News from Kazoo.

Hello friends! We made it to December! Now's the time to find the light.  

December Update: 

Lightshow: The other night we ventured out to The Brooklyn Botanical Garden to a light exhibition called Lightscape, which winds through the garden trails. There were s'mores and hot chocolate stations and even a fire garden! Now, understand that we really haven't been out and about much, but even so, our minds were just absolutely blown by the beauty. It was magical. If you can find a light show near you, go!

DIY: Or just string up every twinkle light you can find. We do every December. This year, especially, we need it. 

New Issue! Our 23rd issue, The Art Issue, has landed. Did you get yours? We've already seen some spectacular reader-made artwork on the covers. Email us your child's contribution (to readermail@kazoomagazine.com) and we'll post a round-up. 

Gift giving: It's holiday gift list time, and we are happy to appear on The Kids Should See This list. (They feature a ton of cool stuff, if you need more inspiration for gift buying.) 

Newest Picture books: The 2021 list of NYT best picture books is also out, and, uh, we haven’t read a single one. Maybe we should. Our go-to picture books are not at all new: The Little Engine that Could, The Nutshell Library (which seems to be, sadly, in-and-out of print), and The Book of Mistakes, which we excerpted in Kazoo #8. 

Children's book classics: But our 6-year-old is mostly just reading Frog & Toad these days, which I re-discovered from this excellent @frogandtoadbot. 

Banned books: Some people in the US are currently losing their minds and trying to ban books everywhere. One Texas school district just banned the books of 3 of our recent contributors! (Yes, Jacqueline Woodson, who was in our very 1st issue; Margaret Atwood, from issue #4; and Carmen Maria Machado, who wrote our wonderful story for issue #18.) Banning The Handmaids Tale is sort of a tell? Seems to us if you want kids to learn, no matter what your particular political persuasion, the answer is always more books. 

Gold medalist story: Here's a new book about Paralympian (and Kazoo expert) Tatyana McFadden, who in addition to being a gold medalist, happens to have two moms. You should probably buy this book before someone tries to ban it, too. 

Another Olympian: We saw Shalane Flanagan run by while we were cheering on our corner during the NYC marathon. (I mean, in a blur.) She talked with us for issue #10. Her advice when things get hard: “Think of who you're doing it for." I guess she knows of what she speaks as it was her 6th marathon this year! 

Persist: If you, too, were distraught by the SCOTUS arguments this week, the only thing to do is to remember who we're fighting for. As one wise woman said, "We can not and will not leave our granddaughters a world in which they have fewer opportunities than we did." We will do anything for our daughters. The fight for equality is not over, and we will never stop. 

Mommy shark (do-do-do-do): We keep trying to quit social media, but then we see something like this on twitter and we are reminded that the world can also be a spectacular place, and scientists are amazing (even on twitter). 

Yay, Science! And thank you to Dr. Kizzmekia Corbett, who you might remember from issue #20, for her work in developing the covid vaccine. Our Teeny and Tiny editors (now 6 & 10) got their Covid vaccinations, and full immunity kicks in next week. No one likes getting shots but they were so brave and happy to take this small step to help protect themselves and their community. (And, neither had any side-effects except for a little soreness on their arm.) Plus, we promised them Pokemon cards after their 2nd shot. (Or as I call them, Pokie Mans.) VACCINATIONS AND POKEMON!!! It was a banner day around here. 

What supply chain issues?: We print our magazine in the great state of Vermont, in the USA, and have no supply-chain issues at all. Our store is fully stocked for the holidays! But the post office is slow. (Why? Not bringing us joy, DeJoy.) So, if you want something by December 25, order it now. We ship daily, and we're running a buy-two-get one free on back-issues, so check them out.  

Thank you for reading our magazine—and for telling your friends about Kazoo too. If you'd like to reach out, or send me anything cool to include in a future issue or newsletter (or you just want to say hi), you can always find me: erin@kazoomagazine.com. 

xo,
Erin