Scholastic Corporation is an American multinational publishing, education, and media company that publishes and distributes books, comics, and educational materials for schools, teachers, parents, children, and other educational institutions. Products are distributed via retail and online sales and through schools via reading clubs and book fairs.
Clifford the Big Red Dog, a character created by Norman Bridwell in 1963, serves as the company's mascot.
Company history
Scholastic was founded in 1920 by Maurice R. Robinson near Pittsburgh as a publisher of youth magazines. Its first publication, The Western Pennsylvania Scholastic, covered high school sports and social activities. The four-page magazine debuted on October 22, 1920, and was distributed in 50 high schools. More publications followed under Scholastic Magazines. In 1948, Scholastic entered the book club business. The company incorporated its first international subsidiary, Scholastic Canada, in 1957. During the 1960s, it established other international publishing locations in England (1964), New Zealand (1964), and Sydney (1968), while also entering the book publishing business. In the 1970s, Scholastic created its TV entertainment division. From 1975 until his death in 2021, Richard Robinson, son of the corporation's founder, served as CEO and president. Scholastic began trading on the Nasdaq on May 12, 1987.
In 2000, Scholastic purchased Grolier for $400 million,"French Plan to Sell Grolier", Publishers Weekly, 11/29/1999"Scholastic to Acquire Grolier", press release, Scholastic Inc., 4/13/2000. and it expanded into video collections the following year. Scholastic developed FASTT Math with Tom Snyder in 2005 to improve student proficiency in multiplication, division, addition, and subtraction through a series of games and memorization quizzes gauging the student's progress. Partnering with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in 2011, Scholastic developed READ 180 to help students with their reading skills. In February 2012, Scholastic acquired Weekly Reader Publishing from the Reader's Digest Association. In July 2012, Scholastic announced plans to discontinue separate issues of Weekly Reader after more than a century of publication, co-branding the magazines as Scholastic News/Weekly Reader. In 2013, the company developed System 44 with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt to further support reading development. Scholastic sold READ 180 to Houghton Mifflin Harcourt in 2015. In December 2015, it launched the Scholastic Reads Podcasts. On October 22, 2020, Scholastic celebrated its 100th anniversary.
On September 29, 2026, Scholastic announced that it would acquire Cottage Door Press for $71 million, excluding its Luna StoryTime business, which will be spun-off and continued to be led by its founder and CEO, Dick Maddrell.
Company structure Scholastic Corporation has three business segments: Children's Book Publishing and Distribution, Education Solutions, International and Entertainment. Scholastic holds the perpetual US publishing rights to Harry Potter and The Hunger Games. It is the world's largest publisher and distributor of children's books, alongside print and digital educational materials for pre-K through grade 12. Scholastic is known for its school book clubs and book fairs, classroom magazines such as Scholastic News and Science World, and popular book series including Clifford the Big Red Dog, The Magic School Bus, Goosebumps, Horrible Histories, Captain Underpants, Dumb Bunnies, Animorphs, The Baby-Sitters Club, and I Spy. Scholastic also publishes instructional reading and writing programs, and offers professional learning and consultancy services for school improvement.
Marketing initiatives
Founded in 1923 by Maurice R. Robinson, The Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, administered by the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, is a competition which recognizes talented young artists and writers from across the United States.
Imprints and corporate divisions
Trade Publishing Imprints include: Arthur A. Levine Books, which specializes in fiction and non-fiction books for young readers. The imprint was founded at Scholastic in 1996 by Arthur Levine in New York City. The first book published by Arthur A. Levine Books was When She Was Good by Norma Fox Mazer in autumn 1997. The imprint is most notable as the publisher of the American editions of the Harry Potter series by J. K. Rowling. In March 2019, Levine left Scholastic to form his own new publisher. Scholastic retained Levine's back catalogue. The Chicken House Graphix, a graphic novel imprint started in 2005. Klutz Press Orchard Books Scholastic Australia – made up of Koala Books, Margaret Hamilton Books, Omnibus Books, and Scholastic Corporation. Children's Press (spelled "" from 1945 to 1996) – founded in 1945, and formerly headquartered in 1224 West Van Buren Street, Chicago until it was acquired by Grolier in 1995 moving its operations to New York City and Danbury, Connecticut. It became part of Scholastic Corporation in 2000. It published various publications such as the Rookie Read-About series, A True Book series, Young People's series (Young People's Science Encyclopedia (underwent 10 editions during its 31-year printing from 1962 to 1993 which are 1962, 1964–1966, 1970, 1978, 1982, 1987, 1991, and 1993), and New Frontiers in Science and Young People's Science Dictionary (1964) by the staff of National College of Education (now National Louis University), Young People's World (1966), Young People's Illustrated Encyclopedia (1972), and Young People's Animal Encyclopedia (1980) by Maurice Burton), and the Getting to Know series, and it also has a secondary imprint, Franklin Watts. 9 Story Media Group – founded in 2002, is a media company in Canada. In March 2024, Scholastic announced it would acquire complete economic interest and minority voting rights in the company for $186 million; the transaction closed on June 21, 2024. Scholastic Reference publishes reference books.
