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Barnes & Noble Launches 14th Annual Summer Reading Program With Popular Children's Series The 39 Clues®

In The 39 Clues series, siblings Amy and Dan Cahill agree to the challenge in their grandmother's will to search for 39 clues all over the world. The series is based around history, teaching readers about famous historical figures including Benjamin Franklin, Amelia Earhart, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The next two books in The 39 Clues series, Book 9: Storm Warning (May 25, 2010) by Linda Sue Park and the final title, Book 10: Into the Gauntlet (August 31, 2010) by Margaret Peterson Haddix, will be released during the 2010 Summer Reading program.

The 39 Clues authors Rick Riordan, Gordon Korman, Peter Lerangis, Jude Watson, Patrick Carman, Linda Sue Park, and Margaret Peterson Haddix will be making appearances at select stores across the country. Scheduled events include a reading and signing with Margaret Peterson Haddix in Columbus, Ohio, and a signing with Rick Riordan, Peter Lerangis, Jude Watson and Gordon Korman in Huntington Station, New York. The authors will also participate in a Summer Reading blog at Barnes & Noble.com, (www.bn.com/summerreading) where they will post about summer reading memories and children's literacy.

New this year, BN.COM will participate in The 39 Clues interactive game. Every month this summer, children who participate in the Summer Reading program will have access to exclusive 39 Clues digital game cards. Each card has a special code that can be entered into the 39 Clues website (www.the39clues.com) to unlock content and activities in the online game. In addition to this fun interactive content, BN.COM will also feature a video interview with Rick Riordan, guest posts by The 39 Clues authors, and a Summer Reading discussion in the Family Room free online Book Club for parents.

"The Barnes & Noble Summer Reading Program is a fantastic way to encourage kids to read during the summer and instill a love of books and create lifelong readers," said Mary Amicucci, Vice President of Children's Books for Barnes & Noble, Inc. "We are very excited to partner with Scholastic this year for our program. Hosting the authors in our stores and posting their blogs on BN.COM, plus having The 39 Clues interactive game content on our site, is a great way to encourage kids to discover the world of reading."

"The multimedia approach of The 39 Clues series is a perfect way to get kids engaged in reading during the summer months and beyond," said Ellie Berger, President of Scholastic Trade. "Scholastic, along with our dream team of 39 Clues authors, are thrilled to participate in the Barnes & Noble Summer Reading program, both in-store and online. With this exciting program, we are offering kids both a thrilling online adventure and an immersive reading experience."

The 39 Clues will be featured in all of Barnes & Noble's Summer Reading materials including signage, classroom activity kits and reading passports. Barnes & Noble community relations managers will be distributing activity kits in stores, at their local schools and at many public libraries. Teachers, parents and children can download the materials for free at www.bn.com/summerreading.

In addition to earning a free book by reading, children who participate in the Summer Reading program are eligible to win a free set of The 39 Clues books, signed by each author. Each Barnes & Noble store across the country will have one set to give away.

For more information about The 39 Clues, visit http://mediaroom.scholastic.com/The39Clues.

ABOUT BARNES & NOBLE, INC.

Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the world's largest bookseller and a Fortune 500 company, operates 723 bookstores in 50 states. Barnes & Noble College Booksellers, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Barnes & Noble, also operates 639 college bookstores serving nearly 4 million students and over 250,000 faculty members at colleges and universities across the United States. Barnes & Noble is the nation's top bookseller brand for the seventh year in a row, as determined by a combination of the brand's performance on familiarity, quality, and purchase intent; the top bookseller in quality for the second year in a row and the number two retailer in trust, according to the EquiTrend Brand Study by Harris Interactive. Barnes & Noble conducts its online business through Barnes & Noble.com (www.bn.com), one of the Web's largest e-commerce sites, which also features more than one million titles in its eBookstore (www.bn.com/ebooks). Barnes & Noble customers can buy and read eBooks on the widest range of platforms, including NOOK^TM by Barnes & Noble, eBook readers from partner companies, and hundreds of the most popular mobile and computing devices using free BN eReader software.

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Barnes & Noble, Inc.
Carolyn J. Brown, 212-633-4062
Corporate Communications
cbrown@bn.com