“The 39 Clues Book 10: Into the Gauntlet” by Margaret Peterson Haddix
to be Released Worldwide on August 31, 2010

NEW YORK, NY (July 23, 2010) – Scholastic (NASDAQ: SCHL), the global children’s publishing, education and media company, today launched a massive marketing campaign for The 39 Clues®, the bestselling multi-media adventure series that combines books, collectible cards, and an online game. The “Access Granted” 39-Day Countdown campaign, leading up to the release of the 10th and final book in the groundbreaking series, will include a live global webcast event featuring all bestselling authors in the series, television and online advertising, and a multi-author blog tour. The final book in the series, “Book 10: Into the Gauntlet,” by New York Times bestselling author Margaret Peterson Haddix, will be released on August 31, 2010, simultaneously in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Malaysia, India, Philippines, and Singapore with a first print-run of 750,000 copies. There are more than 8.5 million copies in print of books 1-10 in the series.

“I felt very honored to be asked to write the last book in The 39 Clues series. Since the first few books were already out—and already beloved—before I started writing, I loved it that lots of kids gave me advice about what they thought should happen to their favorite characters,” said Into the Gauntlet author Margaret Peterson Haddix. “I had to be very careful not to ever say, ‘Oh, you might change your opinion about that once you read the seventh, eighth and ninth books…’ It’s great that, with the release of the tenth book, I won’t have to be so careful about keeping secrets anymore!”

The 39 Clues “Access Granted” campaign kicks off today with a 39-day countdown to the publication of the final book on August 31st. For the first time ever, all seven bestselling authors in the series—Rick Riordan, Gordon Korman, Peter Lerangis, Jude Watson, Patrick Carman, Linda Sue Park, and Margaret Peterson Haddix—will appear in the “The 39 Clues Access Granted: A Live Global Webcast” on Tuesday, August 31st at 4 PM ET. Fans from around the world will have an opportunity to submit and vote for never-before-answered questions about the series that will then be answered by the authors during the event. To build excitement for the live event, a 39-Day Countdown “Widget Clock” will be distributed to various outlets online including retailer websites, social media outlets, as well as popular parents, educator, and technology blog sites. The live webcast event can be accessed for free by logging on to www.the39clues.com/accessgranted.

As part of the 39-day countdown campaign, all authors will also participate in the “Access Granted” Multi-Author Blog Tour, a viral buzz campaign that both The 39 Clues fans and those new to the series can follow online. Exclusive video and written blog posts from authors will appear on parents and technology websites with each participating blog site promoting the other “stops” on the tour, building excitement as the tour progresses. Rick Riordan will kick off the Blog Tour with a video post, to be followed by the other The 39 Clues authors. The tour will culminate on August 31st with a blog post from author Margaret Peterson Haddix. Each participating blog site will also feature book giveaways.

Scholastic also announced today a comprehensive television and online advertising campaign to promote The 39 Clues. Starting in mid-August, a 30-second TV spot will air more than 6,000 times in 17 major U.S. markets including New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Chicago, totaling more than 17 million household impressions. The online viral campaign will include countdown banner ads on Facebook as well as on popular childrens’ websites, equaling more than 15 million impressions leading up to the release of “Book 10: Into the Gauntlet.”

Beginning in August, Scholastic Media will run a “The 39 Clues: The Lost Pages” promotion with Post Foods LLC—where The 39 Clues and all ten books will be featured on 4 million packages of Honeycomb, Alpha-bits, Golden Crisp and Waffle Crisp. The boxes will feature an exclusive story about Dan and Amy Cahill and ask consumers to enter a secret code at www.The39Clues.com/mycards to get 6 free digital cards to jumpstart their own clue hunt.

For those who are new to the series, it’s never too late to join the hunt: a “39 Clues in 39 seconds” introduction video is being created to launch on The 39 Clues game site and also being distributed virally to get kids started on their clue hunt.

Since the series launched in September 2008, The 39 Clues adventure has taken clue hunters around the world from Philadelphia to Paris to Pretoria. The online game has continued to draw more readers and gamers in all 50 states and 191 countries worldwide with more than 1.1 million registered users to date. The 39 Clues has been licensed for publication in 24 languages including Japanese, Italian, Chinese, German, Greek, and Hebrew.

The 39 Clues launched on September 9, 2008, with “Book 1: The Maze of Bones” by Rick Riordan, which debuted at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. On December 2, 2008, “Book 2: One False Note” by Gordon Korman was released and also debuted at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. Since then, the series, including “Book 3: The Sword Thief” by Peter Lerangis (March 3, 2009), “Book 4: Beyond the Grave” by Jude Watson (June 2, 2009), “Book 5: The Black Circle” by Patrick Carman (August 11, 2009), “Book 6: In Too Deep” by Jude Watson (November 3, 2009), “Book 7: The Viper’s Nest” (February 2, 2010) by Peter Lerangis, “Book 8: The Emperor’s Code” (April 6, 2010) by Gordon Korman, and “Book 9: Storm Warning” (May 25, 2010) by Linda Sue Park, have appeared on the New York Times, USA Today, Publishers Weekly, and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists. In addition to the ten-book arc, Scholastic announced recently that it will publish “The 39 Clues: The Black Book of Buried Secrets,” an ultimate guidebook to the world of The 39 Clues with an introduction by Rick Riordan, on October 26, 2010.

Movie rights for The 39 Clues have been acquired by DreamWorks Studios with Steven Spielberg eyeing to direct and Deborah Forte of Scholastic Media producing. The script is being penned by Jeff Nathanson whose credits include “Catch Me If You Can” and “Rush Hour 2.” Scholastic Media recently launched the The 39 Clues Madrigal Maze App for the iPhone™ and iPod touch®, which has been ranked among the top “Paid Kids Games” on the App Store since release. The audiobook edition of “Book 10: Into the Gauntlet” from Scholastic Audio will be released simultaneously with the hardcover on August 31st.

The 39 Clues is a groundbreaking multi-media adventure series for children ages 8-12 that spans 10 adrenaline-charged books, hundreds of collectible game cards, and a website that allows readers to play a role in the story and compete for prizes. The series centers around the Cahills—the most powerful family the world has ever known. But the source of the family’s power has been lost. Grace Cahill, the last matriarch of the Cahills, changed her will minutes before she died, leaving her descendants an impossible decision: receive a million dollars or a clue. The first Cahill to assemble all 39 clues hidden around the world will discover what makes the family so powerful—a reward beyond measure. It’s Cahill versus Cahill in a race to the finish, with readers hot on the heels of the main characters, fourteen-year-old Amy Cahill and her eleven-year-old brother, Dan. The series highlights famous historical figures kicking off with Benjamin Franklin in “The Maze of Bones,” Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in “One False Note,” Toyotomi Hideyoshi in “The Sword Thief,” Howard Carter in “Beyond the Grave,” Anastasia Romanov in “The Black Circle,” Amelia Earhart in “In Too Deep,” Shaka Zulu in “The Viper’s Nest,” Pu Yi In “The Emperor’s Code,” and Anne Bonny in “Storm Warning.”

For more information about “The 39 Clues,” and to download digital images, visit http://mediaroom.scholastic.com/The39Clues.

Visit Scholastic at our online media room (mediaroom.scholastic.com).

Contact: Charisse Meloto 212-389-3785, cmeloto@scholastic.com