I have held off from posting this since I don't like to be negative, but I was wondering what long-time American Girl customers think of American Girl magazine? It is so different from when I used to subscribe. (I subscribe now, but the subscription was free; I give my copies to a girl in their target age range.)

The quality of content seems to have gone down tremendously. Some things I have noticed:

* The posters are clip art (SuperStock photos) not even taken by AG. I saw one that they used as the cover of a different magazine. Boy was that a feeling of deja vu!

* Wasted space--sometimes the titles of articles will take up one or two pages of the magazine.

* No more historical American Girl stories.

* No "Looking Back" section that compares the present with the past.

* No "Who's That Girl?" article that talks about a celebrity's childhood. (It seems that the generic posters have replaced this.)

* The "Imagine" work of art on the second to last page is gone.

When I looked at old copies against new copies, I finally realized what has changed! All educational/historical significance has been removed. These were the things that kept me wanting to read before. Now the magazine is of very little interest to me, and I won't be resubscribing. I was looking forward to using it as an educational resource, but it no longer has any educational value.

I'm not saying it's a bad magazine. I'm sure modern-day young girls would enjoy it (although there isn't much content any more, with all the wasted graphics/pages, so it won't take long to read). However, all historical and educational significance is gone, and that's what makes AG so special.

Has anyone else been bothered by the change?