A Great Quality Magazine for Girls

American Girl Magazine is a great magazine. We just recently started getting it for my 7 year old daughter and we just love it.

The magazine itself is geared towards 8 to 12 year olds, as the American girl dolls are as well. (The same company sells the dolls and owns the magazine.) This magazine is not about the dolls though, and there are not any advertisements on its pages to persuade you to buy their dolls. (With the exception of those pull out cards in a magazine, that you can just pull out quickly beforehand if you wanted to.) As a matter of fact, the magazine is free of any type of advertisements on its actual pages.

The magazine is full of craft ideas, ideas for fun with your friends, recipes and much more.

The latest issue that we received taught how to make memory books out of paper bags and how to make small gift boxes to use for the holidays. The crafts are definitely do-able by the kids. There was also an article on how to decorate your room for the holidays.

There is always a section (or a few) in the magazine that girls speak their minds. There may be a poll question, or girls may write in to tell their thoughts on previous articles.

The magazine has an art page as well, where readers submit their artwork. The girls’ name and age are printed below.

One great section in this winter issue was on how to make a difference in others’ lives. It had two pages on how girls’ can contribute to others with little money. There was suggestions of starting a coat collection for the homeless, caroling, or selling crafts to donate to a cause.

The magazine also has fun, kid friendly recipes, activity pages, jokes, an advice section, a short story to read, non fiction stories that ‘real’ girls share, and even a mini magazine for your doll (almost identical to your magazine.)

What I really like about this magazine is it’s wholesomeness. In this day of the Bratz dolls (my husband refers to as the ‘prostitute dolls’), there is a place that girls’ can look and you can feel good about it. American girl magazine encourages girls to be their age and has positive moral values. There is no talk of anything in sexual nature in this magazine and the girls are dressed appropriately. It encourages friendships, enjoying life and adding to others’ lives. I think it is a great magazine for girls. It is one that parents can also enjoy with their children. My daughter and I enjoy reading the stories together and she likes to tell me the jokes. We have also found some great activities to do together.

The only downside to the magazine is that it comes out every other month, so only six magazines a year. The subscription was about 22.00 for the year. The magazine of the current issue we received, has 49 pages.

I would definitely recommend this magazine if you have a daughter old enough to read fairly well, up to 12 years of age and even into the early teens possibly. I wish there were more magazines of this quality for older girls as well. Happy reading!