Weekly Reader to close its doors

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WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., July 23 (UPI) -- The Weekly Reader, a New York-based educational classroom magazine, will be shutting down, officials said.

The weekly magazine was bought out by its main rival, Scholastic, in February from its former owner, the Reader's Digest Association, the New York Post reported.

Now, Scholastic is turning the Weekly Reader into Scholastic News.

"We are confident that the combined Scholastic News/Weekly Reader team will now offer an even better news and information experience in print and digital formats for teachers and students," said a Scholastic spokesman, who did not comment on layoffs.

Some say the death of the Weekly Reader could signal trouble for all classroom periodicals, including Scholastic News and Time For Kids.

"I think whenever you cut out a major part of the industry, it weakens everyone," said Charles Piddock, Weekly Reader editor-in-chief from 2001 to 2004.