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Scholastic Press
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Scholastic (or Scholastic Inc.) is a North American book publishing company known for publishing educational materials for schools, teachers, and parents, and selling and distributing them by mail order and via book clubs and book fairs. It also has the exclusive United States’ publishing rights to the Harry Potter book series. Scholastic Inc. is also the world’s largest publisher of children’s books.
In the 1970s, Scholastic Press was well-known mainly through their Scholastic Book Clubs, a mail-order service dealing in children’s books, and their magazine publications aimed at youths: Wow (preschoolers and elementary schoolers), Dynamite (pre-teens) and Bananas (teens).
Scholastic has grown its business most recently by acquiring other media companies, including Klutz, the animated television production company Soup2Nuts, the K–12 educational software publisher Tom Snyder Productions, and most significantly the reference publisher Grolier, which publishes the Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia and The New Book of Knowledge.
920, Maurice R.
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Encyclopedia
Scholastic (or Scholastic Inc.) is a North American book publishing company known for publishing educational materials for schools, teachers, and parents, and selling and distributing them by mail order and via book clubs and book fairs. It also has the exclusive United States’ publishing rights to the Harry Potter book series. Scholastic Inc. is also the world’s largest publisher of children’s books.
In the 1970s, Scholastic Press was well-known mainly through their Scholastic Book Clubs, a mail-order service dealing in children’s books, and their magazine publications aimed at youths: Wow (preschoolers and elementary schoolers), Dynamite (pre-teens) and Bananas (teens).
Scholastic has grown its business most recently by acquiring other media companies, including Klutz, the animated television production company Soup2Nuts, the K–12 educational software publisher Tom Snyder Productions, and most significantly the reference publisher Grolier, which publishes the Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia and The New Book of Knowledge.
History
In 1920, Maurice R. “Robbie” Robinson founded the business he named Scholastic Publishing Company in his hometown of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. As a publisher of youth magazines, the first publication was The Western Pennsylvania Scholastic. It covered high school sports and debuted on October 22, 1920.
In 1926, Scholastic published its first book, Saplings, which was a collection of selected student writings by the winners of the Scholastic Writing Awards.
For many years the company continued its focus on serving the youth market through the relatively low cost of magazine publication. So, even with the later transition into paperback books, the company continued under the name Scholastic Magazines, Inc., through the 1970s.
After World War II, cheap paperback books became available. In 1948, Scholastic entered the school book club business with its division T.A.B., or Teen Age Book Club with classic titles priced at 25 cents.
In 1957, Scholastic established its first international subsidiary, Scholastic Canada, in Toronto.
The company published paperback books under its division Scholastic Book Services. These were offered to school students via classroom mail order catalogs, known as the Scholastic Book Club. Along with the New York and Toronto publishing locations, the division also expanded further internationally to operate in London, Auckland, and Sydney by the 1960s. By 1974, the paperback book division had expanded into Tokyo as well.
In 1974, Richard “Dick” Robinson, the son of founder M. R. Robinson, became President of Scholastic Inc. He was named Chief Executive Officer in 1975 and Chairman in 1982, and still remains in those positions as of December 2008.
In 1997, Scholastic purchased the U.S. publication rights to the first Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, it was renamed Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in order to appeal to American children. It has continued publishing the Potter books, all of which have been record best sellers.
The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards
Founded in 1923 by Maurice R. Robinson, The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, administered by the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, have encouraged more than 13 million students, recognized more than 2.5 million young artists and writers, and distributed more than US$25 million in awards and scholarships. Each year, more than 77,000 students in grades 7 – 12 participate in The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. The Awards are structured to identify and recognize students through regional award designations (including Gold Key, Silver Key and Honorable Mention) and then national designations (Gold Award, Silver Award). The regional awards are administered by a network of affiliates that is comprised of school systems and school boards, nonprofit organizations, government agencies, foundations, arts agencies, businesses, libraries, teacher councils and institutions of higher education that share a commitment to identifying emerging artists and writers in their communities. In the United States, the process begins as young artists and writers submit more than 100,000 creative works to Regional Affiliates. The most outstanding works of art and writing (Gold Key and Silver Key winners) from each region are forwarded to the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers in New York City to be reviewed on a national level. Panels of professional jurors review approximately 8,000 works of art and 2,000 manuscripts to select the 1,200 national award recipients.
An early, undated, statement of purpose articulates the founding vision of The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards as:
“To give those students who demonstrate superior talent and achievement in things of the spirit and of the mind at least a fraction of the honors and rewards accorded to their athletic classmates for demonstrating their bodily skills.”
