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The following are the results of my post requesting good, appropriate magazines for grades 6-8 which would actually be read. I specifically asked for opinions on Cobblestone, Zillions, Faces, DisneyAdventure, TeenBeat, Car & Driver, and Road & Track. Many thanks to all who replied; your responses helped me make my decisions on my list for next year. It's so nice to hear from people who have actually used these magazines with real kids. (I had also asked about Teen Newsweek. The one response on that suggested that it is more for classroom use.) I subscribe to Consumer Reports at home and the latest issue said that Zillions, their magazine for kids and money, is being discontinued. I once subscribed to Cobblestone, a kid's history magazine, and I have never had a student look at it. Disney Adventures might be a little young, but the content is lively. You will get better input about these two from other folks, but I thought I'd tell you not to waste your time on the discontinued Zillions - it was good - It has/had articles about the best kid cereal and games and kid-tested athletic shoes and such. Guess the readership just wasn't enough to keep it up. I am familiar with four of the five magazines. Cobblestone is an excellent history magazine. I cancelled it because it was never used. The only way a kid would use that magazine is if a teacher assigns something from it. Disney Adventure was checked out a lot, but I did not like the tiny format. It is about the size of a TV Guide. I'm not sure the kids read it, but they liked to check it out because of the Disney name. Zillions is the old Penny Power Magazine. It is about economics. My son had a subscription and he loved it. I don't think Zillions appeals to a wide audience, but some kids like it. Teen Beat will certainly be checked out. I don't carry it in our library because our dorms have subscriptions to it. One magazine that our students love is Nickelodeon. I discovered Nickelodeon at the dentist's office. This magazine is a nice size with articles that are about the right speed for middle schoolers. I don't subscribe to any of the magazines you list, but my son gets Disney Adventures at home (he just finished 7th grade and is a great reader) and loves it. It's been three or four years that he's subscribed. My school (gr. 7-12) does have Car and Driver and it's very popular with all the boys, grade 7 and up. They also love Peterson's 4-Wheel and Off Road, and the hunting magazines--we get Outdoor Life and Field and Stream. FYI, Just read in Consumer Reports this month (the issue about restaurants.. not sure if it was the June or July issue) that Zillions will cease publication this summer, to become a web-based magazine. Car and Driver and Road and track - are very popular with our kids. Faces is published by Cobblestone and is a biography type magazine. Each issue deals with one person, alive or historical. Excellent information and reading level is upper elementary. Cobblestone itself deals with history and each issue concentrates on one topic, such as Lewis and Clark Expedition. Well researched and written with resources listed at the back. Zillions is Consumer Reports for kids and is appropriate for elem. through middle school, I should think. Does consumer research using kids just like the ones reading the magazine. My son, now 17, got Disney Adventures at home for years - until about 2 years ago. He loved it, but I am not sure he would have taken it out at school. I also like the mag but don't remember a lot about what was in it. Have you considered Sports Illustrated for Kids - really good sports stuff without the sexual overtones of the adult SI? I can't imagine what the students would have done without Skateboarding magazine. Cobblestone is not used for leisure reading, but is excellent for report use for American history topics. So is Calliope, one you did not mention - that one is world history. I dropped faces, which studies current world cultures, because I found very little that corresponeded to our curriculum. I am not familiar with the other magazines you mentioned - would be interested in learning about Tean Beat. Depending on your school, the car magazines might be okay or a little old. We get hot rod and NASCAR in our school, and they get pretty heavy usage. (Hot Rod used to be a bit of a problem - they had a really scuzzy swimsuit issue each year [my aide and I used to "disappear" that issue, something I have never done before with any magazine we receive], but they seem to have discontinued it. My sixth graders wanted video game magazines so I ordered Nintendo Power. I have subscribed to Cobblestones - which covers American History - and Faces(world cultures) for many years. We also get Calliope (ancient world History), Footsteps (African-American history) and Odyssey (science), published by the same company, Cobblestones of Peterborough, NH. I keep all the back issues and am considering purchasing replacements for some of the more popular back issues. There are a great resource for teachers and students to use in a variety of ways. Zillions has just been discontinued. I take Cobblestone, however the students don't ever read