Children's Digest

''Children's Digest'' (originally ''The Children's Digest'') was a monthly children's magazine published in the United States from October 1950 to May/June 2009, after which it was merged with ''Jack and Jill''. The magazine was advertised as "selected reading to delight, instruct, and entertain," offering "the cream of new stories for boys and girls, reprints of the best-loved classics."Kelly, R. Gordon, ''Children's Periodicals of the United States'', pages 87 - 92, Greenwood Press, 1984

Publication history and format

''Children's Digest'' was originally published by George J. Hecht and Parents Magazine Press in digest size. In 1980 the periodical was sold to the Benjamin Franklin Literary and Medical Society and was published in a larger format.

For many years ''Children's Digest'' was printed on light green paper, which the publisher claimed avoided eye strain while reading.

Profile and features

The magazine's original concept was similar to that of ''Reader's Digest'', but aimed at children aged seven to twelve. It reprinted stories, comics and, for a time, each issue contained a story book with many of its illustrations. A 1951 newspaper story stated ''Children's Digest'' contained an average of 40 pages of special comics dramatizing classic novels such as ''Gulliver's Travels'' and ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland''.

Some of the famous poems and stories that appeared during the magazine's early years were Carl Sandburg's ''Rootabaga Stories'', Lucretia P. Hale's '' The Peterkin Papers'', and L. Frank Baum's '' American Fairy Tales''.

Starting in the 1960s the content of ''Children's Digest'' changed from reprinted stories to a combination of reprints, modern stories and nonfiction. The inscription on the magazine's spine had been "Best Stories - Famous Classics - Picture Stories", then became "Great Stories - History - Science - Biography - True Adventure." During 1969 Louis Wolf's ''Stories of Our American Past'' was in the January issue, Roy Chapman Andrew's ''All About Dinosaurs'' was published in February, and a biography of football star Joe Namath was in the November issue.

From 1966 to 1979 ''The Adventures of Tintin'' were reprinted in the magazine. These reprints increased Tintin's popularity in the United States for, at the time, ''Children's Digest'' had a circulation of around 700,000 copies monthly.Owens, Chris
"Tintin Crosses The Atlantic: The Golden Press Affair,"
Tintinologist.org (October 2004).]

Cover Illustrations

From December 1951 to September 1963, Japanese-American artist and author Gyo Fujikawa illustrated the covers. From November 1963 to December 1965, she did 6 additional covers. Other cover illustrators during this period include Arthur Syzk, Gustaf Tenggren, Anthony Ravielli, Ed Valergerski, Bob Kuhn, Frank McCarthy, Leonard Weisgard, Hergé, John Tenniel,Tomi Ungerer, and Gordon Laite.

Change of ownership

In 1980 ''Children's Digest'' was sold to the Benjamin Franklin Literary and Medical Society, a nonprofit organization that purchased numerous magazines, including ''The Saturday Evening Post'', ''Humpty Dumpty'', '' Child Life'' and '' Jack and Jill''. All of the periodicals were reformatted to emphasize health, safety, nutrition and exercise. ''Children's Digest'' ended publication in 2009.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Children's Digest
1950 establishments in Indiana
2009 disestablishments in Indiana
Defunct children's magazines published in the United States
Digests
Magazines established in 1950
Magazines disestablished in 2009
Magazines published in Indianapolis