Scholastic is an American children's and educational publisher founded in 1920, known for school book clubs and fairs and as the US publisher of Harry Potter and The Hunger Games.
Scholastic is a publisher based in New York City, founded in 1920. We track 1,233 editions it published between 1957 and 2025, 83 of them first editions across 1,139 books. How Scholastic marked its first editions is set out below, with a checker for the year on your title page.
About Scholastic
Scholastic is an American publisher and distributor of children's books and educational material, founded on 22 October 1920 by Maurice R. Robinson in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania, near Pittsburgh, as a publisher of magazines for young people. It is now based in the Scholastic Building in New York City.
Much of its reach comes from school book clubs, usually run by teachers, and from the school book fairs it has supplied since 1981. It bought the encyclopaedia publisher Grolier in 2000 for $400 million. Richard Robinson, the founder's son, ran the company from 1975 until his death in 2021, and Peter Warwick is now chief executive. It set up a publishing arm in England in 1964, and its British list, through the Point imprint, published the UK first editions of Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials, starting with Northern Lights in 1995.
Scholastic holds the US publishing rights to the Harry Potter books, which it issued from 1998 beginning with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, and to The Hunger Games, whose first edition Scholastic Press published in 2008. Long-running series on its list include Clifford the Big Red Dog, The Magic School Bus, Goosebumps, Captain Underpants, The Baby-Sitters Club and Animorphs.
Holding a copy? The first edition checker shows Scholastic's practice for the year on your title page.
Identification
How to identify Scholastic first editions
British practice
Scholastic's US hardcovers carry a dated edition statement on the copyright page and a number line; a first printing keeps the 1 in that line.
United States
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (1998): the first printing states "First American edition, October 1998" and has a full number line that includes 1.
The Hunger Games (Scholastic Press, 2008): the first printing has a full number line, and the jacket price is $17.99.
United Kingdom
Northern Lights (Point, Scholastic, 1995): the first-state jacket has "POINT" on the spine, the price £12.99 and the address 7-9 Pratt Street.
US first editions
A modern Scholastic first printing is identified by its number line: a complete line that still includes the 1.
How to read it
A Scholastic first printing carries a number line on the copyright page that includes a 1, and the 1 is removed from later printings, so the lowest number left is the printing.
Traps
The British first comes first. For the Harry Potter books the true first edition is Bloomsbury's; the Scholastic book is the first American edition.
Examples
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (1998): the first printing's copyright page reads "First American edition, October 1998" and has a number line that includes the 1. The true first edition of the work is the 1997 Bloomsbury Philosopher's Stone.
Scholastic's US hardcovers carry a dated edition statement on the copyright page and a number line; a first printing keeps the 1 in that line. United States - Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (1998): the first printing states "First American edition, October 1998" and has a full number line that includes 1. - The Hunger Games (Scholastic Press, 2008): the first printing has a full number line
How many Scholastic books does MyVolumes track?
We track 1,233 editions published by Scholastic, 83 of them first editions, across 1,139 books.