In the last 85 years, The Scholastic Art and Writing Awards have recognized some of the most remarkable minds of the 20th century, including Richard Anuskiewicz, Richard Avedon, Harry Bertoia, Mel Bochner, Truman Capote, Paul Davis, Frances Farmer, Red Grooms, Robert Indiana, Bernard Malamud, Joyce Maynard, Joyce Carol Oates, Phillip Pearlstein, Peter Beagle, Sylvia Plath, Robert Redford, Jean Stafford, Mozelle Thompson, Ned Vizzini, Andy Warhol and Charles White.
Corporate divisions and subsidiaries
- Scholastic Marketing Partners/QED (Quality Education Data)
- Scholastic Trade Books
- Imprints/divisions:
- Scholastic Press
- Arthur A. Levine Books
- Cartwheel Books
- The Chicken House
- Children’s Press
- Franklin Watts
- Graphix
- Little Shepherd
- Michael di Capua Books
- Orchard Books
- PUSH
- Scholastic en español
- Scholastic Paperbacks
- Scholastic Reference
- The Blue Sky Press
- Scholastic Book Fairs
- Scholastic Book Clubs
- Scholastic At Home
- Scholastic Classroom Magazines
- Scholastic Parents Media
- Lectorum Publications
- Scholastic Education
- Scholastic Media
- Scholastic Library Publishing
- Scholastic National Service Organization
- eScholastic
- Scholastic Canada Ltd.
- Scholastic UK Ltd.
- Scholastic India Ltd.
- TeachersPayTeachers.com (a recent acquisition)
Selected list of publications
Scholastic Media
Scholastic Media is a production company that produces such shows like Clifford the Big Red Dog, Clifford's Puppy Days, Goosebumps and many more.
Book Clubs
Scholastic book clubs are offered at schools in many countries. Typically, teachers administer the program to the students in their own classes, but in some cases, the program is administered by a central contact for the entire school.
Book clubs are arranged by age/grade:
- Honeybee -- 2-4 year olds
- Firefly -- Preschool
- Seesaw -- Kindergarten and Grade 1
- Lucky -- Grades 2 & 3
- Arrow -- Grades 4, 5, & 6
- TAB -- Grades 7 and up
In Canada, the club listing is as follows
- Elf -- preschool
- SeeSaw -- K - 1
- Lucky -- 2 - 3
- Arrow -- 4 - 6
- TRC (Teen Reading Club) -- 7+
- Click! (software) -- Pre K to 8
- Specials -- K to 6
- Club de lecture (French) -- Pre K to 8
And for Australia:
- Wombat -- Preschool and Kindergarten
- Lucky -- K - 2
- Arrow -- 2 - 4
- Star -- 5+
Scholastic also offers a host of specialty book club fliers including Club Leo (Spanish language for grades K-8), and Click (Computer games and media for all ages).
Scholastic typically offers participating schools and classrooms 1 "point" for every dollar (or local unit of currency) of products ordered. Additional points may be earned during special promotion times, such as the beginning of the school year. Points may then be redeemed for books and school supplies at a rate of approximately 20 points to the dollar. At minimum, schools earn 5% of book orders in free products. With special promotions, return rate can be higher (15–100%).
Going Green
Under the guidance of the Rainforest Alliance and other environmental groups, 30 percent of the publication paper Scholastic buys will be Forest Stewardship Council-certified within five years. A quarter of the paper it uses also will be recycled, with 75 percent being post-consumer waste.
The company bought 95,000 tons of paper in fiscal year 2007. Only 4 percent of that was FSC-certified, and 11 percent contained post-consumer waste fiber.
Scholastic's new website geared toward children is called Scholastic ACT GREEN! It includes interactive feature to allow children to create e-cards, "green" plans and earn "green" points.
"Our five-year goals for FSC-certified and recycled paper purchases are ambitious but achievable and important," said Maureen O'Connell, Scholastic’s chief financial officer and chief administrative officer.
O’Connell added that Scholastic set records last year with the printing of the seventh Harry Potter book on environmentally sound paper. The company also plans to use practice green building principles in the construction and maintenance in its headquarters and other buildings.
Scholastic Parents Media
Scholastic Parents Media is a division of Scholastic Corporation. In addition to publishing Scholastic Parent & Child Magazine, the group also specializes in and custom programs designed for parents and children ages 0–6.
Online Learning Tools
In recent years, Scholastic has launched an online learning tool for grades 3-6. Study Jams was created with the intention of making learning easier and more entertaining for children in these grades. It can be used by parents, teachers, schools, and libraries. With the use of real world math and science examples, Scholastic has successfully branched into the cyber world.
Criticism
Scholastic has been criticized for inappropriately marketing to children. A significant number of titles carried have strong media tie-ins and are considered relatively short in literary and artistic merit by some critics.
Consumer groups have also attacked Scholastic for selling too many toys and video games to children, rather than focusing on just books. See http://www.detentionslip.org/2009/02/scholastic-accused-of-misusing-book.html
See also
External links
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