Magazines for Kids…

[By Frederick Noronha] When we were young, there were very few magazines for children that we could buy. Such magazines simply didn’t exist.

From the age of 12, I remember being fascinated by the world of magazines. The first month that I shifted to the boys’ school at Mapusa, I spent two-thirds of the bus-allowance for the month in a few days time on magazines and reading material.

Earlier, in my pre-teen years, we depended on made-in-the-UK magazines like ‘Beano’ and ‘Bunty’. My aunt in Uganda sent across a whole lot of these mags, when she was leaving the country after Idi Amin decided the Asians should go.

It was my reading hobby that saw me end up as a journalist.

Today’s young people are very lucky. They have a great many publications to read. All affordably priced too.

My children’s favourite has been ‘Magic Pot’. It is a magazine “for nursery/primary school children”. Published each fortnight, the 50-page all-colour magazine is priced at just twelve rupees an issue.

‘Magic Pot’ comes from Kerala and is published by the Manorama group. Currently, they also come out with a magazine for slightly-elder kids, called ‘Tell Me Why’ (Rs 15 per issue). More details from www.manoramaonline.com

Subscribing to ‘Magic Pot’ gets you 48 issues for Rs 550 (plus a school bag worth Rs 200 free). It contains poems, puzzles, observation games, short ‘comic’ stories, drawing, jumbled jigsaws, and a lot more.

All its content is suited for children below 9 or 10 years of age.

‘Junior Chandamama’ is the ‘junior’ version of the magazine we grew up with. It promises “stories and activities specially created for children below 9 years”. Priced at Rs 15, this monthly  offers 50 pages in colour and comes from Andheri (East) in Mumbai.

This is another nice magazine that young children enjoy.

From Goa itself comes out ‘The Bookworm’ magazine. It is published once every two months and can be got via mail@bookwormgoa.in (contact Sujata/Elaine on 9823 222665).

There are many other magazines you could come across at any newsstand. So go and check out something interesting you could read. Gift children the joy of reading too….