Children's Digest

Last updated
Children's Digest
Childrensdigest-1950-10.png
The front cover of the October 1950 issue of Children's Digest, the first issue of this publication
Former editorsHarold Schwartz, Elizabeth Redousakis Mattheos, Anita Malnig, Lois Cantrell
Frequencymonthly
Circulation 700,000 (1971) [1]
Publisher Parents Magazine Press (1950–c. 1980)
Benjamin Franklin Literary and Medical Society (c. 1980–2009)
First issueOctober 1950 (1950-October)
Final issueMay/June 2009
Country United States
Based in Indianapolis, Indiana
LanguageEnglish
ISSN 0272-7145

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." [2]

Contents

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. [3]

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. [2] 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 . [3]

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 . [2]

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, [2] and a biography of football star Joe Namath was in the November issue. [4]

From 1966 to 1979 The Adventures of Tintin were reprinted in the magazine. [5] 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. [1]

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. [2] Children's Digest ended publication in 2009.

Related Research Articles

A graphic novel is a long-form work of sequential art. The term graphic novel is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comics scholars and industry professionals. It is, at least in the United States, typically distinct from the term comic book, which is generally used for comics periodicals and trade paperbacks.

Disney comics are comic books and comic strips featuring characters created by the Walt Disney Company, including Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Scrooge McDuck.

<i>Walt Disneys Comics and Stories</i> Anthology comic book series featuring Disney characters

Walt Disney's Comics and Stories, sometimes abbreviated WDC&S, is an American anthology comic book series featuring characters from The Walt Disney Company's films and shorts, including Donald Duck, Scrooge McDuck, Mickey Mouse, Chip 'n Dale, Li'l Bad Wolf, Scamp, Bucky Bug, Grandma Duck, Brer Rabbit, Winnie the Pooh, and others. With more than 700 issues, Walt Disney's Comics & Stories is the longest-running Disney comic book in the United States, making it the flagship title, and is one of the best-selling comic books of all time.

<i>Donald Duck</i> (American comic book) 1942–2017 American Disney comics magazine

Donald Duck, also known as Donald Duck and Friends, is an American Disney comic book series starring the character Donald Duck and published by various publishers from October 1942 to June 2017. As with many early Disney comics titles, Donald Duck began as individual issues of Dell Comics' Four Color one-shots series. It was published as its own regular series in November 1952, starting with issue #26.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">British comics</span> Comics originating in the United Kingdom

A British comic is a periodical published in the United Kingdom that contains comic strips. It is generally referred to as a comic or a comic magazine, and historically as a comic paper.

<i>Mickey Mouse Adventures</i> 1990-1991 Disney comic book

Mickey Mouse Adventures was a Disney comic book first published by Disney Comics from 1990 to 1991. It featured Mickey Mouse as the main character along with other characters from the Mickey Mouse universe. Somewhat similar in style to the animated series DuckTales, it was based on the continuity of earlier print material starring Mickey, mainly Floyd Gottfredson's stories in the Mickey Mouse comic strip.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gilbert Shelton</span> American cartoonist, born 1940

Gilbert Shelton is an American cartoonist and a key member of the underground comix movement. He is the creator of the iconic underground characters The Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, Fat Freddy's Cat, and Wonder Wart-Hog.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Italian comics</span> Comics originating in Italy

Italian comics, also known as fumetto, plural form fumetti, are comics that originate in Italy. The most popular Italian comics have been translated into many languages. The term fumetto refers to the distinctive word balloons that contain the dialogue in comics.

Notable events of 1951 in comics.

<i>Classics Illustrated</i> American comic book series

Classics Illustrated is an American comic book/magazine series featuring adaptations of literary classics such as Les Misérables, Moby-Dick, Hamlet, and The Iliad. Created by Albert Kanter, the series began publication in 1941 and finished its first run in 1969, producing 169 issues. Following the series' demise, various companies reprinted its titles. Since then, the Classics Illustrated brand has been used to create new comic book adaptations. This series is different from the Great Illustrated Classics, which is an adaptation of the classics for young readers that includes illustrations, but is not in the comic book form.

