Executive Overview
As Highlights for Children marks its milestone 80th anniversary, its book-publishing arm, Highlights Press, is experiencing a period of extraordinary growth. Celebrating its 11th year of operation, the imprint has posted a remarkable 29% year-to-date sales surge, significantly outpacing both the broader children’s publishing market and the already booming activity-book sector.
Driven by a cultural recalibration regarding screen time, modern parents are increasingly turning to tactile, nondigital entertainment and education. Highlights Press has capitalized heavily on this shift. By transforming its operational infrastructure, expanding its catalog beyond its legendary magazine roots, and leaning into a direct line of communication with more than 400,000 children annually, the publisher has quietly broken into the upper echelons of the industry. Today, it ranks as the 17th largest children’s publisher, commanding substantial market share across juvenile nonfiction, early-learning workbooks, and interactive hobby and puzzle categories.
Detailed Chronology: From a Radical Founding Vision to an Evolving Publishing Powerhouse
To understand the modern success of Highlights Press, one must look at the evolutionary arc of the company—a journey spanning eight decades of shifting media landscapes, educational philosophies, and consumer habits.
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1946: The Foundation of Child-Centric Learning
Highlights for Children was founded in 1946 by Garry Cleveland Myers and Caroline Clark Myers. In an era when traditional education often prioritized rote memorization and top-down discipline, the Myerses introduced a radical philosophy: that children are capable, active thinkers whose voices, ideas, and curiosities deserve genuine respect. Their core mission was simple yet profound—to make learning joyful, fun, and deeply engaging, helping children become curious, creative, caring, and confident individuals.
2013–2015: The Birth of Highlights Press
For decades, the brand was synonymous with its iconic monthly magazine found in doctor’s offices, classrooms, and mailboxes across the globe. However, recognizing the need to diversify its formats and reach new audiences in bookstores and libraries, the company launched Highlights Press in the mid-2010s. This strategic imprint was designed to translate the trusted pedagogy of the magazine into standalone, trade-market books, spanning puzzle collections, activity pads, and non-consumable formats.
2017–2023: Strategic Expansion and Infrastructure Overhaul
As the digital age accelerated children’s screen consumption, Highlights methodically built out its physical footprint. In 2017, the company launched the Highlights Learning imprint, introducing structural workbooks designed to bridge play and core educational readiness.
Behind the scenes, however, the most critical evolution occurred between 2021 and 2023. Leadership orchestrated a complete operational restructuring on the sales, marketing, and distribution fronts. By assembling an elite management team to support its robust product development pipeline, Highlights optimized its marketing spend while maximizing effectiveness. Furthermore, the company tightened internal sales support for its primary distributor, Penguin Random House, transforming Highlights Press into a finely tuned, highly competitive publishing unit.
2024–Present: The 80th Anniversary and Record Growth
Entering its landmark 80th year, Highlights Press has reaped the rewards of this operational groundwork. Driven by explosive retail sales—such as The Hardest Hidden Pictures Ever, which moved 200,000 copies—and an innovative array of new science series, interactive board books, and maker kits, the imprint has solidified its standing as a formidable player in the modern juvenile publishing ecosystem.
Supporting Context & Metrics: Riding the Wave of the Screen-Free Movement
The meteoric rise of Highlights Press does not happen in a vacuum. It is deeply intertwined with broader sociological shifts in parenting, consumer spending, and the retail book market.
The Great Screen-Time Recalibration
According to Chris Bauerle, Vice President of Books and Retail at Highlights, the publishing industry is currently experiencing a profound cultural reset.
"I think that we are in, I wouldn’t say a moment, but a cultural reset or recalibration," Bauerle observed. "There’s a shift in how families are thinking about screen time. Consumers are saying they see children’s books as an incredible cure to this need they’re feeling to have their kids spend less time on screens and be more engaged with nondigital content."
This parental fatigue with digital devices has turned the activity-book category red-hot. BookScan data supplied by Bauerle reveals that Highlights Press’s year-to-date sales are up 29%, a velocity that comfortably outpaces the broader children’s book sector. The imprint now proudly holds the position of the 17th largest children’s publisher, with dominant positioning in three critical niches:
- Games, Activities, and Hobbies
- Juvenile Nonfiction
- Early-Learning Workbooks
Product Diversification and Library Penetration
While the magazine remains a cornerstone of the brand, Highlights Press has aggressively diversified its catalog into non-consumable books, a strategic move that has unlocked lucrative new avenues in public and school libraries.
