Children's Magazine Month

October is Children's Magazines Month. I don't blog about the children's magazines that we have, and that's a shame. I'm a big magazine fan; I'll read anything from Entertainment Weekly (my standard purchase) to Mother Earth News (seriously, check out that magazine some time-it is amazing).

I'm sure that my love of magazines started when I received subscriptions to Highlights for Children, Cricket, and Cobblestone at various points in my childhood. I also distinctly remember looking at back issues of Highlights magazine when we visited the library, because I loved the "Hidden Pictures" and jokes so much (I guess we weren't allowed to check them out?). I was in elementary school (6th grade was considered elementary school where I lived) during the height of the New Kids on the Block mania (true story.....I received an entire bedroom set of NKOTB sheets, pillowcases, bedspread, etc for Christmas, and pretty much the next month I decided I hated NKOTB), so I received subscriptions to Bop magazine. Bop magazine (amazingly, still around) was great, because every issue featured tons of posters that you could hang on your wall with thumbtacks. Then, there was Big Bopper and Super Bop (or Super Bopper), which had even more stupid little fangirly articles and posters. There was also the established 16 magazine, Seventeen, Tiger Beat, Teen, and later on, the long-lamented Sassy, which our mother didn't like us reading, but we read it anyway (I can remember only one time having a book actually taken away from me and told that I could read it later. I was probably in fifth grade and often read my sister's library books.).



American Girl wasn't around when I was young, but man, would I have been into that whole scene (I visited the motherland when I was in Chicago and walked around in awe). The American Girl magazine is one of our most popular magazines we have here, and I wholeheartedly agree with its fans. Very trendy-looking, but still very innocent. Nothing about boys or fashion: crafts, story submissions, games, and activities. This month's issue includes Halloween crafts and a feature on five girls overcoming obstacles like a rare blood disease, alopecia, and hearing impairments. Regular features include games/quizzes and an advice column.

(Note-I took the image from the AG website, so you won't see a free sample if you click on it. However, if you come to the library, you can see the entire magazine for free.)



Appleseeds is brought to you by the fine folks at Cobblestone. Appleseeds is a cultural studies/history magazine for children ages 8-11. This month is all about Ancient Rome, including articles on common Roman occupations, chariot racing, public baths, 10 Ways to Act Like a Roman, and how to throw a toga party.



Ask! comes from the great people who publish Cricket. Ask is all about "arts & sciences for kids." This month's issue is all about fear, appropriately enough! You can learn why we fear things (and why it's not always a bad thing), how to cope with fear, read an article about the brown tree snake, and read a spooky story (because "sometimes it's fun to be scared"). Regular features include letters to the editor and contests.

I'll tell you about B-C magazines in my next post. While you can't check out this month's magazine (you can certainly read it in the library), you can check out our back copies of our magazines.