Barnes & Noble Announces January is “No Name-Calling Month”

Barnes & Noble Partners with Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing and the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) to Raise Awareness on Bullying

New York, New York – – Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the world’s largest bookseller, today announced plans to recognize January as “No Name-Calling Month” in its stores and online at Barnes & Noble.com. The month-long campaign is aimed at bringing attention to the national problem of name-calling and bullying of all kinds. Stores across the country will host a national Storytime event and other activities. Barnes & Noble.com will feature exclusive video content from bestselling children’s, young adult and adult authors discussing their thoughts and experiences on bullying. Barnes & Noble has partnered with Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing and the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN), creators of No Name-Calling Week in schools, in this effort to stop bullying.

“Bringing awareness to the seriousness and severity of name-calling, teasing, bullying and cyber bullying is very important to Barnes & Noble. We’re pleased to be partnering with Simon & Schuster and GLSEN for such an important effort,” said Mary Amicucci, vice president of Children’s Books for Barnes & Noble. “Barnes & Noble has always provided parents, teachers and children with books, magazines and other materials, as well as in-store activities, that engage people in on-going dialogues and inspire ways to communicate with one another. This campaign is just one more way we can help.”

“GLSEN is excited to work with Barnes & Noble to bring No Name-Calling Week’s message of respect to youth across the country throughout the month of January,” said GLSEN Executive Director Eliza Byard. “As the world’s largest bookseller, we applaud Barnes & Noble for embracing this opportunity to raise awareness about the problems of name-calling and bullying.”

“From a simple but powerful concept, No Name-Calling Week has grown to include thousands of schools across the nation, together with more than 40 partner organizations,” said Jon Anderson, Executive Vice President and Publisher of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing. “We are delighted that Barnes & Noble has extended this important campaign to one full month in its stores nationwide and online, and we look forward to working with them and our authors to help raise awareness of this issue and provide the tools to help students, parents and teachers combat bullying in all its forms.”

First launched in March 2004, No Name-Calling Week was developed in a partnership between GLSEN and Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing. The campaign was inspired by the young adult novel The Misfits by James Howe, which tells the story of four best friends who, tired of the constant teasing in their middle school, decide to run for student government on a No Name-Calling platform.

Barnes & Noble stores across the country have events planned throughout January to recognize No Name-Calling Month including:

* All stores will host a national Storytime event on Saturday, January 15, at 11 a.m. The event will include a Storytime reading of the books Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes and One by Kathryn Otoshi, arts and crafts and other activities.
* From January 15 through January 23, stores will host Barnes & Noble Educator Appreciation Week. Stores will have No Name-Calling materials available for teachers and educators, including book recommendations, tip sheets for organizing No Name-Calling events, lesson plans for elementary and middle school students, classroom posters and buttons.
* In-store panel discussions with GLSEN local chapters.
* Exclusive No Name-Calling articles by James Howe and Jodi Picoult will be featured in the January line-up of the More In Store program available on NOOK, the Barnes & Noble eBook Reader.

Barnes & Noble.com will feature:

* A No Name-Calling page (www.bn.com/noname).
* Exclusive video content from bestselling children’s, teen and adult authors will be placed on the site during the month of January. Videos are expected from authors including Hilary Duff, Lisa McMann, Laurie Halse Anderson, Ellen Hopkins, Margaret Peterson Haddix and Ian James Corlett. The authors will discuss their thoughts on and experiences with bullying.
* B&N Kids Expert Circle articles with tips and advice on how to deal with bullying (www.bn.com/expertcircle).
* Weekly e-mails regarding No Name-Calling events and special savings offers.

Barnes & Noble stores will also have information on GLSEN’s Creative Expression Contest for Students, in which students can submit any type of artistic expression that relates to their experiences with or ideas of bullying. Over the years, thousands of students nationwide have submitted a variety of poems, stories essays, drawings, collages, sculptures and songs. More information about past winners, as well as about the No Name-Calling Week campaign can be found at www.nonamecallingweek.org.

About Barnes & Noble, Inc.

Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the world’s largest bookseller and a Fortune 500 company, operates 717 bookstores in 50 states. Barnes & Noble College Booksellers, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Barnes & Noble, also operates 633 college bookstores serving nearly 4 million students and 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 two million titles, in its NOOKbook™ Store (www.bn.com/NOOKbooks). Through Barnes & Noble’s NOOK™ eReading product offering, customers can buy and read NOOKbooks on the widest range of platforms, including NOOK eReaders, devices from partner companies, and hundreds of the most popular mobile and computing devices using free NOOK software. General information on Barnes & Noble, Inc. can be obtained via the Internet by visiting the company’s corporate website: www.barnesandnobleinc.com.

About Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing
Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing, one of the leading children’s book publishers in the world, is comprised of the following imprints: Aladdin, Atheneum Books for Young Readers, Beach Lane Books, Libros para niños, Little Simon®, Little Simon Inspirations™, Margaret K. McElderry Books, Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, Simon Pulse, and Simon Spotlight®. While maintaining an extensive award-winning backlist, the division continues to publish acclaimed and bestselling books for children of all ages. In addition to numerous Caldecott, Newbery, and National Book Award winners, Simon & Schuster publishes such high-profile properties and series as Eloise, Olivia, Raggedy Ann & Andy™, Henry & Mudge®, The Hardy Boys®, Nancy Drew®, The Spiderwick Chronicles, Charles M. Schulz’s Peanuts®, Nickelodeon’s® Dora the Explorer®, Blue’s Clues® and SpongeBob SquarePants®, and Mirage studios’ Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles™. For more information about Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing, visit our website at http://www.SimonSaysKids.com.

Simon & Schuster, a part of CBS Corporation, is a global leader in the field of general interest publishing, dedicated to providing the best in fiction and nonfiction for consumers of all ages, across all printed, electronic, and audio formats. Its divisions include Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing, Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing, Simon & Schuster Audio, Simon & Schuster Digital, and international companies in Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom. For more information, visit our website at www.simonsays.com.


About GLSEN
GLSEN, the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network, is the leading national education organization focused on ensuring safe schools for all students. Established in 1990, GLSEN envisions a world in which every child learns to respect and accept all people, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity/expression. GLSEN seeks to develop school climates where difference is valued for the positive contribution it makes to creating a more vibrant and diverse community. For information on GLSEN’s research, educational resources, public policy advocacy, student organizing programs and educator training initiatives, visit www.glsen.org.