News

August Update:  We've spent much of July out of NYC, visiting with family in the country, and it's been just lovely. I've taken the time to ride bikes, visit farm stands (and then make pie), and jump in the lake at least once every sunny day. And, between swims, my team and I have also managed to create a brand new issue of Kazoo for you, our most hopeful yet, which will ship to subscribers in September -- more on that below.  Yee-haw for Cowgirl Caviar:My sister-in-law is 100% vegan and she sends me reels from her fav vegan recipes, and we've finally made her something she loves back: Bean Dip from The Cowgirl Hall of Fame that we featured in our Confidence Issue. It's perfect for a summer supper when it's way too hot to cook. (Do separate a few cups for the kids w/o the jalapeños though, because this one's got a real kick!)Little Amusements Everywhere: Our family enjoys old amusement parks and we've been lucky to return to one of the oldest in the country: Midway State Park in Chautauqua, NY. Of course, the dream is Disney, but these small, classic, old parks are so much more manageable and sweet. Plus, the vintage rides and games (and signs!) are excellent. (We also love Hershey Park , Coney Island and my childhood fav Knoebels (pronounced like Knopf, not knife). Which are your family favorites?  LOLville: My city kids laugh reading road signs during the long drive from Brooklyn. We pass through towns like Bethlehem, Pennsylvania (somehow pronounced there as "Bethlum"), Dubois (pronounced "dew boys"), Wilawana (pronounced like the answer to, "Will you?") and Horsehead (pronounced like you'd think, but why in the world?) Turns out this whole beautiful country is full of funny town names. I guess it would be fun to live in one. If you do, let us know what it's like. (I get it, I grew up near Allentown and for my whole life people from around the world have asked me, "Like the song?") Summer Reading Lists: Speaking of horse heads, our 11-year-old Tiny Editor (who took her first horseback riding lessons this summer) read Black Beauty and upon finishing, immediately started the Black Beauty graphic novel, too. The 7-year-old Teeny Editor has been reading Bad Guys (which I do not love but she absolutely cackles) and Bad Kitty (same) and has been making her way through How to Draw Cute Stuff  and sharing her work (which is adorable). I know many schools make strict Summer Reading lists, but instead I encourage my kids to read a little every day and try not to judge their choices (because books are not broccoli after all) and I have managed to raise a couple of great readers this way, too. Book Bans: Ongoing, and will be through the 2024 election, it seems, as some politicians have nothing better to do, apparently. (Maybe they should visit a small amusement park?) In The New Yorker, Jessica Winter explores what even makes a book gay? and explains that "gay books" never really suited lgbtq families. (Of course, kids of gay parents don't need an entire book about how THAT'S OK!) The gay adjacent Frog & Toad is beloved in our house and we enjoy the newer books where the gay part isn't really the main story. (And that's also how Kristen Arnett penned the Kazoo short story about a girl who happens to have two moms in our Awesome Issue, too.) Although, we loved reading the classic Mama, Mommy and Me to our babies and I could probably still, tearfully now, recite the whole of it by heart. (So good luck putting us back in that bottle, Florida.) Rocking Out: When my oldest daughter was just a baby, I wrote a parenting book, and for it I interviewed a bunch of renowned people's parents, including Rachel Maddow's mom! I learned that Rachel carried around a yellow blanket when she was little, which, I mean, so cute. Today I learned another reason to love Rachel Maddow: She chops her own firewood! Vanity Fair has even more on Rachel's future media plans. #OOO:Here's some of what you missed if you've been bird-watching instead of tweet-scrolling this summer:  New Issue Coming this September!  Our next issue is all about THE FUTURE, and it's hopeful, delightful, and includes an original story by literary legend Lois Lowry. Yes, Lois Lowry! Check out this amazing cover by Jordan Moss. We think #26 is our brightest issue yet. We're not printing many extra copies so be sure to subscribe now to get it this September.  Inflation Blues: Like just about everywhere, our expenses have gone up dramatically. But unlike everyone else, we're really, really trying not to raise our prices in response. We are still independently, woman-owned, and ad-free, and fully funded by you, our subscribers, and we'd really like to stay that way. Many publications have ceased their print editions this year, and well, we don't want to do that. To learn more about us, click to read the full Kazoo Magazine Media Kit here. (And then share w your all your friends.) Or, if you can spare it, leave us a tip to help get through this wild time.  I used to think of August as the less exciting lazy-days of summer, but my little one is just now getting her two new front teeth, and her new smile reminds me of how quickly time passes, so this year, I'm hanging tight to every sweet moment. I hope that whatever funny town you're in, you get to enjoy this August a little too. If you see anything wonderful, please send it my way. You can always find me at erin@kazoomagazine.com.  xo,ErinKazoo magazineFounder & Editor-in-Chief

