special report

CLUBHOUSE
Focus on the Family
Readership: 8 – 12 year olds

Note: Clubhouse is one of the magazines on my “subscribe to” list this year for study. With two issues received so far, I’ve noticed that both covers are designed to appeal to boys, very strongly. That along with content makes me suspect boy oriented writing is going to sell quicker here than girl focused writing.

SUBMISSION SPECIFICS:

Guidelines for Clubhouse are available online but they aren’t easy to find. You need to go to the main Focus on the Family Site and click on the FAQ link near the top of the page. On the FAQ page, you can do a search on writer’s guidelines and you’ll get a page that links to the Clubhouse guidelines in pdf format. I have yet to find a way to link to them directly.

From the Guidelines:

“Focus on the Family Clubhouse readers are 8- to 12-year-old boys and girls who desire to know more about God and the Bible.” This is clear in everything they run. The stories and articles all tend to have scripture verses and very clear moral messages. As the guidelines say, the parents who subscribe “want wholesome, educational material with Scriptural or moral insight.” But the guidelines acknowledge that the reader wants “excitement, adventure, action, humor, or mystery.” Like most publishers, if they can only please one – they’ll please the parents. But when a writer does both, the editors will likely choose that story over another.

FICTION

Humor with a point (500 words)
Historical Fiction featuring great Christians or Christians who lived during great times – I didn’t see any of this in the two issues I’ve gotten so far in the subscription.
Contemporary, multicultural/exotic settings
Fantasy/Sci-Fi – one issue had a fairy-tale approach to a play
Mystery Stories – none in the issues I’ve received so far
Choose Your Own Adventure Stories – this sounds cool, but there wasn’t an example in the issues I have on hand.

The guidelines say they don’t want contemporary middle class family stories because they already have authors for these. In two issues, one had a middle class family sibling story and one had a story set in Athens. It’s possible the sibling story was by one of their “steady” writers. They also say they rarely use poetry (mostly by readers). They aren’t interest in boy-girl relationship stories or stories where parents solve all the problems. They also mention “preachy” stories as a negative, but the issues in front of me make it clear that they must be defining “preachy” differently than I would.

Nonfiction

Fun fact essays, interviews with noteworthy Christians (both issues contained these), personality features of ordinary kids doing extraordinary things (both issues contained these), activity theme pages, humorous how-to stories (how to get good grades, how to be a good friend…I didn’t have an example of this), quizzes, fact stories from Christian worldview, short news article bringing out a Biblical lesson. Humor is heavily stressed in the guidelines.

No flat retellings of Bible stories, no info-only science/educational, no encyclopedia/textbook style writing.

They don’t take queries. Send manuscripts to:

Suzanne Hadley
Clubhouse Associate Editor
Focus on the Family
8605 Explorer Drive
Colorado Springs, CO 80920

ANALYSIS OF SPECIFIC ISSUE

CLUBHOUSE
February 20, 2008

[Inside Front Cover] Mail Bag – reader written poetry, puzzles, and crafts. And reader art.

Lighthouse – reader stories by young people of positive events they credit to Jesus or prayer.

Truth Seeker: The True Path by Renee Gray-Wilburn. An article about the basic tenants of the four largest world religions, not terribly respectful toward some of the practices of the other faiths, but not overtly mocking. Includes a sidebar on what Christians believe about some of the points made in the article.

The Princess in Search of a Friend by Laura Morris and B.B. Heil. Humorous play about a spoiled princess who learns that the road to friendship requires being a friend. Heavily didactic but uses humor to make the lesson a bit more light hearted.

Hittin’ Dem Streets by Jesse Florea. Profile of 11-year-old rapper Young Prayzr. Includes fan facts like favorite food, sport (and, of course, Bible verse).

Look Up – messages from young people about their Christian life. In this issue Young Prayzr talks about his “busy-ness” and writer Kaitlyn (no age given) talks about accepting how God made her.

Just Laughs – jokes from young readers.

The Adventures of Average Boy by Bob Smiley. Having read two episodes of Average Boy now, I have to say the humor mostly comes from his cluelessness. There doesn’t seem to be a moral lesson though – it’s mostly humor at the title character’s expense.

The Tennessee Tornado by Mary Busha. Profile of runner Wilma Rudolph’s life as she overcame a number of horrendous physical problems to go on to be a gold medal winner. An inspiring story of her will to overcome and the love of her mother. She eventually travelled to Japan at Billy Graham’s request as part of Baptist Christian Athletes

Computer Bug by Manfred Koehler. Two kids fight over the computer through a series of mean tricks until the computer is taken away by their mother – contemporary setting, the illustrations have the children as African-American but nothing in the story is actually leaning toward one race or another.

Odyssey Blog – “blog” entries illustrate a principle. In this one, how much we need to value those times we can help others, even if they don’t always treat us well. This page also has a seasonal word scramble puzzle.

Ask Away – reader questions answered. In this issue, questions about being embarrassed by praying in public, being annoyed by younger siblings, and fighting with parents.

Mystery Squad – an ongoing graphic story giving the readers clues in each issue toward solving a mystery.

[Back Cover] Invites readers to send submissions for the “Members Mag” where all content will be by kids.

This page last updated on 01 March 2008