Publication News

I am pleased to announce my rebus "Hidden Veggies" appears in the August 2015 issue of Clubhouse Jr.

Hidden Veggies, by Joanne Roberts, illustrated by Donald Wu

Many thanks to Joanna, James, and Jesse from Focus on the Family Clubhouse magazines. Thanks to everyone at the Write2Ignite conference and at Sub It Club. Thanks also to my critiques partners both local and virtual, especially Mette for the perfect word, Val for her alternate beginning, and Beth for her descriptive ideas which led to this story becoming a puzzle.

It really does take a village.

"Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift." -II Corinthians 9:15

Cricket Covers

Cricket Magazine
Vol. 1, No. 1
Sept. 1973

Cricket Magazine, back cover
Pilot issue: Vol. 1, No. 1
Jan. 1973

As promised, I want to clear up a few questions regarding Cricket Magazine and it's inaugural covers.

I mentioned in the post on April 17, 2012, that Cricket: The Magazine for Children was launched in September of 1973.  Volume one was scheduled to run nine issues, through May, 1974.  Pictured above left and in my previous post, is the very first issue sent to subscribers.  The art is by Trina Schart Hyman, who accepted the position of Art Director.  At right is the lovely back cover art, also by Trina.  This scan is from my pilot copy.

Celebrate Cricket,
30 Years of
Stories and Art, ed. by Marianne Carus
Cricket Books, 2003

According to Marianne Carus, a pilot issue was printed and distributed in January of 1973.  The purpose of this issue was to bring it before a test audience of  librarians, teachers, publishers, and so forth. To my knowledge, the content remained the same after launching the actual magazine, though there may have been some typographical changes.  I personally own only the pilot copy, so I've never been able to compare the two for content.  Instead of the volume number appearing on the front cover, the pilot issue has the words "January 1973".

Cricket's Choice
Cover Illustration
 by Trina Schart Hyma

Just for fun, I've posted the cover for Cricket's Choice again.  It was a compilation of articles from the magazine's first nine issues.  Trina painted a new cover for this book, recalling the one on the magazine.  

Cricket, The Magazine for Children
vol. 2, no. 1
Sept. 1974

In September 1974, when volume two was issued, Trina's artwork again graced the cover.  Years later, the art for the front and back cover was reused on slipcases which could be ordered to hold your back issues.

Cricket, The Magazine for Children
vol. 9, no. 7
March 1982

Lastly, I've included a scan of the cover of Cricket's 100th issue.  Trina actually repainted part of the scene from the inaugural cover.  A tiny reproduction of the first issue appears inside the "g" on the front and back as well.

For more information, I again recommend Celebrate Cricket, a book detailing the creation of the magazine and reminiscences from the first thirty years of publication.  Check the Carus Publishing website for available back issues or a subscription to any of their worthwhile magazines.

Cricket, The Magazine for Children

Cricket's Choice
Cover Illustration by Trina Schart Hyman

There were many influences on my literary and artistic sensibilities, but few with more impact than Cricket, the magazine for children, which I first encountered in the form of Cricket's Choice.  Published in 1974, this
collection marked the magazine's one-year anniversary.  It was filled with stories, poems, plays, riddles, and pictures . . . lots of pictures.  It was a year before I thought to look for Cricket at the library, but there it was on the magazine rack.  The subscription card went home with me that day, and in April 1979, I received my very first issue.



Cricket Magazine was begun in September of 1973.  For the full story, I highly recommend the 30th anniversary book Celebrate Cricket.

 It was in the pages of Cricket that I discovered the buggies of Cricket Country along with many of my favorite authors and illustrators.  The magazine went through changes in size, color, and format.  Eventually the subtitle "the magazine for children" was dropped, because as Clifton Fadiman so wisely reminded us, it was just as coveted by "those grown-ups who are still children at heart."  It is still going strong nearly forty years later.  Over the years the original has been joined by a whole family of magazines, covering a range of interests and age groups, including those from Cobblestone Publishing.

So thank-you to Marianne, Cliff, Lloyd, Trina, and the many others who shaped the destiny of Cricket.  Thank-you for an enduring legacy of "the rarest kind of best."