NEW YORK, N.Y. — Aug. 4, 2009 — Scholastic Book Clubs today announced the bestselling books in its five core clubs for the ’08-’09 school year. Scholastic Book Clubs, a division of Scholastic (NASDAQ: SCHL), the global children’s publishing, education and media company, has for more than 60 years helped generations of children become passionate readers and learners.

"This list shows an exciting diversity in the books kids are choosing to read for fun today," said Judy Newman, President of Scholastic Book Clubs. "We were amazed to see that kids are excited about everything from classics like The Outsiders and Corduroy, to future classics like Twilight and Diary of a Wimpy Kid, and still have time for fun titles like Ripley's Believe It or Not! and Pokémon."

Book Clubs for the ‘09-‘10 school year will include new novels by Kate DiCamillo and Gordon Korman, more titles in the Fancy Nancy, Bear, Magic Tree House, Junie. B. Jones, Judy Moody, and Stink collections, the highly-anticipated fourth title in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, the paperback edition of Wednesday Wars, a brand-new series by the creator of A to Z Mysteries, and exclusive and affordable editions of If You Give a Pig a Party by Laura Numeroff and Purplicious by Victoria Kann. Each month, Scholastic Book Clubs will continue to offer a $1 book to help make quality books affordable for every child.

The bestsellers for the five, core book clubs in 08-09 are:

Firefly® (PreK)
If You Take a Mouse to the Movies by Laura Numeroff, illustrated by Felicia Bond (HarperCollins)
Five Green and Speckled Frogs by Priscilla Burris (Cartwheel)
Corduroy by Don Freeman (Viking Juvenile)
The Snow Bear by Miriam Moss, illustrated by Maggie Kneen (Dutton Juvenile)
Pinkalicious by Victoria Kann and Elizabeth Kann (HarperCollins)
Llama Llama Mad at Mama by Anna Dewdney (Viking Juvenile)
Go Away, Big Green Monster! by Ed Emberley (Little, Brown and Company)
The Very Hungry Caterpillar Board Book by Eric Carle (Philomel)
Fish Is Fish by Leo Lionni (Knopf Books for Young Readers)
The Rabbit and the Turtle by Eric Carle (Orchard Books)

SeeSaw® (Grades K-1)
The Legend of Spookley the Square Pumpkin by Joe Troiano, illustrated by Susan Banta (Sterling)
I SPY a Pumpkin by Jean Marzollo, photographs by Walter Wick (Cartwheel)
The Little Penguin by A. J. Wood, illustrated by Stephanie Boey (Penguin)
The Big Snowball by Wendy Cheyette Lewison, illustrated by Maryann Cocca-Leffler (Grosset & Dunlap)
First Day Jitters by Julie Danneberg, illustrated by Judith Dufour Love (Charlesbridge Publishing)
Fancy Nancy and the Boy from Paris by Jane O’Connor, illustrated by Robin Preiss Glasser and Ted Enik (HarperCollins)
How Do Dinosaurs Go to School? by Jane Yolen, illustrated by Mark Teague (The Blue Sky Press)
Skippy Jon Jones and the Big Bones by Judy Schachner (Dutton)
Biscuit and the Little Pup by Alyssa Satin Capucilli and Pat Schories (Harper Collins)
Bear Feels Sick by Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman (Simon and Schuster)

Lucky® (Grades 2-3)
Pokemon: Ultimate Handbook by Cris Silverstri
Don’t Bump the Glump! and Other Fantasies by Shel Silverstein (HarperCollins)
Magic Tree House #37: Dragon of the Red Dawn by Mary Pope Osborne (Random House Books for Young Readers)
Scholastic Children's Dictionary (Scholastic Reference)
Back-to-School Fright from the Black Lagoon by Mike Thaler, illustrated by Jared Lee (Scholastic)
Junie B. Jones, First Grader: Dumb Bunny by Barbara Park, illustrated by Denise Brunkus (Random House Books for Young Readers)
A to Z Mystery: White House White-Out by Ron Roy (Random House)
Lost in the Storm by Holly Webb (Scholastic)
Daisy Dawson is On Her Way by Steve Voake (Candlewick)
Stink and the World's Worst Super Stinky Sneakers by Megan McDonald Candlewick)

Arrow® (Grades 4-6)
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw (Amulet Books)
Ripley's Believe It or Not! Special Edition
Frindle by Andrew Clements, illustrated by Brian Selznick (Aladdin)
The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo, illustrated by Timothy Basil Ering (Candlewick)
How I Survived Middle School: Who's Got Spirit? by Nancy Krulik (Scholastic)
Tunnels Swindle by Gordon Korman (Scholastic)
Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell (Yearling)
How to Steal a Dog by Barbara O’Connor (Square Fish)
Barack Obama: Our 44th President by Beatrice Gormley (Aladdin)

TAB® (Grades 7 and Up)
Twilight by Stephenie Meyer (Little, Brown Young Readers)
Found by Margaret Peterson Haddix (Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing)
More Coke or Pepsi? by Mickey Gill and Cheryl Gill (Fine Print Publishing)
The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt (Clarion Books)
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson (Puffin)
The Outsiders by S. E. Hinton (Viking Press)
Wait Till Helen Comes: A Ghost Story by Mary Downing Hahn (Sandpiper)
The Fire Eternal by Chris D’Lacey (Orchard Books)
Deep Down Popular by Phoebe Stone (Scholastic)
Chronicles of Vladimir Tod: Eighth Grade Bites by Heather Brewer (Duton)

About Scholastic Book Clubs:
For more than 60 years, Scholastic Book Clubs has provided monthly catalogues offering top quality books and reading materials from all publishers to teachers and students in pre-school through high school. Seven different Scholastic Book Clubs reach over one million teachers each month, providing the most sought-after titles at affordable prices for children in classrooms nationwide. Over 80% of all elementary school teachers in the United States participate in Scholastic Book Clubs. Today, more than half of the orders from parents and teachers are received online through Scholastic Book Clubs' new online ordering system.

CONTACT:

Scholastic Tyler Reed
212-343-6427
treed@scholastic.com