special report
“Celebrating Early Childhood”
February 2007 Issue
Reader Ages 2 - 6
Mission Statement [from masthead]: “HIGHLIGHTS HIGH FIVE celebrates
the early years of childhood – a time of discovery when learning happens
at every turn. Our magazine is dedicated to helping parents, educators,
and other caregivers nurture young children by:
- encouraging their natural sense of wonder about the world;
- promoting reasoning, problem solving, and creative
self-expression;
- fostering a love of language and a rich vocabulary;
- And inspiring them to be kind, to get along with others, and to
grow in self-confidence…for children are the world’s most important
people.”
Like the older sibling magazine, HIGHLIGHTS HIGH FIVE takes the
mission statement very seriously, and any submission needs to seriously
consider the goals of the magazine. For example, since I know HIGHLIGHTS
believes in leading by example, their goal of “inspiring [readers] to be
kind” will mean they will not publish a story where children are unkind
to one another, even though sometimes small children are. It would be
wise to keep these goals in mind as we write.
Note: HIGHLIGHTS HIGH FIVE, like HIGHLIGHTS FOR CHILDREN, buys ALL
RIGHTS. The material you sell to these magazines won’t be yours anymore.
Be comfortable with that before submission because that’s just the way
things are. Also at this time, HIGHLIGHTS HIGH FIVE is only interested
in submissions from writers with extensive credits in writing for young
children.
From Highlights High Five editor, Kathleen Hayes: I need to
let you and your readers know that the Highlights writers
guidelines do not apply to our new magazine Highlights High Five.
Our stories are no more than 150 words in length, and at this time we
are commissioning most of the stories and poems that appear in the
magazine, and most of the features are being written in-house. We do
sometimes get stories that have been sent to Highlights, and
Marileta Robinson, who has been with Highlights for many, many
years is also working on High Five - so folks she knows will
often send her stories and poems that they think might work for our new
magazine. Of course, we are always happy to see very short stories and
poems from established authors who have a proven track record writing
for the very young.
From the Masthead:
Editorial offices:
Highlights High Five,
Editorial Department,
807 Church Street,
Honesdale, PA 18431
E-mail:
eds@highlights-corp.com
Editor: Christine French Clark
Senior Editor: Marileta Robinson
ANALYSIS OF SPECIFIC
ISSUE
Highlights High Five
February 2007
COVER: This cover doesn’t have the characteristic “what’s wrong with
this picture” puzzle, but does have a very whimsical illustration of
animals playing dress-up.
INSIDE FRONT PAGE: A poem – “Mix a Pancake” by Christina Rossetti.
Simple poem with 22 words.
THE ADVENTURES OF SPOT [Marileta Robinson]: Spot, the dog from the
Timbertoes (a long running comic in HIGHLIGHTS) gets his own cartoon.
The little cartoon underscore’s Spot’s determination to accomplish a
goal, and how his success depended upon adjusting his goal to match his
size.
WAKING FARMER FRED [by Eileen Spinelli] A rooster with a sore throat
needs his friends to help him wake the farmer, lots of animal sounds and
a simple “chorus” – a repeating line after each attempt to meet the
story goal. The goal is met when all the friends work together.
MY FIRST HIDDEN PICTURE [by Ellen Appleby] – Simple colorful hidden
picture with 8 hidden items, based on the three kittens who lost their
mittens.
PUT ON YOUR THINKING CAP – Asks young children questions about their
bodies like naming bendy parts and counting toes.
SHOES! SHOES! SHOES! [by Jeanne Moran] A simple sentence each about
seven different types of shoes (high-heels, basketball sneakers, cleats,
swim fins, fire fighter boots, flip-flops, and work boots) and ends with
a picture showing eight people and a question asking the child to name
which of the described shoes they are wearing.
BUILD IT Suggest making a tower from blocks and seeing how many blocks
can be stacked before it wobbles…then encourages child to think of ways
to build stronger towers.
ON GROUND HOG DAY [by Katherine Dressel] A finger play. Each of the six
rhyming lines has an action for the child to make while
reciting/listening to the “story.”
WHERE IS LITTLE BEAR’S HAT? [by Eileen Spinelli] In the story a little
bear looks for his hat to go out on a cold day, he finally finds it by
looking in a mirror.
FANCY, FANCY HEARTS (by Amy Schlimler) The “traditional” lace-paper
heart valentine
AT THE ZOO (by Marianne Mitchell) A little boy and his mother's visit to
the zoo with the text a mix of English and Spanish – includes a
pronunciation guide for the Spanish.
DO THE SHOELACE-CHIPMUNK TRICK (by Sally Walker) A step-by-step guide to
tying your shoes with illustrations for each step.
MEET RELISH (by Sherry Shahan) A photo essay of a Seeing Eye dog and his
owner. Shows the dog and his owner crossing the street, sitting in a
restaurant, and meeting new friends (a small child).
BACK COVER FOLD – IT’S A SHOE SHUFFLE A fold-out with two strips to cut
so children can match drawings of people to different kinds of shoes.
INSIDE BACK COVER – RAINBOW TOAST (by Mary Mulard) Painting bread with
“paint” made from milk mixed with food color. Then toasting bread.
OUTSIDE BACK COVER – LOOK AT THE ANGELFISH A photo of an Angelfish that
draws attention to the fish’s gill. The text explains how fish breath,
then suggests child make a funny fish face.
This page last updated on 01 May 2007
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