New York, NY June 22, 2003 --Scholastic's Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, J.K. Rowling's fifth Harry Potter book, hit bookstores nationwide at midnight on June 21, 2003 and once again Harry Potter made history. Early reports estimate that Scholastic broke all publishing records, selling an unprecedented 5 million copies of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix in its first day. Scholastic had a record breaking first print-run of 6.8 million and a second printing of 1.7 million of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

"J.K. Rowling and Harry Potter have once again reached a new milestone in publishing history with the extraordinary first printing and unprecedented sales of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," commented Barbara Marcus, President, Scholastic Children's Books. "It is extraordinary to publish this magical book which is being read by millions of children and adults across the country at this very moment. Jo Rowling has once again written a novel that will be treasured by many generations to come."

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is the follow-up book to J.K. Rowling's #1 best-sellers Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. On July 8, 2000 Scholastic published Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire which, at the time, broke all publishing records with a first printing of 3.8 million. The book sold an unprecedented 3 million copies in its first weekend on sale sending Scholastic back to press for an additional 3 million copies. There are currently over 80 million copies of the first four Harry Potter books in print. Each of the books has been a #1 bestseller and continues to remain on bestseller lists.

Scholastic (NMS: SCHL) is the world's largest publisher and distributor of children's books. As a global children's publishing and media company serving the needs of parents, teachers, and children, Scholastic provides proprietary book and software distribution through school book clubs, school book fairs and to classrooms, as well as through the retail trade. Since 1920, Scholastic has created quality educational materials for schools and has expanded its reach to include the distribution of books, software, toys, online learning services and television programming directly to the home. Scholastic's Grolier division is the leading print and online publisher of children's reference materials and the leader in children's direct-to-home book clubs. Internationally, Scholastic operates wholly owned companies in Argentina, Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, The Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and the United Kingdom. The U.S. Scholastic web site is http://www.scholastic.com.

Contacts:

Scholastic
Julie Livingston
(212) 343-6794
jlivingston@scholastic.com

Scholastic
Cindy So
(212) 343-6444
cso@scholastic.com