Jun. 8, 2009 (United Press International) -- Nearly 1,262 teachers say in a petition to Scholastic Corp. (NASDAQ:SCHL) the U.S. book publisher should not use teachers to sell toy products to children.

USA Today said Monday a Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood petition signed by the teachers accuses Scholastic of offering too many toys and too few quality books in the company's book club catalogs.

"Scholastic is taking advantage of its privileged place in schools," campaign Director Susan Linn said. "Some teachers are fed up enough to say, 'Stop.'"

Scholastic is currently the largest educational publisher in the world and the company that publishes the "Harry Potter" series of books in the United States.

The publisher has sold more than 6 billion books in the last six decades by marketing its products through schools, USA Today said.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. publishing group denied the teachers' allegations, saying the company is dedicated to urging children nationwide to read.

"We have 1 million teachers that ask and beg us to keep doing what we're doing," spokeswoman Kyle Good said.