Summer Update:  Pie Wisdom: You might not remember the time I mistakenly made a rhubarb pie with Swiss chard stems and served it at a dinner party (though my guests probably do). That awful experience inspired me to change my ways, and then write a whole book about back-to-basic skills. So, I'm a little better at identifying rhubarb now. I can even pick it! Scroll down for my grandmother's favorite recipe for rhubarb pie, in her own handwriting. I like to bake this with my daughters, and to me, it tastes like summer. A Women's Place: is not always "in the kitchen," of course. Or the cave. A new book posits that prehistoric women were actually hunters and artists, as well as mothers. I wonder if they made pie. :)  June is Pride Month: And here's a good list of LGBTQ+ Books for kids. We joke that every month is Pride month at Kazoo. Ellen Degeneres talked about coming out in issue #11, Alison Bechdel drew a Virginia Woolf-inspired spot-the-difference in issue #7, Leiomy Maldonado helped us find confidence in issue #15, poet Eileen Myles taught us about their love of words in issue #9, and in our Awesome issue #14, Kristen Arnett shared an original short story about a girl who just happened to have two moms (like my own sweet daughters do). And since our launch in 2016, some other kids magazines have caught up bit . Maybe the world is becoming more open in some ways. Summer Reading: Our 6-year-old is loving Now Open the Box , Sideways Stories from Wayside School (which I loved reading aloud), and even more Shel Silverstein, with Every Thing On It.  Our 11-year-old has been spending more time with The Baby Sitter's Club graphic novels and Front Desk. And at a local bookstore we stumbled upon a copy of Jacqueline Woodson's oh-so-sweet The World Belonged to Us, which is beautifully illustrated by Leo Espinosa, and even though it's about Brooklyn summers past, it feels like hope for the future. Racial Diversity in Kids' Books: This fascinating article wonders What accounts for the stubbornness of racial bias in children’s books? In it, we learned that W.E.B. Dubois launched the first magazine for black children in 1920. (The letter on page 2 is my favorite!) It lasted for 12 issues. He hired groundbreaking black artists Hilda Wilkinson Brown and Laura Wheeler Waring to illustrate some stories, and interestingly, they used only line drawings, completely eliminating skin-tone. (We use line-drawings too.) This article asserts that since "the Whiteness of the page had become the default tone of protagonists, then these artists were claiming for their subjects the same status." We agree with this philosophy, though we've gotten mixed reader feedback on this decision. It is complicated of course. Recently, the AI used to check for diversity even misses it. So, much room for improvement here, folks. Summer Screening: One Friday night, we watched Swallows & Amazons (which we had never heard of) and it was a fun summer flick. On another, we watched Enola Holmes (which I may have liked more than the kids.) Another night, we basically forced the girls to watch Wall-E, a favorite Pixar of mine for a ton of reasons, and they really enjoyed it and were excited to help plant flowers the next day (a win-win). Digging in the Dirt: And not to be too woo-woo, but there's something healing about getting my hands dirty, and my daughters love it to. If you need inspiration, revisit Kazoo #9 (The Small but Mighty Issue), which has an eggshell garden craft and a comic about Green Belt founder Wangari Maathai. Or, Kazoo #13 (The Great Green Issue) which features 20 ways to Make the Earth Happy. Or Kazoo #19 (The DIY issue) which includes a feature interview with farmer Brook Bridges of Soul Fire Farm, and a color-by-dot garden sign from The Victory Garden of Tomorrow. **Get any of these issues for 50% off with purchase of any other issue with code GROW until June 30th.** Beach Days: When we're not gardening this summer, we hope to be spending as much time as possible in the water. Which is why our summer issue of Kazoo (#25!) is all about the Ocean. Doesn't it look like such fun?  Where is this amazing summer issue you might ask? Well, the good news is that after some major delays at the printing press, because they couldn't get any paper, our summer issue is finally OTW and should reach subscribers soon. Please tell your mermaids to watch the mailbox.  Speaking of mermaids: Jodie Foster is going to play Dyana Nyad (who was in our very first issue) in a biopic called Nyad, and they've been hanging out as friends IRL. Which basically means we're all close friends with Jodie Foster now. That's how it works. Beach Combers: You know how much we love a good tinker craft (see Kazoo #15 for our fav, the applause pocket-sized machine) but imagine seeing a gigantic "Strandbeest" walking towards you on the beach. Sometimes people are delightful.  And sometimes they are terrible:  Like many of you, I spent many days watching and reading the news and crying this month. The senseless gun violence is beyond comprehension, and just so heart-breaking (and rage-inducing). If you want to get involved, please connect with Mom's Demand Action or Everytown. Most Americans, of both parties, want to see change. So, please contact your elected officials and demand action. The number to Congress is (202) 224-3121. Let them know that our children have rights, too. The most basic is the right to go to school, learn, and grow up, safely. Isn't that what it is all about for everyone?  Upstream: I've been reading Mary Oliver which is wonderful even if I can only steal away in 5 minutes increments. I almost always find something to mull over the rest of the day. Lately my mind has settled on this:   "Teach the children. We don’t matter so much, but the children do. Show them daisies and the pale hepatica. Teach them the taste of sassafras and wintergreen. The lives of the blue sailors, mallow, sunbursts, the moccasin flowers. And the frisky ones—inkberry, lamb’s-quarters, blueberries. And the aromatic ones—rosemary, oregano. Give them peppermint to put in their pockets as they go to school. Give them the fields and the woods and the possibility of the world salvaged from the lords of profit. Stand them in the stream, head them upstream, rejoice as they learn to love this green space they live in, its sticks and leaves and then the silent, beautiful blossoms.  Attention is the beginning of devotion."   I hope you have a wonderful summer, and get to spend some time outside. If you come across anything bright and sunny, please send it my way. You can always find me at erin@kazoomagazine.com. xo,ErinKazoo magazineFounder & Editor-in-Chief My grandmother Hilda's "Rhubarb Sponge Pie." Recipe from her mother, that my mother shared with me (and now I'm sharing with you). Enjoy!

