I was at the library yesterday and I ended up looking at the AG magazines for a bit of nostalgia. They had some of the 10th anniversary editions, which featured covers and updates on stories from the first years.
I got the magazine the first year it came out and I remembered the stories! Although the magazine still looks great (I love the frequent girls' writing contests) there is a lot missing!
I used to love the paper dolls that traced girls' heritage. Now, they have things like posters- so reminiscent of teen celebrity magazines. Those paper dolls were so cool.
When I was a kid, I loved the frequent AG historicals short stories. It seemed like there was one in almost every issue! They were great. That was the reason I asked for the mag.
And the art on the inner back cover was wonderful. Now, it's a little "Behind the Scenes" thing, which granted, is also cool, but not as much as the art was.
I forgot to check if they still had the game where you guessed who the girl grew up to be based on photos of her girlhood. I loved that too.
Anyone else miss these changes? Now that the magazine has no AG historicals content, I have no real reason to look through it.
I can't look at the new ones....I loved the old magazine from the first few years (and ironically still have most of them)....I loved the historical bits, the paper dolls, and yes looking forward to the newest doll's story to first appear in the magazine...
Looking at the new ones just take away from the memories *sniff, sniff*
Jenny =)
i loved the paper dolls and the art also. I like the Behind the Scenes better. They don't, unfourtunatly, have the Who's That Girl anymore.
I wrote about this a while back, too ( http://www.hostboard.com/cgi-bin/ult...f=2155&t=12114 ). To me, it's a huge relief to know I'm not the only one who is saddened and disappointed! I subscribed when the magazine first came out. Of course there were many years between the next time I subscribed--I started receiving a free subscription to the magazine about a year ago. I ended up giving many of the issues away to a girl in their target age range (I never would give away the first issues!). Unfortunately she generally finished looking at them in about five minutes because the magazine is now very graphic-oriented instead of containing articles. I feel that it has become a "fluff" magazine instead of one with substance. It used to have a lot of historical and educational value, BUT it was still fun even though it was educational! [img]smile.gif[/img]
What really bothered me was when I saw one of their poster graphics in my doctor's office--on the cover of a different magazine! Wondering how that could possibly happen, I looked closer at the posters in AG and noticed that they are simply purchased SuperStock clip-art (which any company can buy and use in a publication as well). A lot of the articles are also simply chapters out of books they publish, along with a comment to purchase the book.
I was looking forward to subscribing to it for future daughter(s), but now I probably would not. It's just not the same magazine, other than having the same name.
I'm sure many girls enjoy the magazine, but for those who liked the original magazine mentioning the historical AGs and girls' connection to history, this is no longer the magazine that it once was. *Sigh* I feel like I'm getting old because lately I keep thinking about the good ol' days. [img]wink.gif[/img]
<font color="#051E50" size="1">[ August 02, 2005 06:37 PM: Message edited by: Melissa ]</font>
I feel your pain. I used to love getting the magazine. I still have a box of the paper dolls somewhere. There must be almost a hundred in there. I should really dig them out one day.
Thanks for the older link- I went and read it over.
I do appreciate the continuing lack of ads- though there appears to be more suble marketing now- like addresses for cable TV celebrities like Raven.
They had some great stories in the beginning. I loved the one with the dog sledding girls- I think the AGOT dog sled came out around that time. I also loved the one about the girls playing Clara in The Nutcracker.
I noticed in one of the anniversary editions that they'd done a piece on working for the magazine's. One woman was described as something like "making sure there aren't too many words on the page." Now, I'm sure they didn't mean to imply "taking real content out of the magazine," but that certainly appears to have happened.
Does anyone remember the slumber party issue (there was an African American girl on the cover, holding popcorn, I think...) where they labeled all the products? There was a page with toothbrushes, labelling all their brands. It never happened in any other issue, as far as I know.
What year did the Magazines start?
I have Sept/October 1994- Sept/October 1999.
