Cartoon Network, Barnes & Noble and Simon & Schuster Collaborate to Support Bullying Prevention During Awareness Month

NEW YORK, Oct. 13, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Cartoon Network, a division of Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. (TBS, Inc.), Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS) and Simon & Schuster announced today a collaboration to promote bullying prevention during October's National Bullying Prevention Month. The promotion expands the reach of Cartoon Network's Stop Bullying: Speak Up initiative into the more than 700 Barnes & Noble retail stores nationwide, online at Barnes & Noble.com (www.bn.com) and on Barnes & Noble's award-winning line of NOOK® eReading devices, and www.simonandschuster.com, and creates a partnership between the companies to share resources for educators, parents and students on the latest in bullying prevention.

Barnes & Noble stores across the country will feature Stop Bullying: Speak Up signage in addition to selections of books for educators, parents, and kids to recognize National Bullying Prevention Month. During Barnes & Noble's Educator Appreciation Days, Oct. 15 – 23, Cartoon Network will provide 50,000 Stop Bullying: Speak Up wristbands for educators to give to their students.

Barnes & Noble.com will feature a Stop Bullying: Speak Up page (www.bn.com/bullying-prevention). The page will feature video content from bestselling children's, teen and adult authors, B&N Kids Expert Circle articles with tips and advice on how to deal with bullying, as well as Stop Bullying: Speak Up tip sheets for parents and kids.  

In addition, a bullying prevention tip sheet for adults and for kids will be available in stores as an in-store download to NOOK Simple Touch Reader and NOOK Color through Barnes & Noble's October More in Store program.

Simon & Schuster is bringing its authors and resources on board to help promote Stop Bullying: Speak Up. Simon & Schuster has created a landing page with resources including videos, booklists and discussion guides (pages.simonandschuster.com/stopbullying). The recommended reading list on bullying issues and a video message against bullying from S&S authors will be available on Cartoon Network's www.StopBullyingSpeakUp.com, and on www.bn.com/bullying-prevention.  

"We are excited to partner and directly reach educators, parents and students to empower more bystanders to take action to reduce and prevent bullying," said Stuart Snyder, President/COO of Cartoon Network. "Through these promotions, Stop Bullying: Speak Up messages will be communicated through print as well as screens, reaching more young people and adults who care for them with inspirational stories during National Bullying Prevention Month and throughout the year."

"Continuing our efforts to bring awareness to the severity of bullying in all its forms is very important to Barnes & Noble.  We are pleased to be partnering with Simon & Schuster and Cartoon Network for this important effort," said Mary Amicucci, vice president of Children's Books for Barnes & Noble. "Barnes & Noble provides parents, teachers and children with books, magazines, and other materials that build awareness around this issue and encourage people to have an open dialogue with one another to promote tolerance and acceptance."

"We are so pleased to continue our bullying prevention efforts by partnering with Cartoon Network and Barnes & Noble on this initiative," said Lucille Rettino, director of marketing at Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing. "We are dedicated to spreading a message of tolerance and acceptance by using our resources and enlisting our authors' participation in support of Stop Bullying: Speak Up."

Facebook and Time Warner Inc.'s recently announced the Stop Bullying: Speak Up Social Pledge App, an interactive social media pledge to help stop bullying, will also appear on Simon & Schuster's website. The app, which allows educators, parents and students to make a personal commitment to speak up against bullying, was created as part of Facebook and Time Warner's efforts to integrate broadcast, print, online and social media to inspire thoughtful conversation and share useful information and resources about bullying prevention, including situational recommendations for young victims and bystanders.

The partnership between Cartoon Network, Barnes & Noble and Simon & Schuster will allow sharing resources across websites, including as series of Stop Bullying: Speak Up PSAs featuring the three young hosts of Cartoon Network's Dude, What Would Happen.

About Cartoon Network

Cartoon Network (CartoonNetwork.com), currently seen in more than 99 million U.S. homes and 168 countries around the world, is Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.'s ad-supported cable service now available in HD offering the best in original, acquired and classic entertainment for youth and families. Nightly from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. (ET, PT), Cartoon Network shares its channel space with Adult Swim, a late-night destination showcasing original and acquired animation for young adults 18-34.

About Barnes & Noble

Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the world's largest bookseller and a Fortune 500 company, operates 704 bookstores in 50 states. Barnes & Noble College Booksellers, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Barnes & Noble, also operates 635 college bookstores serving over 4.6 million students and faculty members at colleges and universities across the United States. Barnes & Noble conducts its online business through BN.com (www.bn.com), one of the Web's largest e-commerce sites, which also features more than two million titles in its NOOK Bookstore™ (www.bn.com/ebooks). Through Barnes & Noble's NOOK™ eReading product offering, customers can buy and read digital books and content on the widest range of platforms, including NOOK devices, partner company products, and the most popular mobile and computing devices using free NOOK software.

About Simon & Schuster

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, India and the United Kingdom. For more information, visit our website at pages.simonandschuster.com/stopbullying.

SOURCE Simon & Schuster