April Update:  Taking stock: Hello friends! We are back in Brooklyn, and the girls are so happy. But, after a long spring break in the country, it's been a little jarring, frankly. The girls always love the city, but I've been trying to find my footing on the pavement again, along with some extra space in our apartment, where I am right now surrounded by stacks of magazines. I remembered that we had a turkey in the freezer. Well, I cooked that whole bird one day, which was ambitious enough for a non-holiday meal. But the next day, I even made an actual soup with what was left! It felt a little witchy stirring and muttering "Thank you, bird." But by the time it was done I felt a little more grounded, the apartment smelled like a home again, and we all had a really nice meal.  Supply chain blues: Since we print in the USA (hello, Vermont!), we hadn't run into much trouble with delays that some overseas printers had during the pandemic, but the *gestures at everything* has finally caught up with us. So, we're shipping our next issue a week late. Our paper, postage, and ink prices have all skyrocketed. We're trying to keep our prices down, and our page count the same, but to do so we've had to increase our subscription price $5 a year, or 1.8 extra cents per page. I hope it will be OK with you. (And hey, if you know anyone with loads of cash that wants to help us keep our prices down, kindly direct them here.) Bonkers for Butterflies: Unfortunately, it's no longer shocking when we hear about social media hysteria and anti-immigrant sentiment combining in terrible ways. It is shocking when the target of all that hatred is a 100-acre Monarch butterfly sanctuary, which was forced to close this winter under threats of violence. The good news in this insane saga is that The National Butterfly Center has reopened, and just in time for Earth Day. Magic Mushrooms: In our Big issue (Kazoo #21) we learned that trees talk to each other. Now, we find out that mushrooms may also be chatty! Scientists think that mushrooms can communicate with each other using up to 50 “words.” What do you imagine they say? Rock Star: Every time I interview an astrophysicist for a story I ask them, "Please explain this to me, so a 7-year-old can understand it." They try, but I ask follow-ups like, "Ok but how long would it take to drive to the sun in a car?" All under the guise of writing about it for kids. But I too am completely mind-blown by the vastness and wonder of space! So, get this: Astronomers have discovered the farthest star yet, a super hot and bright giant that formed nearly 13 billion years ago at the dawn of the cosmos, and is 50x the mass of the sun. (I bet it would take a loooong time to drive there in a car.) *Head Explodes Emoji* Extended sale: We ran a big Spring Sale at Amazon and they promptly sold out of many issues, and we haven't been able to restock them yet, because ... we have no idea. Some Amazon algorithm? But luckily, we just happen to have a stack of magazines right here! So, now's the time to complete your Kazoo library. Extended through May 6, get 20% off with the code "HAPPY SPRING".    New books by friends of Kazoo: Bestselling author, chronicler of kids and cats, and frequent Kazoo contributor Lucy Knisley's new graphic novel Apple Crush is coming soon. (Full disclosure: We got an early copy and the Tiny Editor loved it), Karina Yan Glaser (who wrote our short-story in Kazoo #12) debuts A Duet for Home. And Lauren Wolk (whose short story will appear in our next issue) comes out with My Own Lightning in May. What we're reading: The Teeny Editor still loves picture books before bed, so we read them to her over and over again. Some recent favorites: A Mouse Called Julian, The Hideout, and A Home in the Woods. The Tiny Editor loves graphic novels and is reading Deadendia right now. She's 11, growing over kids books and too young for adults. Any recommendations for us? Send our way. What we're watching: We sometimes watch TV with the Tiny Editor after her little sister goes to bed. I had this idea that it would be fun to re-watch old sitcoms, but surprisingly, they do not hold up! (Friends! Wow. Too many terrible jokes to explain.) So, making our way through Schitt's Creek was pretty fun. We allowed some Ted Lasso (but had to fast-forward tons of it) and are now watching the hilarious Abbott Elementary. Highly recommend if you like to hear a sometimes anxious student giggle about school.  Tweets of the Month: Finally all the slime-making will pay off for someone. Plus, the earth raps #$&%! (play outloud w caution, NSFW). And, remember that sticky ship from our Big issue? (The frog news isn't new! Just new to me. Best use of Twitter!   Reader Mail: Many of you responded to my last newsletter in support of the "for girls" part of our magazine's tagline, and I'm grateful for your feedback. We're trying to make the very best magazine we can. We think deeply about all your feedback, and appreciate your support. Winning Dixie: We just finished reading Because of Winn Dixie to the Teeny Editor (we'd already read it to her big sis years ago) and the next day we all watched the movie for Friday Night Movie Night. We adore Kate DiCamillo, and we featured her in Kazoo #7, our Light Issue, because she truly shines a light with her stories. In this interview, Kate DiCamillo talks about writing specifically for children, and says:   “I think our job is to trust our readers. “I think our job is to see and to let ourselves be seen. “I think our job is to love the world.'" As I put the finishing touches on our next issue, which comes out in June, this will be my focus: loving the world. If you come across anything particularly lovely, please send it my way. You can find me at erin@kazoomagazine.com. xo,ErinKazoo magazineFounder & Editor-in-Chief

