Scholastic

The Berenstain Bears Legacy Lives On Through Sons Mike and Leo

February 27, 2012 by Amy Jussel 1 Comment

Feb. 27, 2012 Upon hearing of Berenstain Bears’ co-founder Jan Berenstain’s passing at 88 this past Friday, I’d like to send deepest condolences to the family, especially sons Mike (illustrator) and Leo (business) who continue to uphold the stories and standards of their parents’ gentle parables after 50 years and over 300 books of "kidlit" entertainment. To honor Jan’s … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Media Literacy, People Shaping Youth, Positive Picks, Pro-Social & Positive Picks, Shaping Youth Tagged With: Amy-Jussel, Berenstain Bears, Berenstain Bears Too Much TV, cartoon art, cartoons, family values, Jan Berenstain, kidlit, kids reading, licensed-characters, Mike Berenstain, Mister Rogers, nature-kids, old-fashioned, Parables, parenting, positive media, preschool, read aloud, reading, Scholastic, Sensible Sippers, simpler times, Stan Berenstain, storybooks, storytelling, Strong National Museum of Play, teaching morals

CCFC Puts Energy Into Cleaning Up School Commercialism

May 16, 2011 by Amy Jussel 5 Comments

May 16, 2011 Continuing our ‘positive picks’ series on media and marketing that matters, a gigantic ‘Howard Beale’ style shout from the windows “w00t!” to champions of change at CCFC, Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood who snuffed out the filthy coal curriculum pushed into schools via Scholastic after just 48 hours of harnessing the power of their CCFC aligned … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Advertising, Branding & Consumerism, Consumerism, EcoKids-Environment, Emerging trends & STEM, Marketing Shaping Youth, Media Literacy, Product Placement, Shaping Youth Tagged With: Amy-Jussel, Book Fairs, branding in schools, Brands in Schools, brandwashing, Bratz books, CCFC, Channel One, clean coal, coal, coal curriculum, commercial brands, commercial free, commercialism, commercialized school curriculum, Consuming kids, education, Energy, Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace USA, junk science, Kids health, label literacy, media-literacy, Rethinking Schools, Scholastic, SunnyD, SunnyD sugar spree, Susan Linn, vested interests

Shaping Youth: Freecycling Kids Books Throughout December

December 4, 2010 by Amy Jussel 9 Comments

Dec. 4, 2010 Black Friday? Cyber Monday? Bah. Other than maybe beach towel joke gifts (silly kilt wraps, hula skirts for our wakeboarding tribe) they didn’t get much outta me this round, as I continue to purge more than splurge. So to continue this “simplify life” theme to FREECYCLE and gift myself some joy this season, I’m passing along a bounty of kids books to you, FREE … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Consumerism, Counter-marketing, EcoKids-Environment, Emerging trends & STEM, Marketing Shaping Youth, Media Literacy, Positive Picks, Pro-Social & Positive Picks, Shaping Youth Tagged With: bargain hunting, Black Friday, book drops, CCFC Book Fairs, children's books, collective IQ, crowdsourcing, Cyber Monday, donate books, eco, eco moms, fiction, free, freebies, freecycle, freecycling, friends of the library, frugal finds, future of books, girls are not chicks, Girls Horse Club, green, horse books, kids books, library, literacy, meaningful gifts, media-literacy, no impact, old school meets new school, paperbacks, peace and social justice, prosocial books, reach and teach, readergirlz, reading, Reading is Fundamental, recycle, riding freedom, RIF, Scholastic, Send Felicity, Story Bird, Storybird, storytelling, Truce Teachers, Truce Toy Action Guide, YA, YALSA, young adult fiction

SmartyCard’s Summer Challenge With Scholastic: Heads Up for Fall!

May 28, 2009 by Amy Jussel 18 Comments

May 28, 2009 I was just about to post an in-depth review and analysis of the merits and watch-worthy aspects of the new SmartyCard.com "learn and earn" kids' program for 3rd-6th graders, when I received this sidewinder about their brand new alliance with Scholastic’s Summer reading challenge. I know, I know, this news is supposed to be a GOOD thing from a "halo effect" mass … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Advertising, Branding & Consumerism, Consumerism, Emerging trends & STEM, Interactive Games, Marketing Shaping Youth, Media Literacy, Product Placement, Shaping Youth Tagged With: ad-creep, Advertising, anti-rewards, backdoor branding, Book Fairs, branding, brandwashing, Bratz, cause marketing, CCFC, childhood, Chris Carvalho, Club-Penguin, commercial free, commercialism, consumption, Dizzywood, education, elementary, Elf-Island, Gazillion, Goodwashing, Ignite Learning, itunes, Kids, kids-media, learn and earn, learning, LearnStar, Lego Universe, MMORPG, motivation, non-book products, nonprofit-cause-marketing, parenting, quizzes, Raising Digital Kids, rewards, Save the Children, Scholastic, Scholastic Summer challenge, schools, Shape Up Scholastic, SmartyCard, summer slide, teachers, TechMama, Trojan Horse, Virtual-Worlds, Webkinz

CCFC Successfully Knocks Sense Into Scholastic Re: Bratz Books

September 17, 2008 by Amy Jussel 5 Comments

As an anti-censorship media maven, I’m always reticent about ‘book bans’ of any sort, except when they’ve devolved into sexualized slop like Bratz diva doll toxic commercialism with mind-numbingly vapid, unhealthy behavioral "bratitude" and streetwalker style objectification. I far prefer the commercial free book fairs sans media tie-ins (here's how … [Read more...]

Filed Under: Advertising, Branding & Consumerism, Consumerism, Growing up too soon, Marketing Shaping Youth, Media Literacy, Product Placement, Sexualization & Body Image, Shaping Youth Tagged With: activism, book bans, Book Fairs, branding, Bratz, Bratz book fairs, CCFC, commercialism, corporate responsibility, dads and daughters, girls self esteem, hasbro pussycat dolls, Marketing in schools, objectification, Packaging-Girlhood, parent mobilization, preteen-health, Scholastic, sexualization of children, Susan Linn, toxic media, unethical marketing