Dear Highlights
What Adults Can Learn from 75 Years of Letters and Conversations with Kids
1 of 1 copy available
Every year, tens of thousands of children write to Highlights magazine, sharing their hopes and dreams, worries and concerns, as if they were writing to a trusted friend. From the beginning, the editors at Highlights have answered every child individually. Longtime editor in chief Christine French Cully has curated a collection of this remarkable correspondence (letters, emails, drawings, and poems) in Dear Highlights—revealing an intimate and inspiring 75-year conversation between America’s children and its leading children’s magazine. From the timeless, everyday concerns of friendship, family, and school, to the deeper issues of identity, sexuality, divorce, and grief, here is a unique time capsule of American childhood in the voices—and the very handwriting—of children themselves. The book captures a child's-eye view of some of the most important events of the past 75 years: the COVID-19 pandemic, 9/11, the Challenger Disaster, and the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Cully’s insightful narrative becomes a call to action for adults to lean in and listen to children, to make sure our kids know that they matter and what they think matters, and to assure them that they have the power to become people who change the world.
By turns funny, heartbreaking, moving, and enlightening, Dear Highlights will cause readers to reflect, to listen, and to embrace the children in their lives.
From the foreword by nationally syndicated columnist Amy Dickinson:
“In times of great stress or trouble, Mr. Rogers advised children: ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’ That’s exactly what children writing to ‘Dear Highlights’ find when they put pen to paper: helpers whose open-minded trust and kindness surely has made our world a better place.”
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Creators
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Publisher
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Release date
August 10, 2021 -
Formats
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Kindle Book
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OverDrive Read
- ISBN: 9781644723906
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EPUB ebook
- ISBN: 9781644723906
- File size: 124861 KB
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Languages
- English
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Reviews
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January 1, 2022
"When a child writes to you, you write back with care and respect," states Highlights Editor in Chief Cully. The magazine began publication in 1946; in 1979 it debuted its "Dear Highlights" column (still published today) to address readers' questions, comments, and concerns. This volume compiles a subset of those letters, from the thousands upon thousands received (and all answered, though only a fraction published). Each section -- about Family, School, Friendship, Biases & Exclusion, COVID-19, Really Hard Things, and more -- begins with an exploration of theme, followed by well-designed spreads with reproductions of kids' notes, letters, emails, poems, illustrations, etc., and the Highlights editors' responses. Some entries are funny, others heart-tugging and/or thought-provoking. Although the world has changed "dramatically," "kids' concerns have changed very little," states Cully, and this browsable volume provides insight into their perspectives. Elissa Gershowitz(Copyright 2022 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)
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