March Update:    Hello Spring! Goodbye arguments about shorts: In our house, we came up with a genius rule to put an end to any cold-weather clothing fights: If it's over 50 degrees, wear what you want. The Tiny Editor, who just turned 11 (!), has somehow programmed her ipad (with this app) to tell her the temperature with emojiis, so every morning, I hear her calling, "Hey Siri, what's the weather today?" and her ipad answers: “It is not over 50, face with big pleading eyes, huffing with anger face.” or "It's 50. Happy face, happy face." Why kids want wear shorts in the freezing cold (or listen to an ipad) is still beyond me, but it turns out that kids really do run hotter than adults and here's why. Still, looking forward to the warmer weather and the end of this particular daily convo.  Better Things: We binged so much TV during the pandemic winter, and the grown-up shows I liked most reminded me of anything that was not-the-pandemic. Ted Lasso made me wish for spring soccer. Station 11—counterintuitively—made me hope for the future. Ozarks made me want to be as fearless as Ruth. And Pamela Adlon's Better Things made me want to throw a huge, fantastic dinner party and invite everyone I love. I'm happy the covid numbers in Brooklyn are low right now, and though I've not had a big dinner party yet, I hope to one day soon. This Spring Greens and Pancetta Grilled Cheese, which we call The Better Things Sandwich, is a taste of it. (Recipe here: 5-stars, delicious, a keeper.) If you've got any other binge-worthy recs, send 'em my way! I'm keeping a list.  Young, Scrappy & Hungry: Meanwhile, my daughters binged on everything Lin-Manual Miranda. The Tiny Editor has learned so much real history between Hamilton tracks and the Teeny Editor, 6, knows every word of Encanto. If your kids can't get enough LMM, try old Sesame Street clips. Or this Jimmy Fallon/Roots "Helpless". Or see what the original Eliza, Phillipa Soo, had to say to us about Daydreaming in Kazoo #17.  What to Read: I guess it's horses all around. The Teeny Editor is loving Adrian Simcox Does Not Have a Horse. She studies every page so carefully to find the horse and is delighted when she does. Meanwhile, we just finished reading Pony with the Tiny Editor and I probably don't have to tell you how wonderful R. J. Palacio is, but this one...well grab some tissues. It's great. The Magic Issue est Arrive!: Issue 24 has already landed in some subscribers' mailboxes. We heard from one Dad that his daughter and her friend put on a magic show for them this weekend. If yours hasn't arrived yet, keep an eye out or check here to see if you need to renew.  Run, Erin, Run!: So when the Tiny Editor's school asked for volunteers to help out with a new Girls on the Run team, I raised my hand, thinking I'd walk them to the park occasionally and bring some oranges when needed. But it turns out, I accidentally became the coach. Seven hours of training later, I got a T-shirt and everything! Practice starts this week, and in June, our team of 8- to 11-year olds is gonna crush a 5k. Wish us luck!  Rise Up!: You don't hear much good news, but these students managed to overturn a book ban at their school, and now they are pushing for a more inclusive curriculum. We've followed the so-called CRT debates with well, confusion, honestly. It's not CRT, but our (white) kids learn about Black History at school, and it's great. At home, we read the excellent 1619 Project's Born on the Water and were glad for the opportunity for even more discussion. (Born on the Water co-author Renée Watson also wrote the wonderful short story, "Diving In" in our Big issue, Kazoo #21.)  But why Girls?: We heard there was a heated discussion in a private Facebook group about our magazine's tagline: "For Girls Who Aren't Afraid to Make Some Noise." (The issue was not the noise part, but the girls part.) And you know, you never really want to hear that you're the subject of a discussion in a private Facebook group. We don't know exactly what was posted, but we received a number of emails from upset parents who want us to explain ourselves. We worried over how to respond, or if we even should. When we decided to make a magazine "for girls" we did so intentionally and believe it's important for a ton of good reasons. Can boys read Kazoo too? Of course! What about non-binary or gender expansive kids? Sure! But, as much as we'd like to, we can't be all things to all people, and we can only be the best magazine we can be. So, we're going to try to keep doing just that. (PS: We also got a ton of new subscribers from that FB post, so if you are here now because of it, Hi!!! Welcome. We hope you like our magazine and stick around for a while.)  March Madness: What you missed if you were smart enough to stay off Twitter this month. (The octopus news isn't new, we were just searching for octopus videos, because, isn't that what Twitter is for?)   