KNOXVILLE, Tenn., June 12, 2008 – The 2008 Kids and Family Reading Report discovered that the top reason children do not read more frequently is because they have trouble finding enjoyable books. Recognizing this, Abunga.com, the family-friendly online bookstore, offers a variety of book categories for children to browse, including juvenile fiction and non-fiction, in a safer shopping environment.

Among many findings, the report conducted by Yankelovich and Scholastic showed that 89 percent of children say their favorite books are the ones they picked out themselves.

“These findings show that children want to play an active role in choosing the books they read, but with the abundance of offensive content on the Web, it can be dangerous to let kids surf the Internet,” said Abunga.com Chairman Lee Martin. “That’s why, unlike other leading online booksellers, Abunga.com chooses not to sell pornographic and illicit materials, offering a Web site that parents can feel safe about letting their children browse.”

Abunga.com was established because some of the most popular online bookstores are among the leading suppliers of pornographic materials. In a recent survey of 500 people conducted by MARC USA Research, 74 percent of responders said they were unaware of the availability of porn and other illicit materials through large online booksellers.

“Many parents are oblivious to the fact that letting children explore large online bookstores places kids one search term away from adult material,” Martin said.

For this reason, Abunga.com automatically filters its more than 1.6 million book titles through a pre-determined inventory system to remove publisher-classified pornographic and illicit materials.

Recognizing the definition of “family-friendly” is subjective and that not all books are properly classified by publishers, Abunga.com also allows its community members the option to block books they feel do not align with their family’s values from their personal profiles. If site administrators see that a large group of consumers have blocked a particular selection from their profiles, Abunga.com will eliminate the book from the overall site.

Abunga.com is an online bookstore founded to provide families a protected shopping environment. Headquartered in Knoxville, Tenn., Abunga.com offers safety with family-friendly products, savings through distributor-direct prices and support to nonprofit organizations by donating 5 percent of each transaction to a customer-selected charity. For more information, visit www.Abunga.com.

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