Recent titles highlighting this shift include touch-and-feel baby books complete with crinkle-foil elements, such as Daddy’s Little Burrito and Grandma’s Little Love Bug, alongside innovative novelty titles like Unicorn Surprise!, which features tactile felt flaps and an integrated mirror.
On the educational and nonfiction front, the publisher has seen stellar performance from series designed to foster inquiry-based learning. Last year saw the debut of The Ultimate Science Cookbook for Kids, followed by the early 2026 launch of Space, the inaugural title in the ambitious Why, How, and Wow! science series (with a Dinosaurs volume slated for 2027). Each book in the series tackles more than 150 authentic questions posed by children, eschewing easy answers in favor of open-ended prompts that encourage young readers to think critically and discover solutions independently.
Meanwhile, the Highlights Learning imprint continues to perform exceptionally well. Its flagship Big Fun Workbooks line has already accounted for 240,000 units sold this year alone.
Innovative Formats: Book-Plus, Maker Kits, and Strategic Licensing
Highlights Press has also aggressively expanded into the "book-plus" and maker categories. Fall releases include Make Your Own Gem Art: Unicorn, a comprehensive kit packing over 1,500 gems and crafting supplies alongside a themed book.
Additionally, the publisher has forged strategic licensing partnerships with renowned toy and sensory brands such as Crazy Aaron’s and Plus-Plus to develop collaborative book-plus offerings. These products merge tactile play with narrative engagement, perfectly aligning with the brand’s core developmental philosophy.
Official Statements: Listening Directly to the Voices of Children
At the heart of the Highlights philosophy is an unwavering commitment to child-centered design. This ethos is continuously refined by the staggering amount of direct correspondence the company receives from its young audience.
"We get over 400,000 correspondences from kids a year," noted Marlo Scrimizzi, Senior Director of Editorial. "They send us questions, they tell us what’s on their minds, they send us their drawings, their poems, and their artwork. We really get that close view into what kids are thinking and we use that knowledge in our publishing."
This direct pipeline ensures that every puzzle, story, and workbook resonates on an authentic level with modern kids. Scrimizzi points to two upcoming releases that perfectly encapsulate this editorial vision:
- Escape Rooms! (Scheduled for October): Described as quintessentially Highlights, this interactive book challenges readers to navigate six themed environments—ranging from a prehistoric dinosaur world to a whimsical haunted cheese factory—by solving logic puzzles and signature brand challenges before cracking a final exit puzzle.
- Can You Find Steve? (Scheduled for February 2026): A narrative seek-and-find book centering on Steve, a rubber duck obsessed with hide-and-seek, and his well-meaning dinosaur friend Hank, who constantly gets in the way. “It’s filled with so much humor, there are puzzles woven in, and then at the end it becomes a story about friendship,” Scrimizzi explained.
Reflecting on the operational synergy that has brought these products to market so successfully, Chris Bauerle credited the structural transformations implemented over the past two and a half years:
"We’ve assembled an all-star cast to add to our really powerful product development team… We’ve increased our marketing effectiveness while reducing the spend, and boosted internal sales support for our distributor, Penguin Random House. We’re positioned in such a way that we are able to take advantage of this tailwind that the entire industry is experiencing."
Future Outlook: A Multifaceted Ecosystem Ready for the Next Decade
As Highlights for Children crosses the threshold of its 80th year, the organization is far more than a traditional publishing house. It has matured into a multifaceted children’s media and engagement ecosystem.
Beyond its exploding trade book publishing business, Highlights manages thriving subscription box programs, high-profile corporate and institutional partnerships with brands like Google, Hewlett Packard, Ringling Brothers, and professional sports franchises, and innovative early-learning civic initiatives. Notably, the company recently launched an early-learning program in Florida, partnering with local schools, government agencies, and philanthropic foundations to provide play-based preschool and kindergarten readiness resources for children up to age five.
As the publishing industry navigates an increasingly digital world, Highlights Press has proven that honoring a legacy does not mean standing still. By combining the foundational wisdom of Garry and Caroline Myers with modern operational excellence, sharp inventory diversification, and an unyielding commitment to screen-free engagement, Highlights is uniquely positioned to meet parents and children exactly where they want to be.
In the words of Chris Bauerle:
"The founders were convinced that there was power in content to inspire joyful learning that kids would seek out and love. Children will actually tell you exactly what they need if you just listen to them."
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