Surprise & Delight: When I was 23, I interviewed for a job at Righteous Babe Records with Ani Difranco herself. I was a little starstruck and though I didn't end up working there, I've always been a fan. Ani's now releasing a 30th anniversary vinyl of her debut record, and I'm so happy for her (and surprised at the number). Time is surprising, isn't it? And, this year, the first signs of spring are even more so:   Looks like we maybe made it through something wildI can hardly even let myself believe it, insideYesterday, I even heard you laughTook it like a bird bathIt has been a long, long, long, long timeSince it felt like that  —Ani Difranco, singing "Crocus." She shared advice for young songwriters in our Music issue, Kazoo #5 (Step 1: Forget every song you've ever heard. They have nothing to do with you and you can make a cooler one!)I hope you make it through Spring with the patience, power and grace of Ketanji Brown Jackson, and even get to enjoy some flowers this Spring. If you come across anything surprising or delightful, please send it my way. You can find me at erin@kazoomagazine.com. xo,ErinFounder & Editor-in-Chief  

February Update:  Frozen 3: Inspired by watching some of the Winter Olympics, Kazoo's Tiny and Teeny Editors have gotten into ice skating, which means I'm on skates, too—for the first time in forever. One of the best and also most humbling things about parenting is remembering how to fall. (Notice I'm wearing a helmet.)Behind the Music: When it's so cold like this, during my daily park walks, I think about Kristen Anderson-Lopez, the Oscar-, Grammy-, Emmy-award-winning lyricist responsible for getting all those Frozen songs stuck in our heads. (I interviewed her for the maze in our Daydreamers Issue, #17. You might not remember this because it was summer 2020, or approximately 127 years ago). She told me that the first incarnation of Frozen had Elsa as a villain with blue skin and spiky hair! As she was writing with her husband Bobby, a composer, it took them a while to create the Elsa and Anna we know and love. Here's more from our conversation:  "When I came up with the hook, Let it Go, we were writing in our 400 square ft studio apartment in Brooklyn, where we'd get moody and just drive each other nuts. But, one beautiful day, we went for a walk in Prospect Park, and we started talking about what a relief it'd be to let go of the control you needed to be perfect. We were trying to find the universal in Let it Go. When had we experienced that? Bobby, who was always a straight-A student, said he thought it'd be scary but liberating to let himself fail for once, to let go of the pressure to always be the best. I said, 'So you mean, like being a mom of young kids, where you have to be always creative and cook the quinoa and have a good career and try to stay thin and have a nice house and try to be a good friend and try to give to charity? All the ways of being a working mother, it's absolutely impossible. You can't be perfect. There are those moments, when you just let it fall to the floor. Like, we’re ordering pizza and I'm putting on yoga pants and I’m going to drink chardonnay. Those moments when you let yourself off the hook?' Then I jumped up on a picnic table and started imagining: I'm Elsa, my secret is coming out. I’m on a mountain all alone and I feel both horrible because my life has fallen apart and exhilarated because what does it mean to be my true self? And, Bobby came up with 'the snow glows white on the mountain tonight.' I put in the 'don't let them in, don't let them see.' I jumped down, and we headed back to our studio. We wrote 'Let It Go' in 36 hours. That was really fun. I could tell, when I was first singing it, how fun it was going to be."  Even in this cold, I like to imagine that I might walk by someone standing on a picnic table somewhere just writing a huge hit, and it makes me happy to remember that creativity is happening, even in the craziest of times, absolutely everywhere. Wordle for Kids: Speaking of fun, the little editors are becoming world-class Wordle players. (Or so it seems, when they beat me!) If your kids are old enough, it's a blast to do together every morning. If you want more puzzles, there's a new game for younger kids, Spellie. Black History Month Books: The Brooklyn Library shares the best Biographies of Black Excellence, and New York magazine shares the Best Kids Books to read during Black History Month (and all year long). Some of our household favorites from this list: Ada Twist, Scientist, Brown Girl Dreaming, and The Hill We Climb.  But Why? It is really hard to know how to talk to kids about war, and heartbreaking that we now have to try to explain the inexplicable. It's easy to talk about peace, though. In our Art issue, we interview Carol Wells, Executive Director of the Center for the Study of Political Graphics, about how art can change the world.  To start the discussion, we encourage kids to make a poster that might inspire peace. Snap a pic of your poster and email it to us: readermail@kazoomagazine.com and we may share it online or in a future issue.  