Boys' Life
Encyclopedia
Boys' Life is the monthly magazine
of the Boy Scouts of America
(BSA). Its targeted readership is young American males between the ages of 6 and 18.
Boys' Life is published in two demographic edition
s. Both editions often have the same cover
, but are tuned to the target audience
through the inclusion of 16-20 pages of unique content per edition.
The first edition is suitable for the youngest members of Cub Scouting, the 6-10 year-old Tiger Cubs, Cub Scouts and 1st-year Webelos Scouts. The second edition is appropriate for 11-18 year old boys, which includes 2nd-year Webelos through 18-year old Boy Scouts, Varsity Scouts and Venturers
. If the subscription is obtained through registration in the Boy Scouts of America program, the publisher will select the appropriate edition based on the boy's age.
In June 2007, Boys' Life garnered four Distinguished Achievement Awards conferred by the Association of Educational Publishers
(AEP), including Periodical of the Year.
The magazine's mascot
is Pedro the Mailburro, who signs his letters with the signature "UU", meant to represent the hoofprints of a burro.
In 1911, George S. Barton, of Somerville, Massachusetts
, founded, and published the first edition of Boys' Life magazine. It was edited by 18-year old Joe Lane of Providence, Rhode Island
. He called it Boys' and Boy Scouts' Magazine. At that time there were three major competing Scouting organizations: the American Boy Scouts, New England Boy Scouts, and Boy Scouts of America
(BSA).
The first issue of Barton's Boys' Life was published on January 1, 1911. Five thousand copies were printed of that first issue. Very few of those copies actually reached the public. The widely accepted first edition was published on March 1, 1911. With this issue, the magazine was expanded from eight to 48 pages, the page size was reduced, and a two-color cover was added. In 1912, the Boy Scouts of America purchased the magazine, making it an official BSA magazine. BSA paid $6,000, $1 per subscriber, for the magazine.
Noteworthy writers contributing over the years are Isaac Asimov
, Catherine Drinker Bowen
, Ray Bradbury
, Van Wyck Brooks
, Arthur C. Clarke
, J. Allan Dunn
, Bobby Fischer
, Alex Haley
, Robert A. Heinlein
, William Hillcourt, John Knowles
, Arthur B. Reeve
, Ernest Thompson Seton
, and Isaac Bashevis Singer
.
Noteworthy artists and photographers contributing over the years are Ansel Adams
, Harrison Cady
, Joseph Csatari
, Salvador Dalí
, Philippe Halsman
, Norman Rockwell
, and Jerome Rozen.
The Time Machine stories
of Donald Keith
appearing in Boys' Life between 1959 and 1989 were one memorable series.
Often, the version of Boys' Life geared towards older boys features buying guides for products such as cars, MP3 players, digital cameras, sunglasses, and more.
Boys' Life had in 2005 a monthly feature called "BL's Get Fit Guide". Each month highlights a different aspect of physical health, such as diet, exercise, and drugs. Each month the magazine also features a unique Boy Scout trip that most Scouts do not normally do. The unique trips range from a Philmont adventure to a white water rafting trip.
In both versions, Boys' Life features a video game section, which, in addition to new video game reviews, contains cheats for a video game monthly. They also contain technology updates, as well as book reviews.
Content includes Special Features, Adventure Stories, Bank Street Classics, Entertainment, Environmental Issues, History, Sports, and Codemaster.
Comics have included Bible Stories, Pedro, Pee Wee Harris, Scouts in Action, The Tracy Twins (created by Dik Browne), Dink & Duff, Tiger Cubs, Webelos Woody, Norby
, and John Christopher's The Tripods trilogy.
Feature columns include Electronics, Entertainment, Fast Facts, History, Hitchin' Rack With Pedro the Mailburro, Think and Grin (jokes page), Science, Scouting Around, and Sports.
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
of the Boy Scouts of America
Boy Scouts of America
The Boy Scouts of America is one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with over 4.5 million youth members in its age-related divisions...
(BSA). Its targeted readership is young American males between the ages of 6 and 18.
Boys' Life is published in two demographic edition
Edition
In printmaking, an edition is a number of prints struck from one plate, usually at the same time. This is the meaning covered by this article...
s. Both editions often have the same cover
Book cover
A book cover is any protective covering used to bind together the pages of a book. Beyond the familiar distinction between hardcovers and paperbacks, there are further alternatives and additions, such as dust jackets, ring-binding, and older forms such as the nineteenth-century "paper-boards" and...
, but are tuned to the target audience
Target audience
In marketing and advertising, a target audience, is a specific group of people within the target market at which the marketing message is aimed .....
through the inclusion of 16-20 pages of unique content per edition.
