Hello friends,
We just sent our fall issue off to the printer, and I finally have a moment to think about what to write. It's been, well, more than a minute.
The truth is, I have been finding it difficult to send a fun newsletter out to you, when the news itself is so not great. To quote the most oft-quoted Mary Oliver, I keep thinking:
"There are plenty of lives and whole towns destroyed or about to be. We are not wise, and not very often kind. And much can never be redeemed. Still, life has some possibility left."
So, I am here, still here, for that possibility, and I'm so glad you are too. In my own way of fighting back, let me introduce our next issue: Kazoo #38, The Razzle-Dazzle Issue, shipping to subscribers right now.
• Why Razzle-Dazzle? It's been well documented that the current U.S. government has already harmed women and children, in various and possibly lasting ways, only one of which has been to bully private companies into ending any notion of equality. Though we have all been warned to not obey in advance, this attitude seeps through, and the more subtle effect of these anti-woman policies is to keep us all quiet lest they come for us next. The message that sends to our daughters? Don't be too loud, too confident, too smart, too anything. Well, no. Just no. With our Razzle-Dazzle issue, we encourage our readers to not give up their power or their voice. Instead, be as EXTRA AS YOU WANT TO BE. Besides, it's just so fun and don't our kids deserve that?
• Why encourage our girls to be extra? Back in February 2025, when Donald Trump was signing one of his bazillion executive orders, he surrounded himself with a crowd of young girls for the photo op and joked, "Secret Service is worried about them? If we have to worry about them, we have big problems." It elicited laughs from the crowd. Of all the moments to provoke outrage, this one was so fleeting, but it still bothers me today. It's my sincerest hope that we as a society one day have a realization that girls are not a joke, women are not powerless, and yes, to our current and future leaders: You will worry about us, or you will have big problems (in the voting booth).
• More advice for a president: Every summer, my family retreats to a tiny cottage near Westfield, NY for a bit. In the adorable village square, there's a statue of Abraham Lincoln with an 11-year-old girl named Grace Bedell. The story is that when Lincoln was campaigning, Grace wrote him a letter, urging him to grow his beard, telling him this might help him earn more votes. He took her advice—and won the election. When Lincoln later stopped in Westfield on his inaugural journey, he called Grace out of the crowd to thank her. From The Philadelphia Inquirer, 1861: "A boy yelled, 'There she is, Mr. Lincoln,' pointing to a beautiful girl, with black eyes, who was blushing all over her fair face. The President left the car, and the crowd making way for him, he reached her, and gave her several hearty kisses, and amid the yells of delight from the excited crowd, he bade her good-bye, and on we rushed." I wonder what sort of advice an 11-year-old girl might give our president today, what sort of statue might survive in a town square 164 years from now?
• Celebrity picture books are having a moment. But should they be? In The New Yorker, Sloan Crosley works through a pile of mostly bad kids' books and finds: "Childhood is not a prequel to adulthood. It’s an original production with its own thrills and terrors, deities, and jokes. The chances of an adult writer speaking this language fluently are slimmer than they are of an adult writer publishing a passable literary novel. It’s an exclusive club. And the majority of these celebrities are standing on the wrong side of the velvet rope." Crosley makes some good points but, with so little print space to cover kids' books, I wish they could've found a way to write about a pile of books they adore, instead. (Personally, I'd love for the New Yorker to take on a pile of Kazoo magazines and tell everyone how great they are. Hey David, call me?)
• Some baby book favorites: Because I have a big extended family, I became a great aunt this summer! It's been so long since I held a newborn, and holding my nephew's days-old baby brought back all sorts of memories about what it was like when my daughters were born and how many hours we spent reading books together. I made a list of favorites so I could send some to my nephew. Besides the classics, some lesser known greatest hits in our house: Now Open the Box, The Little Blue Truck, Giraffes Can't Dance, Little Owl's Night, Time to Sleep Sheep the Sheep, You are Stardust, Press Here, and I am a Bunny. I don't miss those first few years of sleepless nights, but I do miss reading every night at bedtime.
