Introduction

A Piccolo Introduction...

Eating fish fingers al fresco

When I was a little girl, growing up in the 80's, I used to read an American children’s magazine, called 'Cricket'.  In those days you could always find old copies from the 70's at Car Boot Sales and in 2nd Hand shops for no more than 10p or 20p. This 'Cricket' hunt only made the magazine more exciting to me... 

It was described as The New Yorker for kids and I loved it.  It had the most imaginative, varied and evocative illustrations, plus games to play, excellent stories, recipes, you name it - it was between those precious Cricket covers.  

Then I got a bit too cool, I became a teenager and lost interest - my clever mother stored the magazines away and then we all forgot about them.

Until a few months ago... and joyously, after over 20 years, these magazine still have the power to inspire - this time though I want to have a go myself.  Having a few hugely beloved and wonderful Godchildren I worry at the over emphasis in their lives of TV and computer games - I believe that given the opportunity to have a go at some good old fashioned fun, most children would embrace it without a backwards glance.  The problem most parents are finding is that there's just not enough out there - a lot of the magazines the children want are based on TV characters - more emphasis on TV and less on literature.  So this is my experiment. In the stolen and slightly moulded words of the film 'Field of Dreams' - if I make it, they will read.  Terrible.

Using what I loved most about 'Cricket' to guide me, I want to make a magazine that's full of poetry, short stories, things to make and do (such as recipes, paper dolls, games and puzzles) and all illustrated with varying styles.  I’ll be looking back at the books and influences of my own childhood (not just Cricket) and having a really good poke around what's out in the marketplace today.

This project is INCREDIBLY exciting and gives me the chance to be completely involved - it means I can explore styles and media and I really can’t wait to get started. I love the amount of knowledge I will have had to gain by doing this project and, if I am successful, I’d like to try and keep it going after Uni.

After pages and pages of potential names, I am finally planning to call the Magazine Piccolo - it means ‘small‘ in Italian and will look great as a title - ‘Piccolo Magazine’.  I have done quite a bit of research into it and the name seems to be available - I’m not 100% content yet though so will have another go at investigating it before I commit.  See you in the next installment... J

My courageous brother rescuing me from, what is 
obviously, a giant crocodile's fearsome jaws... 
I owe him my life.