New York — September 19, 2012 — Kids love birthdays – and no birthday is bigger than Clifford’s! Scholastic Media, a division of Scholastic Inc., the global children’s publishing, education and media company, announced today the launch of ‘Clifford’s BIG Birthday’ app for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch available now on the App Store –– in conjunction with the kick-off of the 50th anniversary celebration of Clifford the Big Red Dog®. Clifford's BIG Birthday app invites everyone to celebrate this beloved literary icon all while encouraging children to build critical language and literacy skills.

“For 50 years, Clifford’s humor, joy and kindness have entertained and inspired generations of readers,” said Deborah Forte, President of Scholastic Media and Executive Vice President of Scholastic Inc. “We’re proud to offer his fans a BIG interactive media experience worthy of this milestone.”

In Clifford's BIG Birthday app, Emily Elizabeth invites players to join her in Clifford’s BIG doghouse as she works to create a surprise party for Clifford’s birthday. As players set up for the party, they can explore, touch, hear, and learn by decorating the cake, hanging streamers, choosing balloons and picking out a special present for Clifford. Once the decorating is complete, players will help Emily Elizabeth call in Clifford for the big surprise reveal. Once at the party, the app features three highly interactive and replayable birthday-themed games, including one game that builds essential literacy skills using augmented reality. Each game reinforces the language skills needed for early-readers, including spelling, word families and sight words – all while feting their favorite pooch! Additionally, text and instructions throughout the app are read aloud to create an experience fully accessible to readers and non-readers; a section for parents provides educational information about the app and suggestions for extending the learning outside of the app.

Scholastic will kick off a year long Clifford’s 50th anniversary celebration with the ‘BIGGEST Birthday Party Ever’ on September 24, 2012. With more than 126 million books in print from Scholastic in 13 languages by beloved creator Norman Bridwell, Clifford is a literary classic embraced by parents, teachers and kids. Now in its 12th season on PBS KIDS, the Clifford television series has been sold to more than 30 countries in 12 languages.

Clifford's BIG Birthday app is available for $0.99 from the App Store on iPhone, iPad and iPod touch or at www.itunes.com/appstore.

For a limited time Scholastic has a BIG promotion running, allowing users to redeem a code to access the app for free at www.scholastic.com/apps/clifford/birthday or via physical promotional cards being distributed in conjunction with key partners – including Scholastic Book Fairs.

For information about the app and Clifford’s 50th celebration – please visit www.scholastic.com/clifford, https://www.facebook.com/officialclifford or Scholastic’s media room at http://mediaroom.scholastic.com/clifford. For more information about the app, please visit www.scholastic.com/apps/clifford/birthday.