J.K. Rowling Open Book Tour Begins in Los Angeles on Monday, October 15, 2007 With Children From 40 Schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Scholastic, the global children’s publishing, education and media company, and U.S. publisher of the Harry Potter books, today launches the J.K. Rowling Open Book Tour in Los Angeles at the famed Kodak Theatre. This event, as well as two other stops in New Orleans and New York City, will be attended by 1,600 lucky public schoolchildren who will hear Ms. Rowling read an excerpt from her seventh and final Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. In addition, Ms. Rowling will answer audience questions about her books and her career and will sign a book for each of the students attending.

In Los Angeles, 40 schools — 15 high schools, 15 middle schools and 10 elementary schools — were chosen at random by the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) to participate in the event. Each school was given a “Sorting Hat” to help them select 40 lucky third through twelfth graders to join Ms. Rowling on October 15. To encourage young readers who are just reaching the age to begin their Hogwarts journey, Scholastic is donating 5,000 copies of Rowling’s first Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone to LAUSD schoolchildren.

“J.K. Rowling has helped millions of young people discover the joy of reading, just as the dedicated teachers, librarians and principals of LAUSD strive to do every day. Scholastic is delighted to bring together this brilliant author, these educators and the children of Los Angeles who have discovered a love of reading thanks to Harry Potter,” said Richard Robinson, Chairman, President and CEO of Scholastic. “We hope that by hearing and meeting J.K. Rowling in person, these students will be inspired by her great writing and by the power of books to spark imagination and a love of learning.”

“This is truly a once in a lifetime event for our students. To have the privilege and honor of hearing Ms. Rowling read to our students is historic on many levels,” said Superintendent David L. Brewer. “Nothing makes reading more enjoyable than a well-written book that ignites a child’s imagination and hopefully spurs them to adopt a lifelong love of books and reading. Thank you, Ms. Rowling, for your enchanting books that have magically transformed the lives of millions of readers. Thank you for coming to Los Angeles and sharing your creativity, imagination and love of children.”

J.K. Rowling will appear in New Orleans at the Ernest N. Morial Auditorium at the Convention Center on Thursday, October 18 and in New York City at Carnegie Hall on Friday, October 19. The final event of the J.K. Rowling Open Book Tour will be held on the evening of October 19 at 7 p.m. at Carnegie Hall with 1,000 lucky fans who were selected from more than 50,000 sweepstakes entries to win a pair of tickets to this event.

Scholastic released J.K. Rowling’s seventh and final Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, at 12:01 a.m. on July 21, 2007. The book broke all industry records selling 8.3 million copies in the first 24 hours and 11.5 million copies in the first 10 days. All seven 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, Harry Potter and the Half- Blood Prince and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows have been number one bestsellers in the United States, the U.K., and around the world. There are currently more than 140 million copies of the Harry Potter books in print in the U.S. alone. The American editions of the Harry Potter books are published under Scholastic’s Arthur A. Levine imprint.

   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   

For a list of confirmed sweepstakes winners, log onto http://www.scholastic.com/harrypotter/events/sweepstakes.htm

Scholastic Corporation 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, http://www.scholastic.com/.

The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD – http://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.

Scholastic Inc.

CONTACT: Kris Moran, +1-212-389-3789, kmoran@scholastic.com, or SaraSinek, +1-212-343-6899, ssinek@scholastic.com, both of Scholastic Inc.

Web site: http://www.scholastic.com/http://www.lausd.net/