Notable events of 1950 in comics.

<i>Famous Funnies</i> American comic strip anthology

Famous Funnies is an American comic strip anthology series published from 1934 to 1955. Published by Eastern Color Printing, Famous Funnies is considered by popular culture historians as the first true American comic book, following seminal precursors.

Balarama is an Indian weekly comic magazine published by M. M. Publications, of Malayala Manorama Group from Kottayam, Kerala in Malayalam language. It is one of the most widely read children's magazines in India. Balarama celebrated its 50th year of publication in the year 2022.

Alan Class Comics was a British comics publishing company that operated between 1959 and 1989. The company produced anthology titles, reprinting comics stories from many U.S. publishers of the 1940s to 1960s in a black and white digest size format for a UK audience. During the 1960s and 1970s, these reprints were the main medium through which British children were introduced to American monster and mystery comics, as well as most non-DC or Marvel superheroes.

The Gilberton Company, Inc. was an American publisher best known for the comic book series Classics Illustrated featuring adaptations of literary classics. Beginning life as an imprint of the Elliot Publishing Company, the company became independent in 1942, Between 1941 and 1962, domestic sales of Gilberton's publications totaled 200 million. Gilberton was sold to the Frawley Corporation in 1967. The company ceased publishing in 1971.

Notable events of 1957 in comics.

<i>10 Story Fantasy</i> US pulp science fiction magazine

10 Story Fantasy was a science fiction and fantasy pulp magazine which was launched in 1951. The market for pulp magazines was already declining by that time, and the magazine only lasted a single issue. The stories were of generally good quality, and included work by many well-known writers, such as John Wyndham, A.E. van Vogt and Fritz Leiber. The most famous story it published was Arthur C. Clarke's "Sentinel from Eternity", which later became part of the basis of the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey.

K.G. Murray Publishing Company is an Australian publisher primarily known for its publication of DC reprint comics. Established in 1936 in Sydney, Australia by Kenneth "K. G." Murray, the company was a family-owned and run business until its sale to Australian Consolidated Press in 1973.

Pendulum Press was a publishing company based in West Haven, Connecticut, that operated from 1970 to 1994, producing the bulk of their material in the 1970s. The company is most well known for their comic book adaptations of literary classics. The Pendulum Now Age Classics series published black-and-white paperback adaptations of more than 70 literary classics, such as Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, The War of the Worlds, and Moby-Dick. These stories were later widely reprinted by other publishers well into the 2000s. Pendulum also published a line of historical comics, a line of comic book biographies, and a line of comic book adaptations of inspiring stories and morality tales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thorpe & Porter</span>

Thorpe & Porter was a British publisher, importer, and distributor of magazines and comic books. At first, the company was known for repackaging American comics and pulp magazines for the UK market. Later on, it became a publisher of original material. The company released more than 160 comics titles in the UK, the most prominent being Classics Illustrated, MAD UK, Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan of the Apes, Larry Harmon's Laurel & Hardy, House of Hammer, and Forbidden Worlds. T & P's most prominent imprints were Top Sellers Ltd. and Brown Watson. Thorpe & Porter operated from 1946 to c. 1979.

References

  1. 1 2 Owens, Chris. "Tintin Crosses The Atlantic: The Golden Press Affair," Tintinologist.org (October 2004).]
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Kelly, R. Gordon, Children's Periodicals of the United States, pages 87 - 92, Greenwood Press, 1984
  3. 1 2 Children’s Digest Seeks Wider Sale, Chattango Daily Times (Chattanooga, TN), February 11, 1951, page 32
  4. ↑ The New Namath, The Messenger (Madison, KY), October 23, 1969, page 5
  5. ↑ "Table List of Translations". Archived from the original on 2017-10-14. Retrieved 2009-10-15.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.