Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Announces Exclusive Partnership with Everloop to Create 'S&S In the Book Loop' an Innovative E-Reading Experience Online for Tweens

NEW YORK and DANVILLE, Calif., March 23, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing is pleased to announce a new exclusive partnership with Everloop, the award-winning social media company offering the first unified, online community platform for tweens (young people between the ages of 8 and 13).  Through this exclusive partnership, Simon & Schuster will launch a first-of-its-kind online interactive book club for this age group, connecting Everloop members to world-class children's books and their authors.

The unique Everloop experience provides tweens with access to all the core features they would find on social networks designed for adults, including the ability to create and stylize their own custom profiles; communicate with friends using features like IM/chat, email, texting and VoIP or join an unlimited number of fan pages centered around science, music, art, games and more.

Parents should also know that Everloop has the most comprehensive privacy protection of any social community or utility on the Internet today.  With four layers of protection including user authentication, real-time moderation, a parental dashboard and a reputation engine, Everloop truly offers the highest level of privacy protection and parental oversight.

As a premiere partner within the Everloop network, Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing will host an interactive book club experience called "In the Book Loop" where members will have access to two free middle-grade books each month via a web view e-reader. The book club is launching with Dork Diaries: Tales from a Not-So-Fabulous Life by Rachel Renee Russell and SPHDZ Book #1! by Jon Scieszka.  Future books that will be featured include novels by bestselling authors Brandon Mull, Tony DiTerlizzi, Jo Nesbo, and Andrew Clements. The book club will also connect members with leading authors via virtual chat sessions and provide access to other book-related media, virtual goods, programs and more.

By combining state-of-the-art social media features with premium content experiences like S&S In the Book Loop, Everloop has created a unique community environment where children can socialize with their friends around the things that they love like immersive narratives, story-telling and reading.

Under the partnership, Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing will provide book-and-author based content and serve as a resource for the Everloop members, parents, and educators enjoying the benefits of the Everloop social media experience.  

"With such a large population of children online and engaged with social media, we felt it was only natural to co-develop with Everloop an immersive online reading experience for tweens," said Lucille Rettino, Director of Marketing for Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division. "As we have seen with our Pulse It Board for teens, which was a model for 'S&S In the Book Loop,' social media is a perfect technology to connect children to their reading passions in a way that is entertaining and meaningful, and so we are excited to create an online community where tweens can read and talk about books."

"At Everloop, we are specifically focused on elevating the bar within the kids media space by connecting kids, parents, and educators to higher value content and experiences," said Hilary DeCesare, CEO for Everloop.  "Right now, most of a child's time online is frivolous and tends to do nothing more than improve eye-hand coordination via playing games.  We think that by joining forces with market leaders like Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing Division we can begin to positively influence children by connecting them to intellectually based content, applications, services, or experiences.  If one child connects to a book or an author and is influenced into a lifelong learning pursuit or passion, then collectively we will have completed our mission of empowering this very important generation."

Having launched in February of this year, Everloop recently announced a strategic partnership with i-Safe.org, the most recognized digital literacy publisher in the United States.  Together Everloop and i-Safe.org will be building the largest K-8 school learning social network in the country. 

Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing has had previous success with its Pulse It Board, providing a unique free reading experience designed specifically for the teen demographic. By partnering with Everloop, Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing now has a safe, COPPA-compliant, age-appropriate connection to tween readers that mimics the best of their specific teen online experience.

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 ninos, 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, Jon Sciezka's Trucktown, Nickelodeon's® Dora the Explorer®, Wonderpets® and SpongeBob SquarePants®. For more information about Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, visit our website at www.simonandschuster.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.simonandschuster.com.

ABOUT EVERLOOP

Everloop's mission is to give tweens a protected space where they can connect with friends they know, express themselves, play games, collaborate on projects and discover talents.  Everloop's Social Loop, a loop of safety around kids' connections, introduces state-of-the-art privacy protection and monitoring, keeping tweens from sharing more than they should with people outside their approved loops. Everloop offers a BRANDED EXPERIENCE option to the brands that tweens love and other unique partner content designed to tween interests. For more information, visit www.everloop.com.

SOURCE Simon & Schuster