• Magazines are getting kids to put down their phones: A few weeks ago, I talked with Elizabeth Segran, a writer at Fast Company, who wrote about the children's mag revival, and then she discussed her findings w NPR’s Marketplace: “Over the last 9 years, there a few new entrants into this new world of print magazines: Kazoo is the magazine that arguably launched this new movement. And it’s focused on kids age 5-12 and in particular it really wants to help girls grow up strong and confident.” Tune in to find out why print—at least for kids—is not dead, and is in fact exploding.
• Here's some fun stuff that's been helping me keep my chin up. >>>
• Kazoo Klassifieds: The adorable messages you send to your kids in our klassified section warm my heart. Want to surprise your kid in print? Messages received by Oct 1st will appear in Kazoo #39, out in December. Click here to write your own. Space is limited.
• Did you finish your summer DIYs?: I always make a to-do list of about 10 projects in June and by September I've finished maybe two. (This summer I built a concrete wall, using—don't ask—wonky cinderblocks I found in a pile under some ivy.) I hope to spend all my summers this way. This woman is my idol. If she can dig a french drain ditch with a kitchen ladle, so can I!
• Missed Connections: You know from our Clever Issue (#33) how much I love word games. I do Wordle, The Mini, and Connections every morning over my first cup of coffee. I'm thrilled if I finish Wordle in under 4 and The Mini in under a minute, but the purple level of Connections, though?
• Because of Winn Dixie turns 25! Kate DiCamillo (Kazoo Issue #7) kicked off the celebration with a sold-out film screening and signing for several hundred fans. I love her so much, I wish I could've been there. 
• Listen to this woman! Julia Turshen (whose sandwich recipe you probably enjoyed from Issue #37) writes a wonderful newsletter that features some of her amazing recipes and other stuff, too. Here, she gives us 40 Bits of Advice. My favorite: "If there’s an opportunity to jump in the water, jump. Even if you just washed your hair."
• The world needs more sparkle! I am just LOVING everything that artist @abstruselike does, every single piece of it makes me smile. (Which is why you'll find her work in our next issue.) But you should check out all of it, online, too. Here's how she created a huge, sparkling cowboy boot! 
• Where My Karens At? You may have seen some of the many tiktok videos of women confronting ICE. Margaret Cho urges more of us (white women, in particular) to put on our yoga pants and join the revolution. All joking aside, things will only change when enough of us decide to demand it.
• Summer is Officially Over! My to-do list will have to wait until next year. We'll miss hanging out around the fire. The good news: We'll have plenty of time to figure out exactly how to sit comfortably in an adirondack chair before next year. Maybe.
• What now? Guess the first step is to get out there find your own way to light it up.
HERE'S TO STRONG WOMEN: May we know them, may we be them, may we raise them!
We asked our pals at Oxford Pennant in Buffalo, NY, to hand-stitch and screen print a camp flag to celebrate Kazoo's Noisemakers and remind them that they can change the world. Indeed, they already have. Frame it or hang it on your wall. Size: 18" x 24". Get yours.
• What We're Watching: So, for the kids: It was K-Pop Demon Hunters, non-stop this summer. They also watched Gumball (which is very clever!), The Summer I turned Pretty(which is mid, but fun though inappropriate for younger viewers), and Wednesday (which I think is too scary—for me!). After the kids are in bed, the pickings are slim: When The Gilded Age first came out, I just couldn't get over Miranda's hair so we never got into it—before now. We spent the summer catching up. Who to cheer for in this show? Almost no one! It's still so good. 
• What We're Eating: At some point this year, we started seeing recipe after recipe featuring beans beans beans, and because, well, we are not living in The Gilded Age as The Russells (or even as The Van Rhijns), we starting making them.This "Cheesy Chili Crisp White Beans" is so delicious, it feels almost extravagant. I hope I don't get any on my corset.
• Thank you for being here. I am so happy I get to make this magazine for girls, and I couldn't do it without your support.
I'm now turning towards Kazoo #39, which will come out in December, just in time for the holidays. (Hint, hint!)
And yes, getting back to it, because this is how we will get through it. Mary Oliver also wrote, "Sometimes something happens better than all the riches or power in the world." And look, it does, all around us. It's more important than ever to take note, appreciate, and share. If you come across anything interesting, don't hesitate to send it my way. You can always find me at erin@kazoomagazine.com.
xo,
Erin
Kazoo magazine
Founder & Editor-in-Chief
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