Starbucks Teams With Oprah To Sell Books -- Stores' Proceeds To Go To Literacy Programs

Don't bother bringing your own book for a leisurely read at Starbucks next month.

The Seattle-based coffee retailer has teamed up with talk-show host Oprah Winfrey to sell some of its own to support literacy programs nationwide.

Starbucks stores in the United States will begin selling the monthly Oprah Book Club selection in June. Proceeds will be funneled into literacy programs through the Starbucks Foundation, started this year with a donation of $500,000 from Starbucks Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Howard Schultz.

With the Oprah Book Club partnership, "we really have an opportunity . . . in a grassroots way to influence people's lives," Schultz said.

The Foundation has not yet named recipients, but Schultz said he hopes to contribute to local organizations, such as Seattle's Goodwill Community Learning Center, rather than larger national literacy groups.

The books will cost $12 to $20, depending on publishers' prices.

Since Winfrey began her book club in September, her selections of personal favorites such as "Song of Solomon," by Nobel-prize winning author Toni Morrison, have consistently become bestsellers.

Proceeds from Schultz's own "Pour Your Heart Into It: How Starbucks Built a Company One Cup at a Time," to be released in September, will also go to literacy programs through the Starbucks Foundation.

Starbucks' deal is the only such partnership with Oprah's Book Club, Schultz said. The coffee retailer first approached Oprah's company in December about the program.