Chicken Soup for the Soul Launches Anti-Bullying Program in Schools Nationwide

COS COB, Conn., Jan. 26, 2016 /PRNewswire/ For more than 20 years, educators have used Chicken Soup for the Soul books in classrooms to encourage reading and to provide advice and support for students of all ages. Now Chicken Soup for the Soul has teamed up with education experts, anti-bullying experts, and the nonprofit Boniuk Foundation to bring Chicken Soup for the Soul Hallway Heroes, a literacy-based anti-bullying program, to schools nationwide.

Where other programs react to bullying situations that have already occurred, Chicken Soup for the Soul Hallway Heroes is a proactive anti-bullying programaiming to promote respect and compassion and to stop bullying behaviors before they even start. Chicken Soup for the Soul Hallway Heroes teaches important social and emotional learning skills to students through literacy-based lesson plans, making it easy to integrate the program into an already busy school day.

This character building turnkey program uses the power of storytelling to promote literacy at the same time that it fights bullying behavior. There are 12 lesson plans per grade (initially available for grades 1-6), aligned both nationally and to all 50 states' specific literacy and social emotional standards. Chicken Soup for the Soul Hallway Heroes was developed with Resources for Learning, a leading education consulting firm with more than 25 years experience, and has a teacher training program presented by Alex Kajitani, a California Teacher of the Year who was a finalist for National Teacher of the Year and is best known as "the rappin' mathematician."

Chicken Soup for the Soul Hallway Heroes is on sale now nationwide for first through sixth grades. The curriculum will be expanded to seventh through twelfth grades during the next two academic years. For more information or to contact a Chicken Soup for the Soul sales representative, visit www.chickensoup.com/hallwayheroes.

"Teachers have been using Chicken Soup for the Soul in the classroom for 20 years, but this is the first time that we have created a comprehensive curriculum using our stories. Chicken Soup for the Soul Hallway Heroes is one of the most important projects we have ever undertaken and we are excited and proud to be part of the solution to the bullying behaviors that plague our schools today. We look forward to helping create heroes not only in our school hallways, but also in classrooms, on playgrounds, in homes, online, and in our communities," said William J. Rouhana, Jr., CEO of Chicken Soup for the Soul.

"I have been reading Chicken Soup for the Soul books for years and I am excited about the impact these stories can have on our schools. Our new anti-bullying program, built around these real-life stories about young people, will help promote the good values in students that will crowd out the behaviors that lead to bullying. This is part of our foundation's larger mission to create more tolerance, respect, compassion, and kindness in all segments of society," said Dr. Milton Boniuk, founder of The Boniuk Foundation.

ABOUT CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE SOUL
Chicken Soup for the Soul, the world's favorite and most recognized storyteller, publishes the famous Chicken Soup for the Soul book series. With well over 100 million books sold to date in the U.S. and Canada alone, more than 250 titles, and translations into more than 40 languages, "chicken soup for the soul" is one of the world's best-known phrases and is regularly referenced in pop culture. Today, 23 years after it first began sharing happiness, inspiration and hope through its books, this socially conscious company continues to publish a new title a month, but has also evolved beyond the bookstore with super premium pet food, television shows and movies, and a variety of other digital content and licensed products, all inspired by stories, as it continues "changing the world one story at a time ."

ABOUT THE BONIUK FOUNDATION
The Boniuk Foundation, a nonprofit organization founded by Dr. Milton and Laurie Boniuk, believes in the simple principle that all religions, cultures, and ethnicities have a unique contribution to share with the world. As the world becomes increasingly interconnected, it is all the more important for differences among individuals to be celebrated and not feared. Their mission beckons us to believe in a better tomorrow. Through strategic program development and partnerships with organizations that share in that belief, they seek to establish a new status quo in which diversity is cherished and compassion is valued. The Boniuk Foundation supports the development of innovative and research-based techniques, geared towards educating young and adult populations, in hopes of producing universal tolerance, respect, and compassion among all individuals.

ABOUT THE PARTNERSHIP
The Boniuk Foundation is working with Chicken Soup for the Soul to promote tolerance, respect, and compassion, inspiring young people and adults to embrace their differences, reject stereotypes, and make good choices. Chicken Soup for the Soul Hallway Heroes, a literacy-based anti-bullying program, brings these messages to the classroom. This proactive educational program uses stories from Chicken Soup for the Soul books to improve literacy while teaching social and emotional learning skills to students. The result is that students learn to accept and respect people regardless of race, religion, ethnicity, and cultureone story at a time. A related half-hour weekly TV series, Chicken Soup for the Soul's Hidden Heroes, on THE CBS DREAM TEAMIT'S EPIC!, reveals the untapped reservoir of good, kindness and compassion in our world and reinforces the messages of this overall effort. For more information, visit www.chickensoup.com/hallwayheroes.

For more information or to request an interview,
please contact Jo-Ann Geffen at (818) 905-5511 or jgeffen@jagpr.com

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160125/325631

SOURCE Chicken Soup for the Soul