SCHOLASTIC ANNOUNCES ANNUAL SUMMER READING CAMPAIGN

Free Digital Experience for Kids on Scholastic Home Base, a Donation of 100,000 Books in Partnership with Save the Children and New Retail Promotions

NEW YORK, June 3, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- According to data from the Kids & Family Reading Report ™: 7^th Edition, 74 percent of kids agree that reading fiction and nonfiction helps them understand the world and additional research has displayed the academic benefits of summer reading to be substantial. To provide kids with access to books and stories that will support both academic and personal growth during the summer months, now through August 19^th, kids can participate in the Scholastic Summer Reading program. The program is hosted on the fun, free and fully-moderated Scholastic Home Base, inviting kids to discover new favorite titles, join a community of readers, attend virtual author events, and help unlock a donation of 100,000 Scholastic books that will be distributed to children across rural America by nonprofit Save the Children.

To learn more about the Scholastic Summer Reading program, visit: www.scholastic.com/summer

To participate in the Scholastic Summer Reading program, kids will create an account on Scholastic Home Base, where they can:

• Read free e-books and enjoy author read-aloud videos. Kids will have access to select e-books in their entirety, which they can read all summer long. Titles include favorite series such as Goosebumps, Puppy Place, and I Survived. In addition, kids can also enjoy a variety of read-aloud videos including The Word Collector and Train.
• Attend virtual author events. Kids will be able to interact directly with bestselling and award-winning authors every month, including Scholastic summer reading ambassadors Claribel Ortega (Witchlings, Ghost Squad), Justin A. Reynolds (It's the End of the World and I'm in My Bathing Suit, Miles Morales graphic novel series), Christina Soontornvat (Diary of an Ice Princess series), and R.L. Stein (Goosebumps series). Each event includes a moderated chat function to encourage questions to the author as well as behind-the-scenes information, and sometimes kids even write a short piece with the authors. 
• Help unlock a donation of 100,000 books. Every consecutive day a child checks into the Summer Zone, creates a Reading Streak™, which will help to unlock a donation of new, free print books from Scholastic. Save the Children will distribute the 100,000 books to kids in rural communities throughout the country with limited or no access to books.
• Earn reading milestones and rewards. Over the course of the summer, kids will have the ability to earn trophies, virtual items, and in-game tokens for their Reading Streak progress. Throughout each achievement level, kids will collect new virtual rewards and accessories for their digital avatar.
• Join a community of readers and create reading circles. Kids can interact with friends and make new companions along the way. The Summer Zone in Home Base provides kids with a social platform centered around reading: book-based games and activities, dance parties, and more. Kids can join and name their own "circles" to track group reading progress connected to the overall book donation, start community conversations, and write and share their own stories, comics, and art, all in their special group Newsfeed. 
• Share reading progress. At any point throughout the summer, kids can download and print custom reports to share their individual reading progress with their caregiver and/or educator. 

In addition, as part of the summer reading efforts, the Company has partnered with 2,500 retail locations across the country to offer special discounted editions of the first title in select chapter books and middle grade series. The Scholastic Series Summer Reading Promotion features an assortment of 12 kid-favorite series, including New York Times bestsellers Dragon Masters, I Survived, and The Baby-sitters Club.

"At Scholastic, we know the importance of keeping children reading through the summer. We also know that series books in particular have the power to create consistent and healthy reading habits in kids," said Ellie Berger, Executive Vice President and President, Trade Publishing, Scholastic. "We're committed to increasing access to books that will create life-long readers in a variety of ways: through our long-standing partnership with Save the Children, through our value-priced editions that can be found at retail and on our very own digital destination for kids, Scholastic Home Base."

"Children can accelerate learning when they read regularly over the summer. But nearly two out of three low-income kids don't have any books in their homes," said Betsy Zorio, Vice President of U.S. Programs for Save the Children. "Thanks to Scholastic and its summer reading campaign, Save the Children will be able to give books to young readers who need them most, sparking the joy of reading across rural America this summer."

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SOURCE Scholastic