Zoobooks is an educational magazine for children about animals. In addition to great photography and wonderful information, there is also a pullout section of puzzles and mazes. The magazine also maintains a web site to support the magazine.
WHAT YOU GET IN EACH ISSUE
Each issue highlights either one animal or a group of related animals. Some recent topics have been: Skunks (May 2002), Spiders (June 2002), Wild Dogs (July 2002), Eagles (October 2002), Animal Wonders (November 2002) and Sharks (December 2002).
Each issue is about 18 glossy pages plus a 4 page two-color pull-out section with puzzles and games. There are no ads.
There are always several glossy pictures of the animals being featured. The high quality pictures remind me of National Geographic. There magazine also provides wonderful information about the animals. There are drawings of the animials' skeleton and muscles with explanations of what makes the animal unique. There are usually excellent explanations of the animals' habitat and diet. Often, there is a page showing different species of the featured animals. This page might discuss why each species looks different and how it has adapted to its particular habitat.
The format is usually brief snippets or small paragraphs interspersed with pictures. No text section is longer than a third of a page and most are only a few sentences. The text is interspersed with the pictures. There are no long articles and the magazine presents only fact, no fiction.
Here are some of the things we learned from the Wild Dogs issue: they are intelligent, they are hunters but don't kill as many domestic animals as people think, the largest wild dog is the timber wolf and the smallest is the fennec, there are about 35 species, wild dogs live in deserts and frozen tundra, wild dogs have pointed ears that act like big scoops to catch sound, wild dogs bodies are almost all muscle, family is important to most wild dogs, African wild dogs can be savage hunters, scientists believe all of the 400 breeds of domestic dogs were descended from wolves and the Ethiopian wolf is critically endangered.
Each issue has a paper insert of 4 pages. These pages are two-color printing, not the glossy stuff for the other pages. These pages are designed to be pulled out because there is a two page centerfold picture behind them. However, since the puzzles relate to the subject matter presented, we leave them in so all of the information stays together. The first page of this section is "Kids Correspondence" which is a mix of pictures, letters, poems and other info from readers of the magazine. The other three pages offer a variety of puzzles and, occasionally, crafts such as: mazes, making words from letters provided, crosswords, looking at the eagle on the Great Seal, a template for a wolf mask and other games.
AGE APPROPRIATENESS
The ages of the readers seems to be 5-13 based on the letters from kids in the magazine. My first grader enjoys this magazine and likes looking at the pictures. She can read most of the text, however the magazine uses appropriate vocabulary for the science being studied so you will run across such words as: species, endangered, proboscis, predator, tropical, mustelids and coverts. Although my first graders can read the words, she usually needs help understanding the definitions.
OUR EXPERIENCE
We enjoyed this magazine when my daughter was in kindergarden. At that time, we focused more on the beautiful photography. Now that she is into first grade, we tend to discuss the science more although the photos are still engaging. We often pick up old issues to read again. Some of the science is a bit over her head, still I think this is fine because we can save the old issues to review again when she is ready. I can tell we will get several more years out of this magazine.
COST
A one year subscription is 12 issues for $20.95. A two year subscription is $36.90.
Single copies are available through the publisher for $2.95 plus $1.50 shipping.
We recently got an offer for 10 magazines for $15.95 plus $4.95 shipping. The 10 magazines are: Animal Babies, Big Cats, Endangered Animals, Hummingbirds, Snakes, Whales, Giraffes, Birds of Prey, Wild Horses and Bears.
WEB SITE
The web site is www.zoobooks.com. You can get a subscription and learn more about the magazine on the site.
The web site also has a section called Humphrey's Hideaway that has additional information about the current issue. Each issue of Zoobooks has a password to access Humphrey's Hideaway so you can use the special area. The only downside of this feature is that a password is only good for a month and for the current issue. You can't access this part of the web site with old passwords for old issues.
OTHER INFO
The magazine is printed on heavy, glossy paper. It is held together by three staples. The paper has lasted but our old magazines have fallen apart as the binding doesn't hold the pages together.
Contact information is:
Wildlife Education, Ltd.
c/o Zoobooks
P.O. Box 85384
San Diego, CA 92186-5384
(800) 992-5034
FINAL RECOMMENDATION
This is our favorite magazine. We look forward to getting each month and enjoy reading the current and old issues on a regular basis. It is educational and interesting. Plus, the high quality paper allows it to last for a long time. I can definitely recommend this magazine.
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