We got a gift subscription to Ranger Rick a few months ago. Ranger Rick is designed for children 7 and older and is the more mature version of another magazine called Your Big Backyard. Both magazines are themed around animals and nature and are published by the National Wildlife Federation.
While Ranger Rick focuses on wildlife, it has a very broad format within this general theme. The best thing about Ranger Rick's format is that it is likely to contain something to interest your child. The broad mix includes brief animal facts, longer educational pieces about animals or nature, short fiction pieces, cartoons, puzzles and crafts.
WHAT EACH ISSUE CONTAINS
Each issue is about 40 pages long. I haven't seen any ads - except for the National Wildlife web page and other magazine subscriptions offered by the organization. However the magazine does not promise to be advertisement -free. I notice that some of my older issues of Your Big Backyard do have an occasional one-page ad.
Each issue is generally themed around animals, but the magazine covers several topics within the general animal / nature theme. Most of the content is educational information although there is a small amount of fiction, a few pages of puzzles, letters from readers and other content including a joke page or crafts.
The educational information comes in various formats. There are photos of various animals and explanations of their distinctive features. There are longer articles that explain animal conservation or other issues effecting certain animal's survival, kids exploring nature, raising pets, behind the scenes in Sea World and other features that generally have something to do with animals or nature. Because the magazine is published by the National Wildlife Federation, there is a emphasis on preserving habitats and protecting animals. I find this slant stronger in Ranger Rick than in Your Big Backyard, probably because older children are more likely to understand the reasons for conservation.
The format varies from issue to issue but you can typically expect several pages with high-quality photos of animals and educational explanations of those animals. There are usually at least two articles on animals, kids, conservation, habitats or something else within the theme. These articles can be several pages long and have lots of high-quality photos that really compliment the articles and make them more enjoyable. The quality of the writing is high and the vocabulary level is about middle elementary school.
The middle of the magazine is four pages of pull-out puzzles. The puzzles are mostly word puzzles such as rearranging letters to make new words and word searches. I like the fact that the puzzle pages are pull-outs since the child can remove them and write on them while leaving the rest of the magazine intact. However, I find that the puzzles are rather complex. One two-step puzzle involving picture matching and word scrambles in our most recent issue had very confusing instructions and I still can't figure out how to solve it. Other puzzles are just hard - such as unscrambling up to 7 letters to make a new word. A child in early elementary school, i.e. within the target age of 7 and over, would find many of the puzzles too hard.
Each issue has a cartoon page called "Ranger Rick's Adventures." The cartoon features animals including Ranger Rick Raccoon and Scarlett Fox. The animals have different adventures. In a recent issue, the animals encounter strip mining in West Virginia. At the end of the three-page cartoon, there are some facts about why strip-mining is bad.
In addition to the educational information, there are two pages of letters from readers and a page of jokes from readers.
By way of comparison, Your Big Backyard, which is designed for children 3-7 and is published by the same organization, contains more fiction, a craft page and a recipe page however the rest of the format and content is similar. If you have a child in the 6-8 year old range that enjoys or prefers fiction, you should consider getting them Your Big Backyard (a link to my detailed review of Your Big Backyard is below).
ILLUSTRATIONS
Most of the illustrations in Ranger Rick are high quality photographs of animals, nature or kids. Some issues have beautiful underwater photographs. There are also high-quality drawings for some of the story illustrations. The puzzle pages have cute, drawn illustrations that are more cartoonish than the rest of the illustrations in the magazine. The Ranger Rick cartoons are drawn more realistically. I like the mix of photos and different styles of illustrations. It adds to the texture and variety of magazine.
THE PUBLISHER
Ranger Rick is published by the National Wildlife Foundation, an organization dedicated to conservation. The National Wildlife also publishes Your Big Backyard, a magazine designed for children ages 3-7.
PRICE
This is one of the least expensive magazine subscriptions for children we have. A one year subscription is 12 issues for $17.
AGE APPROPRIATENESS
The publisher says this magazine is targeted to children ages 7 and up. Children at age 7 would probably be able to read a lot of the stories and cartoons although the best age to read this magazine independently would probably be a couple of years older. Some of the puzzles would be too hard for a child in first -third grade.
MORE INFORMATION
The magazine is full color and printed on nice paper, but it is not the heavy glossy stuff of Zoobooks or Kids Discover. The binding is the standard three staples.
The web site is: www.nwf.org. The web site has some additional science activities, games and other information.
The toll free number for subscriptions is: 1-800-611-1599.
The magazine is printed on chlorine-free paper using inks with a high percentage of vegetable oils. As a result, you don't get the thick, glossy paper that Kids Discover is printed on. However, our copies of this magazine have held up and the quality is adequate for the cost of the magazine.
FINAL RECOMMENDATION
I like this magazine for the same reasons I like Your Big Backyard. It has a broad format and both of my kids always find several things in the magazine that are interesting. I recommend it because it is a good value for the money and it has a lot of quality content. My only concern is that children from 7-9 may get frustrated with the puzzles.
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