A consumer watchdog group is asking Scholastic Inc. to stop selling toys and focus on books.

Parents and teachers are criticizing Scholastic, which is based in Jefferson City, for selling too many toys and too few quality books.

More than 1,200 teachers have signed a Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood petition to ask the company to stop selling toys to students.

The watchdog group said its review of Scholastic's 2008 elementary and middle-school book clubs found that a third of the items for sale weren't books but toys, trinkets and even lip gloss and jewelry.

Scholastic is the world's largest educational publisher. It markets through schools and has sold more than 6 billion books in the company's 60 years in business.

Link: Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood Petition