fox 2000 Pictures, Fox Searchlight Pictures and Twentieth Century Fox Animation.

Twentieth Century Fox
Sue Warde, 212.556.8613
sue.warde@fox.com
or
Julia Perry, 212.556.8622
julia.perry@fox.com
or
Leslie Cox, 202.742.8743
lcox@alliedim.com