Within just those 5 years, there's an obvious decline in what I liked about the magazine, which is pretty much everything else mentioned here.
All my 1999 magazines have/had the paper dolls in them, so that must be a pretty recent change. But, there weren't as many stories about the Historical girls, or anything else that I really liked. And there were more pictures then, too.
I remember when Josefina first came out and there was a HUGE thing about her in (I'm guessing) one of the 1997 magazines. Probably they did something similar for all the other dolls releases'.
But, I'm kind of curious how far after the start of the magazine I have them from. Was it early 90's they started? Or late 80s?
I believe it was the early 90s. I spent the summer of 1993 in Germany and I very clearly remember taking an AG magazine with me. Our German friends were very impressed with the paper dolls- at least one of the paper doll sets I'd brought along had a girl with German heritage.
I think it may actually have been 1993, because the 10th anniversary magazines I read at the library were from 2003.
The first issue was copyrighted in/came out in 1992, but I think they didn't get the ball rolling on regular issues until January/February 1993.
For anyone who might want historical magazine alternatives, I really recommend Reminisce. It's so good! I started reading it as a teen and love it. The contributors are the subscribers, so it spans many years of history. It's like having grandparents sitting in a room talking to you.
For kids who love history, the Cricket family of magazines is very educational. They have many different types to choose from.
These magazines are also ad-free, but they have a lot of text and take longer than a day to read. I subscribe to Cricket now, even at my age (late twenties). [img]redface.gif[/img] (It's nice that every once in a while they print a letter from an adult fan in their letters section!) I just started receiving it as a present, and am hooked. Their magazines cover many different eras and subjects. I love to read historical children's stories and can't find that type of content from AG magazine any more.
AG's is still a wholesome magazine, but I think it has probably lost its appeal for older girls/teens/adults who might have liked the issues put out the first several years. It's really trendy now.
I also still have the paper dolls! Mine are in a box as well. When I became a mentor they were one of the first items I turned to when unsure of what my Little Sister might like to play with. They were such a neat concept! It's such a testament to the original magazine, too, that many of us have kept sections of it or the entire issues. [img]smile.gif[/img] So often magazines just get tossed.
<font color="#051E50" size="1">[ August 02, 2005 07:23 PM: Message edited by: Melissa ]</font>
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Love CRICKET (grab it every chance I get in Barnes and Noble over coffee), love REMINISCE (my Daddy used to renew my subscription every year), and love the fact that I've met someone over the age of 7 and under the age of 60 who loves them both, too!Originally posted by Melissa:
The first issue was copyrighted in/came out in 1992, but I think they didn't get the ball rolling on regular issues until January/February 1993.
For anyone who might want historical magazine alternatives, I really recommend Reminisce. It's so good! I started reading it as a teen and love it. The contributors are the subscribers, so it spans many years of history. It's like having grandparents sitting in a room talking to you.
For kids who love history, the Cricket family of magazines is very educational. They have many different types to choose from.
These magazines are also ad-free, but they have a lot of text and take longer than a day to read. I subscribe to Cricket now, even at my age (late twenties). [img]redface.gif[/img] (It's nice that every once in a while they print a letter from an adult fan in their letters section!) I just started receiving it as a present, and am hooked. Their magazines cover many different eras and subjects. I love to read historical children's stories and can't find that type of content from AG magazine any more.
AG's is still a wholesome magazine, but I think it has probably lost its appeal for older girls/teens/adults who might have liked the issues put out the first several years. It's really trendy now.
I also still have the paper dolls! Mine are in a box as well. When I became a mentor they were one of the first items I turned to when unsure of what my Little Sister might like to play with. They were such a neat concept! It's such a testament to the original magazine, too, that many of us have kept sections of it or the entire issues. [img]smile.gif[/img] So often magazines just get tossed.
<font color="#051E50"><font size="1">[ August 02, 2005 07:23 PM: Message edited by: Melissa ]</font></font>
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