Educational Tool Will Help Parents Search for Books Based on Children’s Reading Ability

Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the world’s largest bookseller, today announced that it will offer customers the ability to search for books by Lexile® measure both in stores and online at Barnes & Noble.com (www.bn.com). Recognized as the most widely used reading measure, a Lexile helps young readers develop important literacy skills by selecting materials that match both their reading level and interests. The company said that later this fall, customers of Barnes & Noble stores and Barnes & Noble.com will be able to search for specific books by Lexile measure.

“Our goal is to serve our customers with all of the information they need to make the best book choices,” said Steve Riggio, chief executive officer of Barnes & Noble, Inc. “By adding Lexile measures to our online and in-store book searches, we are offering parents a powerful tool that will help to take the guesswork out of selecting the ‘right’ books for their children that support positive, enjoyable reading experiences.”

Developed by MetaMetrics, Inc., Lexile Framework® for Reading is used at the school level in all 50 states and by more than 150 publishers. The Lexile score, which is represented by a number followed by the letter “L” (such as 850L), is a true measure of a child’s reading ability that may not necessarily correlate with grade level. The Lexile score gives parents options for reading recommendations that are customized for their child’s individual needs and interests. Each year, tens of millions of Lexile measures are reported from reading assessments and programs, representing about half of U.S. students. More than 115,000 books and 80 million articles have Lexile measures, and these numbers continue to grow.

Today, Barnes & Noble.com product pages display the Lexile measure for all titles currently in the Lexile Book Database. In addition, Barnes & Noble will add Lexile measures to up to 5,000 books from its own publishing imprints.

“When the world’s largest bookseller recognizes the value you provide, you have reached an exciting milestone,” said MetaMetrics President Malbert Smith III, Ph.D. “While Lexile measures have been widely embraced by the education, testing and publishing communities, Barnes & Noble is our first major consumer retail partner and we are looking forward to rolling out this campaign.” Smith continued, “Most importantly, this partnership is about building national literacy.