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Press cuttingsAnother chance to look and learn (Filed: 19/9/2003) D. J. Taylor is delighted by an unexpected discovery - an up-market magazine for intelligent children (Daily Telegraph, Education) NAGC REVIEW (Filed: 17/10/2003) Ken Bore, Director (2001) of the National Association for Gifted Children reviews AQUILA in the NAGC News Might even pull the kids away from the telly. Amber Wellings (Filed: 16/12/2004) Article published in 2003 to announce AQUILA's tenth anniversary. (Filed: 17/10/2003) Another chance to look and learnOne of the cardinal rules of journalism is that anyone who writes an article complaining that a certain desirable artefact doesn’t exist will instantly be presented with abundant evidence to the contrary. So, having publicly bewailed the absence of an up-market children’s magazine along the lines of the late-lamented Look and Learn, I wasn’t in the least surprised to receive a sheaf of letters from indignant parents asking why I hadn’t heard of Aquila. There followed a pile of back numbers and a polite note from the editor saying: 'So many of the things you remember about Look and Learn reflect what we are trying to do.' To judge from a trawl through the last three or four issues, this claim is pretty accurate. Published monthly, although available on subscription only - hence my ignorance - Aquila turns out to be an exceptionally lively and informative pre-teen mag with not a feature about S Club Juniors or children’s television in sight. Specimen articles include a piece on the life and times of Elizabeth I, a guide to assembling a rock and mineral collection, a feature on capital cities of the world and a monthly serial.The general tone is instructive without being condescending. My only reservation was that some of it seemed a bit copy-light: the account of Good Queen Bess’s exploits, for example, consisted of a mere halfdozen paragraphs, although, to be fair, a list of relevant website addresses was tacked on at the end. Now celebrating its 10th anniversary, Aquila is aimed at readers aged between eight and 13 - 'children for whom reading is a pleasure ', according to its editor, Jackie Berry. Not just any old children, though. The original founders, Ron Casey and Val Kolschy, were involved in work with gifted children (the magazine is recommended by the National Association for Gifted Children). A decade on, much of the founding spirit remains: sad to relate that this particular parent had a certain amount of trouble answering the questions on cities in the 'Brain Feeder ' quiz. The prime targets, Jackie Berry maintains, are bright pre-teenagers interested in hobbies beyond pop music and soaps, who 'need to be able to feel good about themselves ' and to realize that 'there are other children out there like them '. To this end, the ethos is strongly participative: the magazine acts as a poste restante for pen-pals and runs monthly competitions. If all this makes Aquila sound horribly uplifting - the kind of thing that parents seize upon with nostalgic joy, but which no right-minded child would be seen dead reading - then it should be said that the scent rising from its pages is one of simple enthusiasm, engagingly conveyed. An intelligent 10-year-old, I believe, would get a great deal out of its 24 pages, as well as a number of useful prods in other directions. Undoubtedly this atmosphere is encouraged by the magazine’s small scale. The circulation hovers between 5,000 and 6,000 copies, many of which go abroad - often, you imagine, in the diplomatic bag - to expatriate families anxious for a glimpse of home. There are, as yet, no plans to expand into newsagents. The publisher is unimpressed by the discounts levied by wholesalers and at the same time is fearful of losing its close relationship with the readers. It all sounds just the ticket for the concerned parent anxious to prise his children away from the GameBoy and television screen, but clearly I am not the best person to judge Aquila’s merits. I decided to test-drive a couple of back issues on my 10-year-old son, Felix. The cost of this research was a week’s pocket money (£1.50), which seemed cheap at the price. Felix reported the presence of "lots of good information and stories", liked the sports page, but deplored a feature on Latin ("What is this?"), which has not yet featured on his school curriculum. Although "bored" by one or two of the games pages, as a great coupon-clipper he was attracted by the prizes on offer in the various competitions. Felix is generally sparing in his praise, so this seemed a highly favourable verdict. Parents are strongly advised to help this hitherto well-kept secret become a little less exclusive. NAGC REVIEW - Ken BoreWhat does AQUILA mean to you?
