New York, NY (August 15, 2002) -- To help families and classrooms observe the first anniversary of 9/11, Scholastic Inc., the global children's publishing and media company, will offer unique content and comprehensive support including age-appropriate news and information, books, and guidance from leading experts on talking with children about the tragedies one year later. Divisions in the company's New York worldwide headquarters and across the country have collaborated to address the needs of kids, parents, and teachers, who will be able to access the information easily and at no charge online at www.scholastic.com/911, a special web site "9/11/2001: The Day that Changed America" launching August 29th.

In addition, new book releases from Scholastic will help children, teachers and parents to understand the events of 9/11 and share their pride in America. These include A Nation Challenged, a moving portrait of September 11, 2001, and its aftermath published in partnership with The New York Times and produced by Callaway Editions as a Young Reader's Edition of the adult book by the same title; The Declaration of Independence, a hand-lettered inscription of the complete text, illustrated and inscribed by 86-year-old Sam Fink; and September 12th: We Knew Everything Would Be All Right, a poignant book about finding comfort in everyday routines written by 1st graders at H. Byron Masterson Elementary School in Kennett, MO, and winner of the America Remembers Award in Scholastic Book Fairs' Kids Are Authors®, student-writing competition. September 12th is available through Scholastic Book Fairs, and at book stores nationwide.

"On the days after 9/11, the importance of reading and understanding was made very clear to us by the teachers, parents and kids who are our audience. Throughout the year, they have turned to us for continued support. The first anniversary of September 11th will be filled with reflection and emotion," said Dick Robinson, Scholastic's Chairman, President and CEO. "Scholastic will provide a range of resources that emphasize the nation's resiliency and rebuilding, and help parents, educators, and children to observe the day in the way that feels most appropriate to them. Adults and children will be able to use magazines, books, and the web site's resources to understand 9/11 and its aftermath, one year after these tragic events dramatically affected us all."

The web site, www.scholastic.com/911, has been produced by several divisions including the Scholastic Internet Group, Classroom Magazines, Consumer and Professional Magazines, Trade Books, Book Fairs, Book Clubs, Scholastic Education, and the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. Designed to serve all three audiences of children, parents and teachers in a sensitive, age-appropriate manner and to provide numerous starting points for constructive discussion, the site will include:

• A special news report for kids - Kids' source for age-appropriate news on the anniversary and the continuing war on terrorism created by the editors at Scholastic Classroom Magazines and ScholasticNews.com. Coverage will be comprehensive and ongoing, with stories on how the anniversary is being observed across the country; how kids nationwide have made a difference, galvanized by the tragedies to help and reach out to others; how the victims' families and rescuers are doing today; the rebuilding of the Pentagon as seen through the eyes of a student reporter; efforts to keep the U.S. safe from further attacks; and life today for Muslim-American teens, revisiting a group of teens in Boston who were interviewed just after 9/11. For additional information, the news report links to other ScholasticNews.com in-depth coverage of Kids in Afghanistan and Iraq.
  
  The report also includes interactive features including "Hall of Heroes," which invites kids to nominate a hero, and "Design the Future," which gives them the opportunity to develop their own proposals for the World Trade Center site.
  
  
• Guidance for parents from the experts at Scholastic Parent & Child® Magazine and Scholastic.com on helping children cope with feelings and emotions stirred up by the first anniversary. Experts include: Dr. Bruce Perry, internationally recognized child trauma expert, and consultant on Columbine and the Oklahoma City bombings; Dr. Adele Brodkin, senior child development consultant for Scholastic and clinical associate professor of child and adolescent psychiatry at New Jersey Medical School; Dr. Alice Honig, Professor Emerita of Child Development at Syracuse University; and Dr. Stanley I. Greenspan, world-renowned for his unique research and clinical work in child development, a practicing child psychiatrist and Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Behavioral Science, and Pediatrics at George Washington University Medical School. Dr. Greenspan is also the author of the new book The Secure Child: Helping Children Feel Safe and Confident in an Insecure World. In addition, parents will be able to submit specific questions to Scholastic experts via e-mail.
  
  
• Grade-specific professional guidance for teachers from Instructor®, Magazine, the largest teacher publication reaching 1.3 million teachers. Instructor will offer expert advice from Dr. Bruce Perry, as well as features drawn from the magazine's September issue that suggest books on 9/11 appropriate for classroom use. Also in this section, teachers will find resources on teaching about tolerance and diversity, lesson plans, reproducibles, activities, and links to in-depth news reports on Afghanistan and Iraq to support classroom instruction.

Scholastic will also provide support to teachers, parents and children offline through a variety of initiatives, including:

• Scholastic Classroom Magazines' first issues of the school year will include age-appropriate news coverage of the anniversary and the continuing war on terrorism. Coverage will appear in curriculum-based news magazines Scholastic News®, for grades 2-6, Junior Scholastic® for middle school students, and The New York Times UPFRONT® (co-published with The New York Times) for high school students, as well as in reading/language arts publications Scholastic Action®, Scholastic Scope®, and Literary Cavalcade, and consumer/life sciences magazine Choices®.
  
  
• At its Fairs nationwide, Scholastic Book Fairs will showcase America Remembers, an assortment of titles on American history, patriotism, peace, and understanding to commemorate the anniversary of 9/11. This display will also feature the Kids Are Authors America Remembers Award-winning title September 12th: We Knew Everything Would Be All Right, written by 1st grade students from Kennett, MO.
  
  
• Scholastic Book Clubs will provide a special fall "Read For Life" catalogue to more than 300,000 classrooms nationwide this October, featuring book selections on American history, diversity, patriotism, community, and understanding feelings. Ten percent of the proceeds from every "Read For Life" order will be donated by Scholastic to Save the Children's campaigns helping America's poorest children.
  
  
• Scholastic Library Publishing's Children's Press division is offering September 11, 2001, a new addition to its Cornerstones of Freedom series on events in American history for students in grades 4-6, to serve school and public libraries.
  
  
• ARTifacts: Kids Respond to a World in Crisis, an exhibit of art and writing created by New York City students following 9/11 and curated by The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, is on display throughout the end of the year at the Gallery at 180 Maiden Lane in New York City. This memorial exhibit is jointly presented with The Center for Arts Education and is the first to appear at the gallery since it closed after 9/11. In addition, a limited exhibit of ARTifacts will be on display at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C. throughout the month of September as part of "Concert For America," a tribute musical and performing arts special being presented by The President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, the John F. Kennedy Center, NBC and hosted by the First Lady Laura Bush. The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards are the oldest and most prestigious student scholarship program in the nation.
  

About Scholastic Scholastic
(NMS: SCHL) is the world's largest publisher and distributor of children's books. As a global children's publishing and media company serving the needs of parents, teachers, and children, Scholastic provides proprietary book and software distribution through school book clubs, school book fairs and to classrooms, as well as through the retail trade. Since 1920, Scholastic has created quality educational materials for schools and has expanded its reach to include the distribution of books, software, toys, online learning services and television programming directly to the home. Scholastic is the leading print and online publisher of children's reference materials and the leader in children's direct-to-home book clubs. Internationally, Scholastic operates wholly owned companies in Argentina, Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, The Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and the United Kingdom. The U.S. Scholastic web site http://www.scholastic.com is a leading provider of educational services online for parents, teachers and children.

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