Ranger Rick

Ranger Rick

January 1967 Front Cover
Editorial Director Mary Dalheim
Categories Nature
Frequency 10 per year
First issue January 1967 (1967-01)
Company National Wildlife Federation
Country United States
Website www.nwf.org/Kids/Ranger-Rick.aspx
ISSN 0738-6656

Ranger Rick, originally Ranger Rick's Nature Magazine,[1] is a children’s nature magazine that is published by the National Wildlife Federation.[2] The magazine offers feature articles and activities for children, ages 7 and up, in order to spark their interest in the outdoors and become more actively involved in the environment.[2] The magazine's primary intention is to instill a passion for nature and promote activity outdoors.[3] NWF also publishes two companion magazines, Ranger Rick Jr., which is aimed at ages 4–7, and Ranger Rick Cub, which is aimed at kids 0–4 years old.[4])

History

Ranger Rick is the oldest and biggest children's nature magazine.[2] The National Wildlife Federation first published the magazine as Ranger Rick's Nature Magazine, in January 1967[5] and instantly gained many devoted readers who have since passed on their interest to their own children.[2]

Publication information

Ranger Rick has a circulation of 525,000, and an estimated 200,000 more children are exposed to the magazine by viewing pre-used copies.[2] The magazine is published ten times a year by the National Wildlife Federation.[6] The headquarters is in Reston, Virginia.[7]

Printing information

The magazine uses an environmentally friendly processed paper, which is composed of consumer waste (about 30%) and is absent of chlorine.[8] Vegetable oils largely make up the magazine's actual ink.[8] By using these environmentally friendly resources the following is saved on a monthly basis:[8]

Features

Each issue includes nonfiction articles about various environmental and animal topics, fictional story-like articles, and color photography throughout.[6] Also included in the magazine are activities such as nature-themed games, activities that get children to actively learn more about their environments, riddles, and jokes.[6] Most of the pages of the magazine feature multi-page photo stories of animals in their natural habitats. There are also illustrated stories, games, riddles, nature news, poetry, contests, and other features and columns. "Ranger Rick" also refers to the protagonist in a long-standing feature of Ranger Rick magazine, Ranger Rick's Adventures (originally titled Ranger Rick and his Friends). The feature is published in the form of an illustrated short story, in which Ranger Rick — a raccoon wearing a park ranger's hat — and his gang of friends from Deep Green Wood explore the world, often encountering threats to wildlife and environmental problems. Rick or any one of his friends, including Boomer Badger and Scarlett Fox, always finds a solution to whatever problem they encounter, thus encouraging children to do their part to protect their natural environment.

December/January 2017 50th anniversary front cover

Previous Ranger Rick magazines have featured these and other adventure stories:

Honors

Ranger Rick has received the "Golden Lamp Award for excellence in educational journalism".[9] Here are other awards the magazine has attained over the years:[10]


Association of American Publishers Distinguished Achievement Awards

2016

2015

2014


Association of Educational Publishers Distinguished Achievement Awards

2013

2012

2011

2010

2009

2008

2007

2006

2004

2003

2001

Note: Before 2000 or so, the Association of Educational Publishers (AEP) was known as EdPress.

1998

1993

1992

1988


Parents' Choice Foundation


The Learning Magazine Teachers' Choice Awards

2007

2006


Other Awards

Characters

The magazine is named after Ranger Rick, the raccoon protagonist who was first portrayed extinguishing a forest fire within the first issue.[2] Ranger Rick and his friends, Scarlett Fox and Boomer Badger have many adventures together (as depicted in the magazine’s regularly featured cartoon and fiction stories) and always look for new ways to help preserve the environment.[5]

In the classroom

Ranger Rick is sometimes incorporated in elementary science classrooms to enhance the interest of environmental conservation in young children.[6]

Recent modifications

Because technology has greatly influenced and impacted the lives of children today, Ranger Rick magazine has made modifications in order to appeal to the children, who are becoming increasingly distant in engaging in outdoor exploration.[2] In order to inspire a new generation of conservationists, attracting young readers is essential to magazines that promote environmental awareness and preservation efforts.,[11] and Ranger Rick magazine has realized this importance of maintaining natural interest in young people. The magazine has since made changes within their content[2] in order to appeal to a changed generation of children, not only for profit, but for the future of conservational efforts. The magazine has made such changes, for example, in the amount of narrative, by replacing the majority of narrative pieces with more visually engaging elements.[2] Also, the Ranger Rick character himself has had a transformation as he once appeared as an accurate representation of a real raccoon, to becoming a very unrealistic, cartoon-like figure.[2] Some sections of the magazine have been modified as well, such as placing the text and titles in more modern and ideal locations to visually draw in readers.[2]

References

  1. ↑ "Ranger Rick: About Us". National Wildlife Federation. Retrieved 2007-10-08.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Kenneth B. Kidd, Wild things: children's culture and ecocriticism (Wayne State University Press, 2004)
  3. ↑ "About Us - National Wildlife Federation," http://www.nwf.org/Kids/Ranger-Rick/Parents-and-Educators/About-Us.aspx.
  4. ↑ "Magazines for Families and Children - National Wildlife Federation". National Wildlife Federation. Retrieved 2007-10-08.
  5. 1 2 3 "Meet Ranger Rick". National Wildlife Federation. Retrieved 2010-03-18.
  6. 1 2 3 4 National Science Resources Center (U.S.), Resources for teaching elementary school science (National Academies Press, 1996)
  7. ↑ "Children's Magazines". Book Market. Retrieved February 1, 2016.
  8. 1 2 3 Quad, "Ranger Rick is printed.," Ranger Rick 43, no. 5 (May 2009): 2.
  9. ↑ Quad, "Ranger Rick is printed.", Ranger Rick 43, no. 5 (May 2009): 2.
  10. 1 2 "Awards & Honors - National Wildlife Federation," http://www.nwf.org/Kids/Ranger-Rick/Parents-and-Educators/Awards.aspx.
  11. ↑ Brian Nearing, Linking kids to great outdoors: Agency starts magazine that aims to instill love of nature in the young (Times Union (Albany, NY), December 19, 2007).
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