National Magazine Awards: Kazoo's a finalist for TWO "Ellie" awards, the highest honor in the magazine industry! (They're like the Oscars for magazines, except a tiny bit less glamorous and no swag bags.) We're thrilled with the nods for Best Illustrated Story and Best Single Topic Issue of 2022, both from our Art Issue, #23, available in our shop now. Goodnight Girl: Even though our girls have outgrown them, we can't bear to part with our tattered copies of Goodnight Moon and The Runaway Bunny. It turns out their author, Margaret Wise Brown, was as spectacular as the books she left us. My old friend Anna Holmes writes the fascinating story of The Radical Woman Behind Goodnight Moon in the The New Yorker. Parenting is Political: We sometimes get emails complaining that our magazine is too political. Our response: OK? (Once someone even cancelled their subscription because we featured Stacey Abrams talking about the importance of ... democracy.) Because, everything is political and the very least we can do is say something. Here's a story about Mildred Harnack, an American grad student in Berlin, who saw Germany become a fascist dictatorship. She did so much more, and her resistance is an inspiration. Bird Rescue: We happened upon an injured red-tailed hawk and joined up with some Brooklyn birders to save it. (We hope.) Read the whole tale and see video of the hawk, here. Coming Soon: Issue 24 is OTW to subscribers now!!! It's all about Magic!  In the north east, February sometimes feels like winter will never end. Reading the news this morning, it also feels like we're just getting out of one crisis and the world is falling into another. If you're finding it all hard to get through, remember some magic is on the way soon.You can find me (erin@kazoomagazine.com) if you have some to spare. xo,ErinFounder & Editor-in-Chief  

News from Kazoo. Hello friends! Hello 2022! We're almost through January! Let's keep going! January Update:  Perfect Comfort Food Recipe: Years ago when I was writing a little book called How to Sew a Button, I learned a bunch of grandmotherly wisdom and got pretty into doing things like baking pies and you know, experimenting with making homemade honey-wine in a jug, but I also rediscovered a delicious family recipe that my own grandmother used to make: Pasties! I've recently shared this meal with my daughters and they LOVE them. Highly recommended for cold days. (Real Simple wrote about this recipe and did a whole photo shoot with me and my mom and I mean, the recipe is at the link, but please also note how cute my mom is and how great my hair looks in this picture! They did our make-up.) New Books for Kids: The American Library Association announced the 2022 Youth Media Awards, which honored a ton of great books and authors, including Kazoo fiction contributors A.S.King (who wrote the short story, “The Feelings Shed” for our Art issue), Veera Hiranandani (“Sunny” for our DIY issue), and Jane Yolen (“Arbora and the Airship” for our Steampunk issue). You can pick up their short stories in our shop. Find the full list of winners here. Big News: We got a little too into reporting on the Giant Squid for our Big issue, but can you see why? And now, this huge Jellyfish? Undersea Creatures, still amazing. Tiny News: Good Bones meets The Great British Baking Show at 1:12 scale. There's going to be a tiny house decorating competition show! Watch this space for more on miniatures in an upcoming issue. (Grab your readers, if necessary.) We are here for it! Tinker time: We're inspired by Girls Garage founder Emily Pilloton-Lam, who says she teaches girls to build by filling their toolboxes with drills and saws and ferocity and joy. For Kazoo's tinkering projects, we limit our materials to what we think people already have around the house, so readers can do any of our projects without taking a special trip to the hardware or craft store. We end up using a ton of cardboard and glue, but we hope our tinkering projects help prepare our younger readers for more advanced woodworking when they get a little older, too. Plus, we have so much fun making stuff with our kids. Arthurian Legend come to life. So, maybe when our girls get a little older they'll be prepared to pull a bronze ax out of the ground, like this 13-year-old girl, who went out with a metal detector and found a hoard of items from more than 3,000 years ago. “We were just laughing our heads off,” she said. Thrilling.  Now, how are you, really? The WSJ says that Moms are Never alone, but always lonely. Social media has both helped and hurt moms during the pandemic, and the more online we are, the lonelier we feel. I get this, but I'm also glad that you are here. Please reach out to me (erin@kazoomagazine.com) if you want to say "hi," or tell me anything cool, or if you'd like to share a picture of your laptop thrown into a snowbank. Up Next: We are hard at work on issue 24!!! It will come out in March and we'll tell you all about it when it's ready. No spoilers yet, so for now just enjoy this behind-the-scenes of a craft photo-shoot from Kazoo HQ (aka our living room). Yes, it's a string DIY craft, on a shoestring budget (and hair and make-up team nowhere to be found), but we are still having fun! We hope whatever you're up to this January you find some fun it it, too. xo,ErinFounder & Editor-in-Chief

*|MC_PREVIEW_TEXT|* 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       Save $120 today  Buy any 2 items in our shop, and get 1 free. Choose from a selection of our National Magazine Award-winning back issues for girls, ages 5 to 12, who love to create and learn. Included: Single issues (save $10), 4-issue bundles (save $40) or the whole Kazoo Library (save $120!). Use code CHEER at checkout. Then print out your gift card, here.  *SALE ENDS 1/1/22 

Click here to order a gift subscription to Kazoo for the special kids in your life! Then, print out any of these gift announcements to tuck into a card or onto a present. Just right-click on them to save and print! (On a Mac, just hold down the control button and click on the image to save and print.)  A Merry Christmas Gift A Happy Holidays Gift An Anytime Gift  

