Archive for the ‘Children’s Magazine Review’ Category
Stories for Children Magazine
The KidDilly team is honored to have had the opportunity to speak with the creator of an amazing (and so far still free!) e-zine for kids—Stories for Children Magazine’sVirginia Grenier.
Stories for Children (SFC) debuted in April 2007. Since then, it’s won numerous awards including Preditor & Editor Reader Poll 2008 for Top Ten Magazine in fiction, nonfiction, and Poetry. Three of their magazine covers have placed in the Top Twenty in the 2008 Readers Poll: SFC May 2008 3rd place, September 2008 8th place, and March 2008 12th place. Also, at the time of the interview, 18 of their past stories or illustrations have placed or won awards.
Each monthly issue is loaded with fun stories and articles based on age-appropriate reading levels. There are also puzzles, games, children’s book reviews, crafts, and poems to inspire the imagination.
So what makes this online magazine different from the rest?
In Ms. Grenier’s words, “Stories for Children Magazine is designed to unlock your children’s imagination and take them on an exciting adventure into the World of Ink with Stanley Bookman (the SFC mascot) from Storyville as their guide on the magical monthly trips.
Stories for Children Magazine is not just for adult writers. One thing that sets Stories for Children Magazine apart is that we also publish stories written and illustrated by children and teens. While submitting stories to children’s magazines, I was shocked to discover that few magazines allowed underage writers. I vowed to change this and have done so with Stories for Children Magazine.”
Do you have a little writer in your household? SFC would love to get more submissions from young writers! So let their creativity flow, submit their work to SFC, and maybe it will be published in their magazine!
I also asked Mrs. Grenier if she had any favorite stories from past SFC issues.
She explained the Granny Awards at SFC are presented in multiple categories and all you have to do is be published or donate artwork to the magazine. Annually, the editors at SFC come together to choose their Top Three favorite stories by age group, articles by age group, poems, youth submissions, inside artwork, and magazine cover art.
“It’s a real thrill to announce our Granny Award winners and send them a trophy engraved as a thank you for supporting, donating their talents, and believing in us,” she says.
SFC also has interviews with wonderful authors and illustrators monthly. This is a great tool for schools. Many teachers ask their students to research an author and/or illustrator to write a report about. SFC is an excellent resource for to begin. In the Featured Guest pages and the SFC Contributor pages, they can find information on everyone who has been in Stories for Children Magazine.
Stories for Children Magazine has something for teachers and parents too. Mascot Stanley Bookman shares a new topic on a holiday or event that happened in the current month along with tips to help children become better readers. There’s a Fun Links page for parents and teachers with information on great sites to places where they can buy art supplies, crafts, and more.
SFC plans to add a blog to the website by the summer of 2009. This will be for families and will cover vacations on a budget to interviews with those who work with or entertain children. This will be a weekly blog with each week having a certain topic of discussion. Regarding the blog, Ms. Grenier states, “We’re really excited about this project because Stories for Children is more than just a magazine. We’re a family and a community committed to excellence in our work ethic, in the products and services we provide, and in our relationships with our readers, contributors, freelancers, featured guests, and advertisers. We strive to be fair, honest, committed, and give warm fuzzies and support to those we work with.”
I invite you to take an adventure in the World of Ink with Stories for Children Magazine. It’s most definitely a dilly!
If you’ve missed the past issues of SFC, you can purchase the first annual anthology Best of Stories for Children Magazine Volume 1, a collection of over 20 poems which was released November 2008. Visit LuLu.com or the SFC Bookstore to purchase.
Donna