it. We use the back issues for research in the social studies classes. Some popular ones in my library include: Baseball Digest, Football Digest, Hockey Digest, Outdoor Life, Sports Illustrated for Kids, Sports Illustrated, Girl's Life, Electronic Gamer, Teen, Teen People, Hot Rod, BMX and Dirt Bike. I found Car & Driver to be to far beyond the reach of my middle school boys to be of much interest to them. I have had great success with Tips and Tricks (Nintendo / Playstation tips), Dirt Bike, and Transworld Skateboarding. I'm not personally crazy about any of these, but the boys read them every month. DisneyAdventure was never taken off the shelf because the kids didn't want to get caught actually reading it. I dropped Cobblestone - no kid will come within 30 feet of it!!!!! We get Zillions and it goes straight to the Life Skills teacher - don't know what she does with it....For animals we get Dog Fancy, Cat Fancy, Horsepower, and Horse Illustrated - they're very popular as are Dirt Bike, Dirt Wheels, the ATV magazines and Car and Driver. We don't get Road and TRack. We're trying Jump for the 8th grade girls and American Girl for the 5th and 6th grade girls , but I'm guessing that they'll think it's too young...They all fight over the newest Nintendo Power!!! Have to keep the newest issues under lock and key so they don't just sort of "wander off". Oh, they also really like Sports Illustrated, SI for Kids, Outdoor Life, Field and Stream...you get the picture. Cobblestone and Faces have excellent articles on history and social studies, but our students rarely chose to read them except for assignments. We do not have print subscriptions now; they are available through on-line sources. Our students like Teen, Seventeen, and Teen People. Teen People features many stars students like to read about. I have found no rock music magazine which would be appropriate. I like New Moon, but it is not as popular with students; students tend to like the ads. A few years ago I looked at Teen Beat, but did not subscribe to it. I was recently notified Zillions has been discontinued. This consumer-type magazine was popular for browsing. Students liked to read the articles about topics of interest to them. We get Road and Track, but discontinued Car and Driver. Our ATV & 3 - 4 Wheel Action and Dirt Wheels are popular. The Beckett magazines are popular, as are hunting and fishing titles. Students like Cat Fancy and Dog Fancy. I subscribe to Cobblestone, Faces and Zillions at my PK-6. I personally love Cobblestone and Faces - each issue is chock full of interesting facts and information. Each issue of Cobblestone features something in American history - usually includes some first-person stuff. Each issue of Faces features a different country or ethnic group from around the world - lots of multi-cultural information. Unfortunately, neither of these titles is used by my students for browsing - the teachers OCCASIONALLY use them for research or units in the classroom. Both my students and I love Zillions. It features articles and information about "economics", but disguised in such a way that the students enjoy it! Mostly Consumer Reports type stuff on things juveniles are interested in - trading cards, sports equipment, computer stuff. Cobblestone--too young for grades 6-8 DisneyAdventure--popular with elementary, don't know about middles Faces--nice Social Studies magazine about other countries and cultures--unfortunatley, no one has used it in any of my media centers Zillions--kids economics, maybe good for middles Teen Beat--definitely Depending on your selection criteria and admininstrative support, you might try a magazine on comics. Also, Sports Illustrated, a skating or skateboarding magazine (Transworld Skateboarding is popular), sports digest magazines (Basketball Digest, Football Digest, Baseball Digest), young girls' magazines (I think there's one called YBS for Young Black Sisters, other girl culture magazines--watch the sexual stuff at the middle school level, though), and magazines that publish teen writings. Your post about Teen Newsweek reminds me: get Teen People. I know kids who love it. They did a special issue on Prince William a year ago that went off the newstand like crazy! My middle schoolers LOVE Dirt Bike, Mountain Bike Action, Transworld Skateboarding, Teen People, and Nintendo Power. We tried Cobblestone, Zillions, and Faces for two years. The students (grades 6-8) would not pick them up. Teachers now use them in their classrooms as supplements. Had much more success with Teen People, Surfer, Surfing, Skateboarder. Require a little coloring ( adding bathing suits to an ad or two) but the kids love them, and they READ them. Reptiles and Outdoor World are also popular. -- Lois Tabis, Librarian Sharpsville HS, Sharpsville, PA tabis@infonline.net =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-= All postings to LM_NET are protected under copyright law. To quit LM_NET (or set-reset NOMAIL or DIGEST), send email to: listserv@listserv.syr.edu In the message write EITHER: 1) SIGNOFF LM_NET 2) SET LM_NET NOMAIL or 3) SET LM_NET DIGEST 4) SET LM_NET MAIL * Please allow for confirmation from Listserv. 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