With the holiday season upon is, we thought we'd take a moment to answer some of your frequently asked holiday questions. Did the New York Times really name Kazoo "one of the best gifts of the year?"Yes! They called us "a smart, beautiful quarterly." And Wirecutter named Kazoo "one of the 18 best gifts for 9-year-olds." We're the only kids' magazine ever to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence and be named a 3x finalist. We've also won 3 consecutive Parents Choice Gold Awards.Do you ship worldwide?Yes! Our subscription checkout page is designed for US subscriptions. Canadian subscribers, click here. Other international subscribers, click here. And we'll ship any back issue from our shop anywhere in the world.  If I subscribe now, will Kazoo arrive before Christmas? Yes! If you subscribe before December 17th and you live in the United States, you can expect delivery of our winter issue, The Art Issue, before Christmas. We'll send copies out via USPS first-class mail, which takes approximately 5 business days. If you live abroad, we'll try our best to get it to you quickly, but international mail has been a bit slow these days, so we can't make any guarantees.  What if I don't want it before Christmas?No problem. Subscribe now, and then pop into your account and click the button to place your subscription on hold. We'll mail the first issue about a week after you remove the hold. Or, if you'd prefer that the first issue arrive to your house, so you can wrap it first, enter you own info as the recipient for now. After you receive the first issue, log into your account to update the address to the child's (or email us, and we'll do it for you), so the next issue will go directly to her. Can I get Kazoo in time for Hanukkah? Yes! We probably won't have the winter Art Issue in stock in time, but you can pop over to our shop and pick up any of our other 22 available issues. We ship those daily via either USPS first-class mail (5 days) or US media mail (2 to 8 days). Are there any discounts?Yes! If you purchase more than one gift subscription at the same time, you'll save 10% on the second subscription. (It'll show up automatically during checkout.) But otherwise, you can feel confident you're getting the best deal. Our prices are already as low as we can make them. Any supply-chain issues?Nope! We're good. We print in Vermont, so we won't run into the same cargo ship-trouble that publishers who print overseas will.  Will you share my information with marketers?No, never. Who might enjoy Kazoo?We're designed for girls, 5 to 12, but anyone who loves science, art, comics, games, activities and good fiction will enjoy Kazoo. We're the perfect gift for any kid (or teacher or librarian). When you give Kazoo, you're supporting a small indie publisher, who pays our contributors fairly, prints sustainably and supports our community. We are 100% subscriber-funded, and we couldn't do it without you. We're so grateful for your support! 

*|MC_PREVIEW_TEXT|*   News from Kazoo. Hello friends! Fall in NYC is always so lovely. This year, despite (because of?) everything, the even slightly-cooler autumn breeze feels better than ever.  October Update: Seems like only yesterday, but I was only 22 when I'd just moved to NYC from Pennsylvania and somehow landed a job as a Rover (basically an in-house temp) at Condé Nast. I was answering phones for bigwigs, and the first call I ever received was from Iman. “This is Iman,” she said in the voice we all know. “Get me Paul.” I was a little shaky when I pressed the button on a phone system I had not yet mastered, but I got Paul. That was the very beginning of my career in magazines. And I’d mostly forgotten all about that until I saw this amazing pic of Iman at the Met Gala.  It's soup season! I made butternut squash soup with our lone garden squash. Ingredients: Splash of Olive Oil 1 Onion 1 Carrot 2 Sweet Potatoes 1 Butternut Squash 1 Green Apple 40 or so ounces chicken broth 1/4 tsp Nutmeg 1 stick Cinnamon Pepper to taste  2 tbs butter So easy: Chop onion and sauté in olive oil until translucent. Cube everything else and cook in chicken broth over medium high heat until veggies are soft. Puree. Add butter, seasonings, and more broth if you'd like. Serve with a sprinkle of cinnamon to be extra fancy. The kids love my "famous orange soup," but TBH, it's different every time I make it, because the recipe isn't in any way precise. Like our friend the @condimentraccoon (who you may recognize from issue #19 the Mystery issue), I am often "Bested by a soup!". But I keep trying! Facebook is down (& out). Though Facebook was very helpful when we first launched Kazoo, we've long-since been buried in their news feed since we don't peddle in conspiracy theories or conflict or pay them to boost our posts. I miss "seeing" friends though, so we're finding new ways to keep in touch. (I was so happy to hear back from some of you with great movie recommendations.) It's reminded me to reach out to the people I care about in other ways, too.  Another book recommendation (from the 10yo editor): When Stars Are Scattered, a graphic novel by Victoria Jamieson and Omar Mohamed. The Tiny Editor had to read it for school, but now she calls it "one of her favorites" and has re-read it many times since. (And for younger readers: Bea Rocks the Flock is another Jamieson favorite around here.)  