The first edition is suitable for the youngest members of Cub Scouting, the 6-10 year-old Tiger Cubs, Cub Scouts and 1st-year Webelos Scouts. The second edition is appropriate for 11-18 year old boys, which includes 2nd-year Webelos through 18-year old Boy Scouts, Varsity Scouts and Venturers
Venturing (Boy Scouts of America)
Venturing is part of the program of the Boy Scouts of America for young adults, men and women, from the age of 14 years old or 13 years old and completed eighth grade through 21....
. If the subscription is obtained through registration in the Boy Scouts of America program, the publisher will select the appropriate edition based on the boy's age.
In June 2007, Boys' Life garnered four Distinguished Achievement Awards conferred by the Association of Educational Publishers
Association of Educational Publishers
The Association of Educational Publishers is an American professional organization for educational publishers. It is a non-profit organization and is active in public awareness campaigns on effective educational resources, as well as aiding communication between educational organizations, such as...
(AEP), including Periodical of the Year.
The magazine's mascot
Mascot
The term mascot – defined as a term for any person, animal, or object thought to bring luck – colloquially includes anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name...
is Pedro the Mailburro, who signs his letters with the signature "UU", meant to represent the hoofprints of a burro.
History
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
, founded, and published the first edition of Boys' Life magazine. It was edited by 18-year old Joe Lane of Providence, Rhode Island
Providence, Rhode Island
Providence is the capital and most populous city of Rhode Island and was one of the first cities established in the United States. Located in Providence County, it is the third largest city in the New England region...
. He called it Boys' and Boy Scouts' Magazine. At that time there were three major competing Scouting organizations: the American Boy Scouts, New England Boy Scouts, and Boy Scouts of America
Boy Scouts of America
The Boy Scouts of America is one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with over 4.5 million youth members in its age-related divisions...
(BSA).
The first issue of Barton's Boys' Life was published on January 1, 1911. Five thousand copies were printed of that first issue. Very few of those copies actually reached the public. The widely accepted first edition was published on March 1, 1911. With this issue, the magazine was expanded from eight to 48 pages, the page size was reduced, and a two-color cover was added. In 1912, the Boy Scouts of America purchased the magazine, making it an official BSA magazine. BSA paid $6,000, $1 per subscriber, for the magazine.
Noteworthy writers contributing over the years are Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov was an American author and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. Asimov was one of the most prolific writers of all time, having written or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 90,000...
, Catherine Drinker Bowen
Catherine Drinker Bowen
Catherine Drinker Bowen was born as Catherine Drinker on the Haverford College campus on January 1, 1897, to a prominent Quaker family. She was an accomplished violinist who studied for a musical career at the Peabody Institute and the Juilliard School of Music, but ultimately decided to become a...
, Ray Bradbury
Ray Bradbury
Ray Douglas Bradbury is an American fantasy, horror, science fiction, and mystery writer. Best known for his dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 and for the science fiction stories gathered together as The Martian Chronicles and The Illustrated Man , Bradbury is one of the most celebrated among 20th...
, Van Wyck Brooks
Van Wyck Brooks
Van Wyck Brooks was an American literary critic, biographer, and historian.- Biography :Brooks was educated at Harvard University and graduated in 1908...
, Arthur C. Clarke
Arthur C. Clarke
Sir Arthur Charles Clarke, CBE, FRAS was a British science fiction author, inventor, and futurist, famous for his short stories and novels, among them 2001: A Space Odyssey, and as a host and commentator in the British television series Mysterious World. For many years, Robert A. Heinlein,...
, J. Allan Dunn
J. Allan Dunn
Joseph Allan Dunn , best known as J. Allan Dunn, was one of the high-producing writers of the American pulp magazines. He published well over a thousand stories, novels, and serials from 1914–41. He first made a name for himself in Adventure...
, Bobby Fischer
Bobby Fischer
Robert James "Bobby" Fischer was an American chess Grandmaster and the 11th World Chess Champion. He is widely considered one of the greatest chess players of all time. Fischer was also a best-selling chess author...
, Alex Haley
Alex Haley
Alexander Murray Palmer Haley was an African-American writer. He is best known as the author of Roots: The Saga of an American Family and the coauthor of The Autobiography of Malcolm X.-Early life:...
, Robert A. Heinlein
Heinlein juveniles
"Heinlein juveniles" are the 12 novels written by Robert A. Heinlein and published by Scribner's between 1947 and 1958. The intended readership was teenage boys, but the books have been enjoyed by a wide range of readers...
, William Hillcourt, John Knowles
John Knowles
John Knowles was an American novelist best known for his novel A Separate Peace. He died in 2001 at the age of seventy-five.-Early life:...
, Arthur B. Reeve
Arthur B. Reeve
Arthur Benjamin Reeve was an American mystery writer. He is best known for creating the series character Professor Craig Kennedy, sometimes called "The American Sherlock Holmes," and his Dr Watson-like sidekick Walter Jameson, a newspaper reporter, in eighteen detective novels...
