ANDREWS AIR FORCE BASE, Md., May 18, 2007 - Bookselling giant Barnes and Noble opened a new chapter in its history today by announcing a donation of 300,000 items to America Supports You home-front groups.

“It’s such an honor for Barnes and Noble to provide books, games, and toys to members of the military community as a way to say thank you for all their services,” Marie Toulantis, chief executive officer of BarnesandNoble.com, said at a news conference during the Joint Services Open House here. “We’re very thankful to … all those involved in the America Supports You program for helping us get our gift to military members.”

The donation totaled $3.4 million and has benefited nine America Supports You home-front groups and military-affiliated nonprofit organizations.

America Supports You is a Defense Department program connecting citizens and corporations with military personnel and their families serving at home and abroad.

The journey that actually moved about 22 tractor-trailer loads of goods from Barnes and Noble to the various groups wouldn’t have happened without the network America Supports You has established, said Allison Barber, deputy assistant secretary of defense for internal communication and public liaison, the architect of the America Supports You program...

The New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-NY) today expressed concern about an apparent attempt to block a reading by a Palestinian author at a bookstore in that state.

CAIR-NY has contacted Barnes & Noble about this issue. A news release issued today by the author’s agent stated:

“The previously announced book reading and signing of THE SCAR OF DAVID by Susan Abulhawa originally scheduled for Thursday, May 24, 2007, at 7:30 p.m. at the Bayside, N.Y., Barnes & Noble has been reduced to a "book signing" with no reading to occur.

“In explaining its reasoning, Barnes & Noble expressed several concerns including ‘sensitivity’ to the Jewish Community, space limitations of the store and the author's safety. Prior to the event at Barnes & Noble, Ms. Abulhawa is also expected to appear at Kingsboro Community College (Brooklyn - 4:15-5PM) where THE SCAR OF DAVID was required reading in a literature course this semester.

“The Scar of David is a work of historic fiction which reveals the untold brutal history of Israel's Occupation of a nation as also depicted by the recently released PALESTINE, Peace Not Apartheid by former USA President Jimmy Carter. Set in the lap of one of the 20th century’s most intractable political conflicts, through the course of this story, a Palestinian boy grows up as a Jewish Israeli, tangled in a truth he cannot reconcile, a would-be suicide bomber is given a name, a face, and life of a man pushed to grave limits, an Arab girl of pious and humble beginnings lives the 'American Dream,' and a nation of destitute refugees is forced to live under the general label of 'terrorists.'...