Whatever your personal experience of AQUILA you will, I am sure, be as delighted as we are here at NAGC that the magazine is nearing its 125th issue. Judging by quality alone this should not be a particularly spectacular feat. However, the publishing world does not live on quality alone: economics make a significant entry into the equation. That AQUILA has not only survived but flourished is a tribute not only to its editor and designers, but also its publisher, New Leaf. AQUILA's success is testimony to the fact that activities for children can be both challenging and enjoyable at one and the same time. To give you a flavour of some activities and features: the November issue 'peered into the past' to meet Flinders Petrie, the Father of Egyptology. It challenged readers to decipher Viking runes, dig up archaeology anagrams, put together fragments of broken pots, and make mosaics. Pursuing the Egyptian trail, AQUILA showed, quite graphically, how the ancient Egyptians preserved mummies. "The brain was removed without breaking open the skull by making a hole through the left nostril or behind the left eye" (why the left - was this superstition or did it have an anatomical basis?). "A long thin knife was used to cut up the brain inside the skull and then taken out a little at a time with a long thin spoon. They packed the empty skull with a salty chemical called natron, gathered from the banks of the Nile." AQUILA advised "Don't read this if you've just had a big meal"! Also, definitely not something to try at home on the family cat. The February issue had some fabulous 'Fun with Maths' puzzles, a History of Pop (music, not lemonade), and some tremendous features on whales. Did you know that a baby blue whale when born drinks 100 litres of milk a day or that its heart is the size of a small car or that an elephant could stand on a blue whale's tongue (not that it would probably want to, but that's not the point when you're 10 and faced with intriguing facts like these with which you can stun all those fascinated grown-ups). There's also a sensitive and helpful article on getting fit, astronomy, word puzzles and some delicious cookery recipes - no pigeon-holing here! In my experience bright children love to cook, but how often does the bookish stereotype reign supreme? Not in AQUILA it doesn't. So what does AQUILA mean to me? It means imagination, creativity, interest, information, knowledge andenjoyable challenges. Might even pull the kids away from the tellyA review from the ciao website by author Amber Wellings. Once every so often you come across something that's so good, you don't understand why more people don't know about it. Aquila magazine is one of those things. I would have been so excited to receive it, if it had been around when I was a kid. It would have lasted me ages and probably lots of my friends would have read it too. It bills itself as "The fun magazine for children who enjoy challenges...encouraging children to reason and create, and to develop a caring nature." It also "...welcomes children's correspondence; we publish as many contributions as quality and space permit". This is absolutely true. Usually at least two pages are dedicated to readers' letters and another page to readers' jokes. Although it has been going for 10 years now, I'd never heard of it until a couple of years ago. This is perhaps due to the fact that it is only available through subscription; you can't even ask your local W H Smith to order it for you. I was looking for children's magazines to place short stories in and gave them a try because I found the name listed in the Writers and Artists Yearbook. Now, I must state from the outset that I may have a slight bias since they did, in fact, publish the story I wrote, but please don't let that put you off. When the first edition dropped through my letterbox I was pleasantly surprised. Perhaps I should have had more faith in a magazine that wanted to publish my work, but I'm ashamed to say that wasn't the case. The first thing to strike me about the magazine is the huge content and therefore its value for money. It is a monthly publication, with a double issue coming out in the summer, merging the July/August issues together. A "normal" edition runs to 24 pages and is pretty jam packed with stuff. It is aimed at children between 8 and 13 years of age, but even we (two 25 year olds) found some of it pretty interesting. As the magazine states itself; "our experience shows that both older and younger children enjoy many of the challenges". Well, count us among the "older children" then! I read one aloud while on a long car journey to Brighton, and my boyfriend was quite disappointed when it got dark and I couldn't read any more! Aquila seems to rely on a wide variety of features to keep the magazine interesting. Some can be found in every issue, some less frequently. There are also topical features such as "Children's Book Week" which are once a year occurrences. I have detailed as many as I can below with an explanation of each. Regular Features. These can be found in every issue:
Infrequent Features. These pop up from time to time:
Each magazine tends to have a theme, with lots of the features picking up on it. For example, September's issue featuring WWII as a theme had a 2 page editorial piece about it, puzzles on the Fun with Maths and Brain Feeders sections tying in to it, websites about the subject on the Surf-it page, and Science Scene was devoted to WWII inventions. The annual subscription represents good value, given the time it would take a child to read all the articles, tackle all the puzzles, and make all the things to make, which I probably would have done if I'd had it. Then I'd probably have shared it with friends, and read it again before the next issue arrived. There often seems to be deals and offers for subscribing, such as receiving a book, or your school receiving books, or receiving sets of pens and suchlike. If I knew a kid of a suitable age and intelligence, I think it would make a pretty good Birthday/Christmas present, there's plenty to read and do, and it would be like having a present every month instead. Post arriving with your name on it was always such an exciting event as a kid too. This is a magazine for bright, inquisitive children, who want to learn the hows, whys, whens, whats and whos of everything. They are probably also the children who might innocently blow up your shed, take apart your microwave, or start growing mushrooms in the cellar, but where's the harm? OK, you might not be able to defrost things quickly and your sunloungers are getting damp, but the kids are learning, right? In the defence of the magazine, I must say that they don't encourage kids to blow up sheds or take microwaves apart, but they do encourage inquisitiveness, creativity and stimulate a desire to learn, and sometimes that does end in sticky situations... we've all been there. Well, most of us probably have. That said, it also encourages sensitivity, maturity, common sense and resourcefulness, which is no bad thing in my opinion, and probably more character forming than a set of Beyblades or whatever the latest craze is, or spending time vegged out in front of the TV or games console. Pros: Keep kids occupied for ages, lots of things to read and make and puzzles to do.
Recommend to potential buyers: Yes AQUILA magazine celebrates its 10th anniversary - Press release 2003Produced by a small, independent publishing company based in Eastbourne, Aquila magazine has proved itself over 10 years as a well established, educational monthly publication. It is aimed at, and enjoyed by lively minded children worldwide, aged 8-13 years. AQUILA’s publisher, Ron Bryant-Funnell says, "Our success lies in having identified a gap in the marketplace for a magazine which caters for bright caring youngsters with enquiring minds. One that actively encourages children to explore facts and find out about things for themselves, much like the celebrated magazine Look and Learn which was around when I was a child." "The magazine's policy of carrying no advertising also allows uninhibited and unbiased editorial. This leaves readers free to engage in any subject, either educational or entertaining without having to dip into contemporary pop culture." Parents are delighted when they discover AQUILA's clever mix of facts, fiction, puzzles and fun. Science, history, maths and literacy are all found within its pages and rarely a celebrity in sight! Children are given a unique opportunity to see their own short stories, poems and book reviews published. Through the letters' pages they also enjoy lively debate on a wide range of subjects, both close to home, such as bullying and further afield, like Fair Trade marketing and environmental concerns. AQUILA magazine is acknowledged and recommended by many specialists in education. The publishing and production team responsible for the magazine represent a pool of local creativity and talent wholeheartedly committed to the success of the publication. Certainly, ten years' survival as a largely 'unsung' educational publication in a competitive and commercial marketplace is highly significant of its worth to parents, teachers and children alike. Long live AQUILA! |