, Ernest Thompson Seton
Ernest Thompson Seton
Ernest Thompson Seton was a Scots-Canadian who became a noted author, wildlife artist, founder of the Woodcraft Indians, and one of the founding pioneers of the Boy Scouts of America . Seton also influenced Lord Baden-Powell, the founder of Scouting...
, and Isaac Bashevis Singer
Isaac Bashevis Singer
Isaac Bashevis Singer – July 24, 1991) was a Polish Jewish American author noted for his short stories. He was one of the leading figures in the Yiddish literary movement, and received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1978...
.
Noteworthy artists and photographers contributing over the years are Ansel Adams
Ansel Adams
Ansel Easton Adams was an American photographer and environmentalist, best known for his black-and-white photographs of the American West, especially in Yosemite National Park....
, Harrison Cady
Harrison Cady
Walter Harrison Cady was an American illustrator best known for his Peter Rabbit comic strip which he wrote and drew for 28 years....
, Joseph Csatari
Joseph Csatari
Joseph Csatari is an internationally acclaimed realist portrait artist, watercolorist and illustrator who has painted both the famous and the familiar in American life for more than fifty years. He honed his unique talent for realism by working with his mentor Norman Rockwell for eight years...
, Salvador Dalí
Salvador Dalí
Salvador Domènec Felip Jacint Dalí i Domènech, Marquis de Púbol , commonly known as Salvador Dalí , was a prominent Spanish Catalan surrealist painter born in Figueres,Spain....
, Philippe Halsman
Philippe Halsman
Philippe Halsman was an American portrait photographer.-Life and work:Born to a Jewish family of Morduch Halsman, a dentist, and Ita Grintuch, a grammar school principal, in Riga, Halsman studied electrical engineering in Dresden....
, Norman Rockwell
Norman Rockwell
Norman Percevel Rockwell was a 20th-century American painter and illustrator. His works enjoy a broad popular appeal in the United States for their reflection of American culture. Rockwell is most famous for the cover illustrations of everyday life scenarios he created for The Saturday Evening...
, and Jerome Rozen.
The Time Machine stories
Time Machine series
The Time Machine series of science fiction stories for children, published between 1959 and 1989 in Boys' Life magazine, featured a group of American Boy Scouts who acquire an abandoned time machine. The Polaris Patrol visited the future and the past, sometimes recruiting new Scouts...
of Donald Keith
Donald Keith
Donald Keith was a pseudonym for authors Donald and Keith Monroe . They are best known for their series of stories in the Time Machine series, which were originally published in Boys' Life magazine between 1959 and 1989...
appearing in Boys' Life between 1959 and 1989 were one memorable series.
Content
Boys' Life had in 2005 a monthly feature called "BL's Get Fit Guide". Each month highlights a different aspect of physical health, such as diet, exercise, and drugs. Each month the magazine also features a unique Boy Scout trip that most Scouts do not normally do. The unique trips range from a Philmont adventure to a white water rafting trip.
In both versions, Boys' Life features a video game section, which, in addition to new video game reviews, contains cheats for a video game monthly. They also contain technology updates, as well as book reviews.
Content includes Special Features, Adventure Stories, Bank Street Classics, Entertainment, Environmental Issues, History, Sports, and Codemaster.
Comics have included Bible Stories, Pedro, Pee Wee Harris, Scouts in Action, The Tracy Twins (created by Dik Browne), Dink & Duff, Tiger Cubs, Webelos Woody, Norby
Norby
Norby is a fictional robot created by Janet Asimov and Isaac Asimov who stars in his own series of children's science fiction books, The Norby Chronicles. His first appearance was in the 1983 book Norby, the Mixed-Up Robot, in total he appeared in 11 novels in the 'Norby' series...
, and John Christopher's The Tripods trilogy.
Feature columns include Electronics, Entertainment, Fast Facts, History, Hitchin' Rack With Pedro the Mailburro, Think and Grin (jokes page), Science, Scouting Around, and Sports.
See also
- Scouting
- The Open Road for BoysThe Open Road for BoysThe Open Road for Boys, a boys' magazine encouraging the outdoor life, was published from November 1919 to the 1950s. The magazine was a monthly for the first 20 years and then switched to a schedule of ten issues a year. It began as The Open Road, which expanded to The Open Road for Boys in...
- ChumsChums (paper)Chums was a boys' weekly newspaper started in 1892 that was the official paper of the British Boy Scouts and British Boys' Naval Brigade . The publisher also gathered the weekly paper into monthly and annual editions...
- Boys' OwnBoys' OwnBoys' Own or Boy's Own or Boys Own, is the title of a varying series of similarly titled magazines, story papers, and newsletters published at various times and by various publishers, in the UK and the U.S., from the mid-19th century to the mid-20th century, for pre-teen and teenage...