Scholastic Inc. is the largest publisher and distributor of children’s books in the United States. They also operate companies in Argentina, Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, The Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and the United Kingdom. They license to foreign publishing companies to release titles into over 25 languages. They publish both fiction and nonfiction, picture books, chapter books, teaching materials, films and television shows, and software.
Scholastic Inc. is a publicly held company that trades on NASDAQ under the ticker symbol SCHL. They publish approximately 500 hardcover and paperback titles annually.
In America, Scholastic is best known for its distribution method. They sell books through the regular bookstores, but they also run a nationwide mail-order book club service through the school systems. Every month they send out a small 4-8 page catalog (there are a number of different ones for different age groups, see below) for the students; the teachers are responsible for gathering and sending in the orders of their students, and receiving and distributing the books when they arrive. This is not limited to the public schools; a number of private schools and home schooling 'groups' also participate. Free books and other prizes are given depending on how much a given group orders.
Scholastic has published a number of well-known books, including Harry Potter, A Series of Unfortunate Events, Captain Underpants, The Baby-Sitters club, Goosebumps, Clifford the Big Red Dog, the I Spy books, The Magic School bus, and many others. They are licensed to print materials related to Barney, Star Wars, Scooby Doo, and others.
I haven't been able to find a comprehensive list of their imprints, but here's a incomplete list:
Scholastic is also a publishing partner with
Chicken House.
Scholastic Entertainment is a division of Scholastic Inc. that produces and distributes family-oriented television shows, feature films, and videos through Weston Woods Studios and Soup2Nuts. It also develops software and web sites.
The book clubs are as follows;
Honeybee -- Toddlers to four-year-olds
Children's first picture books, board books, and learning materials.
Firefly -- PreK
Read-alouds, picture books, and hands-on learning materials.
SeeSaw -- Kindergarten to 1st grade.
For students who are learning to read.
Lucky -- Grades 2 and 3
Books for transitional readers to advanced chapter books.
Arrow -- Grades 4 thru 6
Books "guaranteed to keep kids reading".
Tab -- Grades 7 and up
Books for teens.
Club Leo -- Grades PreK thru 8
Books in Spanish, English, and bilingual editions from the U.S., Latin-America, and Spain.
Click Interactive Software Club
Skill-building software.
Scholastic has also acquired Troll Carnival (grades K thru 7) and Trumpet (PreK thru 6); these have their own book clubs, which overlap the ones above. To the best of my knowledge there are no plans to phase out the overlapping clubs.
Scholastic Inc.
557 Broadway
New York, NY 10012-3999
(212) 343-6100