Children's Digest
{{Short description|Children's magazine}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox magazine
| logo =
| logo_size =
| image_file = Childrensdigest-1950-10.png
| image_size =
| image_alt =
| image_caption = The front cover of the October 1950 issue of Children's Digest, the first issue of this publication
| editor =
| editor_title =
| previous_editor = Harold Schwartz, Elizabeth Redousakis Mattheos, Anita Malnig, Lois Cantrell
| staff_writer =
| photographer =
| category =
| frequency = monthly
| circulation = 700,000 (1971)
| publisher = Parents Magazine Press (1950–c. 1980)
Benjamin Franklin Literary and Medical Society (c. 1980–2009)
| founder =
| founded =
| firstdate = {{Start date|1950|10}}
| finaldate = May/June 2009
| finalnumber =
| company =
| country = United States
| based = Indianapolis, Indiana
| language = English
| website =
| issn = 0272-7145
| oclc =
}}
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.{{cite news |title=Children’s Digest Seeks Wider Sale |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/chattanooga-daily-times-childrens-diges/172022325/ |work=Chattanooga Daily Times |date=11 February 1951 |pages=32}}
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.{{cite news |last1=Walker |first1=Jim |title=The New Namath |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-messenger-the-new-namath/172022482/ |work=The Messenger |date=23 October 1969 |pages=5}}
From 1966 to 1979 The Adventures of Tintin were reprinted in the magazine.{{Cite web |url=http://users.telenet.be/tintin/tabelwordtintin.htm |title=Table List of Translations |access-date=2009-10-15 |archive-date=2017-10-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171014234311/http://users.telenet.be/tintin/tabelwordtintin.htm |url-status=dead }} 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. [http://www.tintinologist.org/articles/goldenpress.html "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.{{Cite web |title=Children's Digest |url=https://ucmo.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/01UCMO_INST/fqt33n/alma991006120289705571 |website=James C. Kirkpatrick Library at the University of Central Missouri library catalog}} 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
{{Reflist}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Portal |Children's literature}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Children's Digest}}
Category:1950 establishments in Indiana
Category:2009 disestablishments in Indiana
Category:Defunct children's magazines published in the United States
Category:Magazines established in 1950