Cobblestone Publishing

Cobblestone Publishing is responsible for many unique publications, definitely not run-of-the-mill - one of which is a gem in children's literature. CRICKET magazine has been around for over thirty years mainly because it's held fast to publishing quality stories that are not your general fare. You won't find Captain Underpants or Junie B. Jones in these pages! Nothing wrong with those books really, but I just see them everywhere and have begun to think that people are losing their imaginations. Sometimes it's necessary to look beyond the mainstream and dig a little deeper to get to the good stuff.

All of the following magazines can be found HERE

Cricket Magazine

My only complaint is that the magazine is a little pricey at $34.00 for nine issues throughout a year. And since it's only published nine times in a twelve month period, you have to wait awhile between issues. Oftentimes with stories that carry over from issue to issue you have to go back and remind yourself about what happened in the previous issue before continuing on. This mag is targeted to the 9 to 14-year-old audience and does so brilliantly with tremendous variety in the styles of writing. Each issue is approximately 50 pages long and you won't run into a single ad! Gotta' love that tactic, especially in times like these when we are bombarded with noise everywhere. I suppose you could argue that blogging is a form of noise, too, huh? I'll try to pipe down. Sorry.

It's not solid cover-to-cover story writing, but is broken up with puzzles, short comics, recipes, activities, too. We've been enjoying the offerings so far and usually save these stories for some bedtime reading. I'm hooked right now on a story about the terrible atrocities suffered by the Chickasaw people and would like to get my hands on the first issue in which the story began.

CRICKET is just one of the great magazines Cobblestone Publishing produces. If you want to focus on science, history and art, MUSE would be a nice choice:

COBBLESTONE Magazine focuses on American History:

DIG Magazine celebrates the discoveries in archaeology:

CALLIOPE Magazine concentrates on world history:

ODYSSEY highlights the world of science:

And last but not least, FACES helps kids to learn about different cultures:

Now, these are the magazines specially created for the 9 to 14-year-old set. There are many others tailored to younger and older children. Plus their website has a carefully chosen selection of books and games to look over, too.

You can even change your subscription to any one of their other magazines at no cost, too. That's a nice option! We just might have to pick our way over some cobblestones, muse over the selections, ponder the odyssey of options, dig our way into some knowledge and see whose faces we meet! Maybe we'll get to meet Calliope. Maybe I'll get my money's worth by switching subscriptions each month!