diff --git a/adafruit_pyoa.py b/adafruit_pyoa.py
index c456d02..74de231 100755
--- a/adafruit_pyoa.py
+++ b/adafruit_pyoa.py
@@ -227,12 +227,23 @@ def _display_text_for(self, card):
         """
         text = card.get("text", None)
         text_color = card.get("text_color", 0x0)  # default to black
+        text_background_color = card.get("text_background_color", None)
         if text:
             try:
                 text_color = int(text_color)  # parse the JSON string to hex int
             except ValueError:
                 text_color = 0x0
-            self.set_text(text, text_color)
+
+            try:
+                text_background_color = int(
+                    text_background_color
+                )  # parse the JSON string to hex int
+            except ValueError:
+                text_background_color = None
+            except TypeError:
+                text_background_color = None
+
+            self.set_text(text, text_color, background_color=text_background_color)
 
     def _play_sound_for(self, card):
         """If there's a sound, start playing it.
@@ -356,7 +367,7 @@ def play_sound(self, filename, *, wait_to_finish=True, loop=False):
         self._wavfile = None
         self._speaker_enable.value = False
 
-    def set_text(self, text, color):
+    def set_text(self, text, color, background_color=None):
         """Display the test for a card.
 
         :param Union(None,str) text: the text to display
@@ -385,6 +396,8 @@ def set_text(self, text, color):
             self._text.x = text_x
             self._text.y = text_y
             self._text.color = color
+            if background_color:
+                self._text.background_color = background_color
             self._text_group.append(self._text)
 
     def set_background(self, filename, *, with_fade=True):
diff --git a/examples/cyoa/cyoa.json b/examples/cyoa/cyoa.json
index cec013c..ee8d0a3 100755
--- a/examples/cyoa/cyoa.json
+++ b/examples/cyoa/cyoa.json
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@
     "background_image": "page01.bmp",
     "text": "You do not have any friends so you decide that it might be a good idea to build a robot friend. You're unsure if you want to do this, so now is the time to decide. Do you want to build a robot friend?",
     "text_color": "0x000001",
+    "text_background_color": "0xeeeeee",
     "sound": "sound_01.wav",
     "button01_text": "Yes",
     "button01_goto_card_id": "continue?",