Speaking of books: We're always really happy to see Kazoo contributors' new adult books hit the shelves. To name a few: Keisha N. Blain, award-winning historian (as seen in Kazoo #19) Until I Am Free;  Ruth Ozeki, (our wabi-sabi expert from Kazoo #8) The Book of Form and Emptiness; and Kristen Arnett (author of our lovely short story from Kazoo #14) With Teeth. Also, a couple of books from our Noisemakers’ parents! So psyched for Kerry Clare, one of our earliest subscribers, who's been getting great attention for her new novel Waiting for a Star to Fall and we also can't wait to read Beloved Beasts by award-winning climate reporter (and Kazoo parent) Michelle Nijhuis. We are truly a bunch of book nerds.  Reindeer Cyclones! Wow. Is this really real?  Betty Reid Soskin, America's oldest park ranger, celebrates her 100th birthday. Here she is in the NYT. We recently spoke with her for Kazoo too. Stay tuned for her story!  This 8yo girl knows exactly what she wants to be when she's 100.  It involves tacos. She seems to have it more figured out than most of us. Welp, in-person school, huh? With an aggressive mix of hand-washing, masking and worry, Brooklyn public schools seem to be .... Not jinxing anything here! It has helped that our community has a very high vaccination rate. How are you all doing? We hope you and your kids are well. We tell our girls it's not really "back to normal" but it is "getting better" -- and we'll take it.  If reading about the kids' vaccine was a sport, I'd be an all-star. The FDA is "tentatively scheduled to discuss Pfizer’s pediatric vaccine on Oct. 26." They may make a decision within days after. Until then, hang in there, kiddos! The Wild Issue is out now. We hope you are loving it! If you didn't get it, or are not sure about your subscription, you can check your status right here.  Our next issue is going to be all about art! In planning each issue of Kazoo, we come up with a theme and then I basically do a deep-dive into the subject for 3 months. That's not the hard part, though. My biggest struggle is: "HOW DO I FIT ALL THIS FASCINATING STUFF IN JUST 64 PAGES?"  This month, for example, I read more about Corita Kent, who was known as the "Pop Art Nun," and though she won't be in our next issue, I keep thinking of this quote in one of her pieces: "Be of love a little more careful than of everything." Thank you for reading and supporting Kazoo—and for telling your friends about us 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 find me: erin@kazoomagazine.com.  xo, Erin

Hello friends! My kids are back in their NYC school for the first time in 18 months (!!!), and I'm all nerves. But, rather than sit here, fret, and doom scroll, I thought today would be a good time to reach out with some behind-the-scenes news from Kazoo: September Update:  Summer flew by! Now it's back to school, which is exciting and nerve-racking any year. This year x 100. I hope our kids will be OK. I hope we parents will be OK, too. Are we OK? After a year of screen-school, our kids miraculously still love to read! The Tiny Editor, now 10, devoured the Emmie & Friends books this summer. The Teeny Editor, now 6, has started reading Kazoo fave Ivy & Bean solo. Highly recommend. (You might remember illustrator Sophie Blackall playing dress-up with a sweet potato named Philip in issue #17 and author Annie Barrows in our Storytellers' Issue #18.) Every week, I make pizza, and we have "Friday Night Movie Night." At some point this summer, I realized I had memorized this NYT recipe for pizza dough, which felt like an accomplishment. It's good. We try to agree on a new movie (but we've also somehow watched The Greatest Showman at least 5x). If you have faves, send them our way.  To pass the time on a long car drive, we gave the girls an old-timey handheld cassette recorder, so they could document the trip. They spent much of it taping each other saying "HELLOOO" and laughing. They thought it was magic (so we explained we were witches, just as they had suspected).  We made DIY wooden drums from issue 22 and banged out "Eye of the Tiger" (to our neighbors' delight). We also loved searching #drummergirl on instagram and finding so many amazing girl drummers to inspire us!  We don't let our kids tik the tok (yet) but we do show them funny ones like this v clever little girl and her v understanding father.  We planted another garden! Still beginners but we all love to dig in the dirt. We mostly grew cherry tomatoes, jalapeños, and squash, which turned out to be mostly just blossoms. Our documentarian daughter explains:    Our one tiny squash plant took over the entire garden! And yet...  The Wild Issue is out now. If you subscribe, we hope you've gotten it and are loving it. (International subscribers, if you haven't received it yet, hang tight! Mail is slower than usual these days). If you're not sure about your subscription, you can check your status right here.  That's the news for now. I successfully spent this first day of school *totally not worrying* and I hope you did too. (o_0) I'm hard at work on our next issue, but I'll try to write a short newsletter every month to stay in touch. If you'd like to reach out, or send me anything cool to include, you can find me: erin [at] kazoomagazine [dot] com.  xo, Erin

Did you know that we make video tutorials for most of the projects you find in Kazoo? Follow our youtube channel, and let's make stuff together, like this DIY fidget cube from our Daydreamers' Issue!