'Discovery Girls' for Tweens
This article originally appeared in SLJ’s Extra Helping. Sign up now!
By Debra Lau Whelan -- School Library Journal, 8/6/2008 2:10:00 PM
 |
|
Catherine and daughter, Alexa |
SLJ spoke to Lee about how she started DG and why it’s the No. 4 magazine title at Barnes & Noble for its Family and Children section.
How did you come up with the idea of a confidence-building magazine specifically for tween girls?
I started Discovery Girls eight years ago when my daughter Alexa was eight. When I was that age, I’d often felt alone. It wasn’t until years later that I realized that other girls went through confusing times and struggled to fit in, too—I just hadn’t known it back then. I was sure there must be a magazine that connected girls and showed them they weren’t really alone. To my surprise, though, I couldn’t find one. The magazine I wanted didn’t exist…so I began to think about creating it myself.
What makes your magazine stand out?
We’re largely created by our own readers. When we started the first issue, we worked with a girls’ advisory board that helped us determine the content by telling us what they felt were their most pressing concerns. Working with them was so inspiring that we realized we needed to have girls involved in every issue.
And you feature them as cover girls in every issue.
That’s how we came up with the idea of traveling to a different state for each issue, to work with 12 new girls—our readers—and to have them be our stars. We pick girls who stand out as role models, girls with something interesting to say, girls who simply have that special spark…and we also try to get a diverse group in terms of size, ethnic background, and looks, so all girls will feel like they see girls just like themselves on our pages. Then we give them writing assignments for the magazine, and spend a weekend doing a photo shoot with them—from which we select our cover girls and photos for many of our articles and features—and brainstorm ideas with them.
We also provide a forum for girls at a difficult time in their lives, when they’re transitioning from children to teens. They use us as a tool to help each other, and most of all, to know that they’re not alone in their experiences, which is so important to this age group.
What percentage of your content is written by tweens?
More than half the content is written by tweens. Girls submit stories via our Web site or through the mail. DG isn’t about adults trying to talk to girls. We’re about girls talking to girls, with over half of our content created by our readers and their peers. Nearly 500 girls have been Discovery Girls, and many, many more have contributed to the magazine in some other way. They share their stories, their opinions, and even their problems and their dreams with us. I think the most important thing we’ve done is given girls a forum to connect and find other girls who are going through the same things they are. Our new Web site will expand our ability to do that.
What are some of the most serious age-specific issues for this group?
This is a very tough time for girls. They’re confused and sometimes scared by all the changes they’re going through—both physical and emotional. One of the main things they worry about is whether or not they are “normal.” It’s so important to girls this age to feel like they’re like everyone else, like they fit in.
The second most serious issue is social relationships. Friendships change as girls move up through fifth and sixth grades in elementary school and then on to middle school. The complexities of jealousy, friendship triangles, bullying, and labels take an immense toll on girls’ outlooks and can really damage their self-confidence and self-esteem.
Are there certain subjects that you avoid?
We are addressing a readership of girls from eight to 12, so we stay clear of the more mature issues teenagers face in high school, like serious dating questions (beyond the innocent-crush-type queries), sex, birth control, rape, abuse, etc. While some girls may face these problems prematurely, it’s important to me that we stay age-appropriate for the majority of our audience.
Why ban models and celebrities on your covers?
We don’t put celebrity pictures on the covers because we want girls to know that they are the stars of our magazine and their own lives! We know girls like to read about their favorite stars, and we have some celebrity interviews and articles—but we keep it to a minimum. There are too many examples of celebrities who get famous and then disappoint us with their failings. They’re only human, so as adults we’re not surprised...but girls feel let down. If girls look to their peers for role models, then they have a much better outlook and an attainable example. Girls can feel good about themselves when comparing their experiences to those of their peers, rather than the glossed-over, retouched, exaggerated reality of a celebrity.
Tell us about the Discovery Girls’ guide books you also publish, such as Getting Through Tough Times.
We’ve published four books, all “Fab Girls Guides.” After talking to girls for several years as publisher of the magazine, I noticed that the same questions and issues came up over and over. I realized that in addition to the magazine, we also needed to publish more comprehensive guides that put everything together in one place. The guides prepare girls for all kinds of difficult situations and tough challenges, helping them grow into competent, confident young women. And they’re really fun to read, too.
What responses have you heard from librarians who order the magazine?
I love to hear from our librarian subscribers! They tell me that they’ve looked for something like this for a long time, unique in its approach to girls, not pushing them to grow up too fast, or at the other extreme, preachy. I’ve also heard from libraries that order multiple subscriptions because just one copy is not enough, it’s so popular with their patrons. So that’s always good news to a publisher’s ears!
Librarians have told me that DG gives girls some continuity and stability in their reading as they begin to venture out of juvenile and into young adult…especially when some might not be ready for the older magazines…or perhaps a little overwhelmed or intimidated by them. So this gives them a way to feel a little safer.
We have a special page set up for libraries that would like to get a free sample issue; it has reviews from librarians as well. It’s www.discoverygirls.com/libraries.
