Scholastic Goes Back to Press on The Land of Elyon Book 1: The Dark Hills Divide

Scholastic Goes Back to Press on The Land of Elyon Book 1: The Dark Hills Divide

New Fantasy Novel By Patrick Carman Moving Up in National Bestseller List

NEW YORK, Feb. 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Scholastic announced today that it's rushing back to press for 50,000 copies of its new best-selling fantasy novel, The Land of Elyon Book 1: The Dark Hills Divide by Patrick Carman. In less than a month after its release, the book has risen on The New York Times bestseller list for three straight weeks and is currently at #6. There are over 150,000 copies of the book in print.

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050207/NYM140-ahttp://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050207/NYM140-b )


The Dark Hills Divide, the first title in the The Land of Elyon trilogy, was a self-publishing phenomenon in the Pacific Northwest selling over 10,000 copies in three months. In 2004, Scholastic acquired rights to publish the trilogy written by author and Salem, Oregon native Patrick Carman.

Throwing away all conventional rules for author tours, Scholastic launched The Land of Elyon with a uniquely fashioned 22-city United States media blitz which started in January 2005 in Seattle. The tour will conclude in April in New York City. Patrick Carman is currently visiting hundreds of schools and bookstores as he criss-crosses the United States in a special "Land of Elyon" tour bus. The bus is also home to Patrick's wife, Karen, and two children, Reece and Sierra, for the duration of the tour.

The tour will be promoted by an extensive $200,000 marketing campaign, including radio promotions on stations most popular with tween audiences. For additional information about this unique tour and to read the author's notes from the road, log on to http://www.landofelyon.com/.

The Dark Hills Divide grew out of stories Carman told his young daughters. It focuses on a young girl, who explores what lies beyond her walled kingdom and stumbles onto a plot to destroy the Land of Elyon from within. Scholastic will publish the remaining two titles in the trilogy, The Land of Elyon Book 2: Beyond the Valley of Thorns in Fall 2005 and The Land of Elyon Book 3: The Tenth City in Summer 2006.

Scholastic Corporation (NASDAQ:SCHL) is the world's largest publisher and distributor of children's books. 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/.

Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050207/NYM140-a
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050207/NYM140-b
AP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/
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PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com
Source: Scholastic Corporation

CONTACT: Charisse Meloto of Scholastic Corporation, +1-212-389-3785,
meloto@scholastic.com

Web site: http://www.scholastic.com/
http://www.landofelyon.com/


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