Los Angeles, CA (September 10, 2007) -- Scholastic, the global children’s publishing, education and media company, and U.S. publisher of the Harry Potter series, today announced the 40 Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) schools that will participate in the Los Angeles stop of the “J.K. Rowling Open Book Tour”. LAUSD Superintendent David Brewer III welcomed Scholastic to Los Angeles, and Chief Instructional Officer Ronni Ephraim announced the participating schools, as Francie Alexander, Chief Academic Officer for Scholastic, handed out “Sorting Hats” to representatives from participating schools (listed below) to help each school select 40 lucky third through twelfth graders who will attend the event on October 15th. The students they choose will join Ms. Rowling at the Kodak Theatre as she reads from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, answers questions about the entire series, and signs a book for every student!

Scholastic also announced that the Company will be donating 5,000 copies of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, the first book in J.K. Rowling’s series, to the LAUSD for students who have not yet read the books and are now ready to begin their Hogwarts journey.

“The Open Book Tour is a chance for Ms. Rowling to spend time with some very important people—the kids who love Harry Potter,” said Francie Alexander. “Scholastic is passionate about putting books into the hands of children and with this gift of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone we are honored to introduce a new generation to the series that created millions of young, enthusiastic readers.”

The Los Angeles Unified School District chose at random 15 high schools, 15 middle schools and 10 elementary schools for the honor.

“Literacy is a number one priority for all our children and we are always looking for ways to motivate our students to enjoy reading. Our ongoing partnership with Scholastic and its commitment to schools, teachers and children has played an integral role in achieving our literacy goals,” said Superintendent Brewer. “I would like to thank J.K. Rowling and Scholastic for including students from the Los Angeles Unified School District on Ms. Rowling’s Open Book Tour.”

Los Angeles Public Schools Participating in J.K. Rowling Open Book Tour

• Panorama High School – Local District 1
• Canoga Park High School – Local District 1
• Nobel Middle School – Local District 1
• Nestle Elementary School – Local District 1
• Encino Elementary School – Local District 1
• Lewis Continuation High School – Local District 2
• Arleta High School – Local District 2
• Maclay Middle School – Local District 2
• Van Nuys Middle School – Local District 2
• Herrick Elementary School – Local District 2
• Canfield Elementary School – Local District 3
• Short Elementary School – Local District 3
• University High School – Local District 3
• Emerson Middle School – Local District 3
• Audubon Middle School – Local District 3
• Hancock Park Elementary School – Local District 4
• King Middle School – Local District 4
• Berendo Middle School – Local District 4
• Eagle Rock High School – Local District 4
• Hollywood High School – Local District 4
• Bravo Medical Magnet HS – Local District 5
• Garfield High School – Local District 5
• Griffith Middle School – Local District 5
• Stevenson Middle School – Local District 5
• Marianna Elementary – Local District 5
• Huntington Park Elementary School #7 – Local District 6
• San Antonio Elementary School – Local District 6
• Ellen Ochoa Learning Center – Local District 6
• Gage Middle School – Local District 6
• South Gate High School – Local District 6
• Weigand Elementary School – Local District 7
• Bethune Middle School – Local District 7
• Edison Middle School – Local District 7
• Fremont High School – Local District 7
• Manual Arts High School – Local District 7
• Banning High School – Local District 8
• San Pedro High School – Local District 8
• Wilmington Middle School – Local District 8
• Peary Middle School – Local District 8
• President Elementary School– Local District 8

J.K. Rowling will appear in two other events for schoolchildren: in New Orleans at the Ernest N. Morial Auditorium at the Convention Center on Thursday, October 18th and in New York City at Carnegie Hall on Friday, October 19th. (Please note there are no public tickets available for these school events.) Scholastic will announce the participating schools in New Orleans at a press conference on September 12th. The participating schools in New York City were announced on September 5th.

The final event of the “J.K. Rowling Open Book Tour” will be held on the evening of October 19, 2007 in New York City. One thousand lucky fans are being selected from sweepstakes entries to receive a pair of tickets to the J.K. Rowling event at Carnegie Hall on Friday October 19 at 7 p.m. (Please note: the sweepstakes closed August 31, 2007).

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, released on July 21, 2007, had an unprecedented first printing of 12 million copies, followed by another record-breaker: 8.3 million copies of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows were sold in the first 24 hours. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, J.K. Rowling’s sixth Harry Potter book, was released on July 16, 2005, with a first printing of 10.8 million copies. At the time, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was the fastest-selling book in history, selling 6.9 million copies in the first 24 hours. All six Harry Potter books, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince have been number one bestsellers in the United States, the U.K., and around the world. The American editions of the Harry Potter books are published under Scholastic’s Arthur A. Levine imprint.

Scholastic Corporation (NASDAQ: SCHL) is the world's largest publisher and distributor of children's books and a leader in educational technology. Scholastic creates quality educational and entertaining materials and products for use in school and at home, including children's books, magazines, technology-based products, teacher materials, television programming, film, videos and toys. The Company distributes its products and services through a variety of channels, including proprietary school-based book clubs, school-based book fairs, and school-based and direct-to-home continuity programs; retail stores, schools, libraries and television networks; and the Company's Internet site, www.scholastic.com.

The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD - www.lausd.net) serves more than 708,000 Kindergarten-12th grade students, making it the second largest school system in the country. LAUSD is an urban school system with a highly diverse population with 92 different spoken home languages. Since an overall reform of its instructional program five years ago, LAUSD students have demonstrated unprecedented academic improvement. For the first time in three decades, LAUSD is building new schools – construction of 145 schools is projected to be completed by 2012.

Contacts:

Scholastic
Sara Sinek
(917) 215-1779
ssinek@scholastic.com

Los Angeles Unified School District
Ellen Morgan
(213) 241-6766
ellen.morgan@lausd.net