Scholastic Entertainment
Scholastic Entertainment (formerly Scholastic Productions and Scholastic Media) is a corporate division led by Deborah Forte since 1995. It covers "all forms of media and consumer products, and is four main groups – Productions, Marketing & Consumer Products, Interactive, and Audio." Weston Woods is its production studio, acquired in 1996, as was Soup2Nuts (best known for Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist, Science Court, Home Movies and WordGirl) from 2001 to 2015 before shutting down.Scholastic has produced audiobooks like the Caldecott/Newbery Collection; Scholastic has been involved with several television programs and feature films based on its books. In 1985, Scholastic Productions teamed with Karl-Lorimar Home Video, a home video unit of Lorimar Productions, to form the line Scholastic-Lorimar Home Video, whereas Scholastic would produce made-for-video programming, and became a best-selling video line for kids, and the pact expired for two years, whereas Scholastic would team up with leading independent family video distributor and a label of International Video Entertainment, Family Home Entertainment, to distribute made-for-video programming for the next three years.
Streaming service On September 17, 2025, Scholastic launched a free streaming app called Scholastic TV, which contains Clifford the Big Red Dog, The Magic School Bus and other television series created by Scholastic Entertainment. The app is catered towards children aged 2 to 12. It is available on Roku, Amazon Fire TV, iOS, and Android. Filmography
Series Title Year(s) Network Co-production with Voyagers! 1982–83 NBC James D. Parriott Productions & Universal Television (owner) Charles in Charge 1984–851987–90 CBSSyndication Al Burton Productions & Universal Television (owner) Scholastic's Blue Ribbon Storybook Video 1986 Direct-to-video Nelvana & Karl-Lorimar Home Video (owner) Clifford the Big Red Dog 1988 Nelvana My Secret Identity 1988–91 CTV (Canada)Syndication (U.S.) Sunrise Films (owner), MCA TV Parent Survival Guide 1989 Lifetime The Baby-Sitters Club 1990–93 Direct-to-videoHBO Amber Films, Ltd. The Magic School Bus 1994–97 PBS Kids Nelvana & South Carolina ETV Goosebumps 1995–98 Fox Kids Protocol Entertainment Animorphs 1998–99 Nickelodeon (U.S.)YTV/Global (Canada) Dear America 1999–2000 HBO Family Clifford the Big Red Dog 2000–03 PBS Kids Mike Young Productions Horrible Histories 2000–01 CITV Mike Young Productions & Telegael I Spy 2002–03 HBO Family The Ink Tank (season 1) & JWL Entertainment Productions (season 2) Clifford's Puppy Days 2003–06 PBS Kids Mike Young Productions (season 1) Maya & Miguel 2004–07 PBS Kids Go! The Amazing Colossal Adventures of WordGirl (interstitial series) 2006–07 PBS Kids Soup2Nuts WordGirl 2007–15 Turbo Dogs 2008–11 Kids' CBC (Canada)Qubo (U.S.) Smiley Guy Studios, Huhu Studios, CCI Entertainment (owner) Sammy's Story Shop 2008–09 Qubo The Day My Butt Went Psycho! 2013–15 Nine Network (Australia)Teletoon (Canada) NelvanaStudio MoshiBrain Bender Pty Ltd. Astroblast! 2014–15 Sprout Soup2Nuts The Magic School Bus Rides Again 2017–21 Netflix 9 Story Media Group and Brown Bag Films His Dark Materials 2019–22 BBC OneHBO BBC Studios, Bad Wolf (owner), New Line Productions Clifford the Big Red Dog 2019–21 Prime VideoPBS Kids 9 Story Media Group, Brown Bag Films, 100 Chickens Stillwater 2020–present Apple TV+ Gaumont Animation Puppy Place 2021–22 Eva the Owlet 2023–25 Brown Bag Films Goosebumps Disney+/Hulu Original Film, Stoller Global Solutions, Gifted And Talented Camp and Sony Pictures Television (owner)Clifford the Big Red Dog2027PBS Kids9 Story Media Group and Brown Bag Films Fortune Falls TBA TBA Gaumont Animation Rocket Park
Specials Title Airdate Network Notes Mystery at Fire Island November 27, 1981 CBS The Haunted Mansion Mystery January 8–15, 1983 ABC The Magic of Herself the Elf July 30, 1983 Syndication Nelvana, Those Characters from Cleveland (owner) The Great Love Experiment February 8, 1984 ABC A Different Twist March 10, 1984 ABC The Almost Royal Family October 24, 1984 ABC The Exchange Student January 22, 1985 CBS The Adventures of a Two-Minute Werewolf February 23-March 2, 1985 ABC High School Narc December 4, 1985 ABC Getting Even: A Wimp's Revenge March 19, 1986 ABC The Incredible Ida Early May 29, 1987 NBC Read Between the Lines June 3, 1987 ABC Song City USAMore Song City USA September 1989 Direct-to-video Floor Time: Tuning In to Each Child 1990 Direct-to-video Riding the Magic School Bus with Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen September 1992 Direct-to-video The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Other Stories 1993 Direct-to-video U.S. version of The World of Eric Carle Stellaluna 2003 Direct-to-video
Films