Discovery Girls Magazine Review & Giveaway

I love reading and I love teaching reading so I was very excited to be asked to review and giveaway some magazines and books from Discovery Girls Magazine.  I was sent two magazines as well as a "Fab Girls Guide" book.  The magazines were both the February/March 2011 issues as one is create for Girls that are Ages 8 & Up and the other is for girls Ages 11 & Up.    The book says it's for Ages 8 & Up but I think it would be applicable for ages up to 13 or so.

Rather than write a lengthy review, I thought I'd keep it short and sweet with my positive observations in bullet form:

• Colourful, attractive images, text and font use throughout the magazines
• Lots of relevant articles for tweens and teens.  Example of articles are ..."Fitting in..is it worth it?", "10 Friendship Rules" and "Broken Trust? fix it".  I don't have a tween or teen yet but I've taught enough middle school students to know that these are REAL issues in their lives and these magazines are great at making kids feel like their feelings are validated and it gives them ideas for how to deal with these issues in their lives.
• Most of the content is written by the girls themselves which helps them relate to the content better. 
• Focuses on encouraging positive self-images.

Let's face it..being a tween or teen girl can be tough these days!  I know...I've seen it a lot.  I asked some of my female students to read these magazines during our silent reading periods recently and they really enjoyed the materials.  I  was anxious to do this review so I could give them back to the students to read again without having to worry about them possibly becoming misplaced. 

Now to the book!  It's called "Friendship Hardship" and is one of a set of four books.  The others are called
"Sticky Situations", "Questions Answered", and "Getting Through Tough Times".  The book features the Fab Girls who are two characters named Dallas and Carmen and they guide tween/teen girls through the book with quizzes, questions and answers and lots of advice on how to handle various friendship-related situations.  Honestly, I would have loved to have had something available like this when I was younger.  To get a better idea, some of the chapter topics are: "How do your Friendships Rate?", "Mean girls and frenemies","To Clique or not to Clique" and "Be the Best Friend You Can Be". 

I love any reading material for girls that can support them through those rough middle years when friendships can get tough and feelings are often hurt.  They also provide so many positive messages for girls to help them develop more positive self-images which is so important for girls in these age groups as I am sure parents can appreciate!

Now to the Giveaway!
One lucky reader will receive the following from Discovery Girls Magazine:

• A complimentary one-year subscription to the magazine ($20 value)
• 1 set of the Fab Girls book set ($40 value)
• Special Collector's Edition ($10 value - to be released June 28, 2011)

I will be numbering entries and using www.random.org to select the winner.  You must use separate comments for each entry.

How to Enter:

1. Visit the Discovery Girls Magazine Website and leave a comment about something you enjoyed or found interesting on the site.
2. "Like" Discovery Girls Magazine on Facebook.  (Not required but it would nice if you could let them know I sent you their way!)
3. Follow A Sophisticated Mommy via Google Friend Connect.
4. "Like" A Sophisticated Mommy on Facebook.
5. Share this giveaway. (e.g. Twitter, Facebook, Blog, Forum)

This contest is open to Canada and the US until Friday, June 3rd at Midnight Saskatchewan Time.