Children's Literary Magazine Features Armenians in Latest Issue

Children's Literary Magazine Features Armenians in Latest Issue

Asbarez, Massis Post, The Armenian Mirror-Spectator, The Armenian Reporter, Public Radio of Armenia, Crossroads and elsewhere.

March 2014

EUGENE, Ore.—Skipping Stones International Multicultural Magazine, an award-winning children’s periodical, is featuring Armenia and Armenians in its Spring 2014 edition. Distributed to schools, libraries and individuals/families, Skipping Stones magazine celebrates ecological and cultural diversity, facilitates a meaningful exchange of ideas and experiences, and is suited for readers ages 8-16 (grades 4-11). The non-profit, quarterly magazine is independently produced by a group of human rights, multicultural and diversity educators and is in its 26th year of publication.

Among the features spotlighted in the April-June 2014 issue will be 7 pages of articles and photos about Armenia and the Armenians. Curated by Armenian-American children’s book author Lucine Kasbarian in time for April — Genocide Memorial Month — the feature includes a photo essay, “A Journey Through Armenia”; a profile of an Armenian artist, art teacher and historic preservationist, Ashot Avagyan, called “Teaching Hope in Sisian” and written by Kasbarian; an essay called “A Child of Immigrants Remembers His Childhood,” written by writer-editor C.K. Garabed; “Unknown,” a poem by Gayane Jamgotchian, a graduate of the Holy Martyrs Armenian Day School in Oakland Gardens, New York; reproductions of artworks created by students from the Sisian Art School; and an overview of Armenia. A photo, taken by Hovsep Dagdigian and depicting a shepherd and his flock with Mt. Ararat in the background, adorns the front cover of this issue.

Skipping Stones’ mission is to encourage cooperation, creativity and celebration of cultural and linguistic diversity. The magazine explores stewardship of the ecological and social webs that inform and nurture the world, and offers a unique forum for communication among children from different lands and backgrounds — expanding horizons in a playful, imaginative way and without commercialization. Each issue of Skipping Stones contains essays, stories, poems, an advice column, letters to the editor, photos, recipes, and folktales written by both children and adults from around the world. Multicultural and nature books are also recommended in every issue of the magazine.

“We try our best to make reading an active experience, relevant to issues today’s young people confront on a local and global level,” says Arun Toké, executive editor of Skipping Stones. “Our readers hail from north, south, east, and west. From villages to inner cities, youth of diverse cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds have something to say — about their culture, school, religion, environment, or neighborhoods. Skipping Stones provides a place for writers and artists of all ages and backgrounds to communicate openly and creatively.”

Skipping Stones has been honored with a number of recognitions, including the NAME Award of the National Association for Multicultural Educators, two EdPress Awards, a Parent’s Choice Award, and a 2003 Writer Award. Over the years, Skipping Stones has been reviewed in publications such as Utne Reader, School Library Journal, Multicultural Education, Multicultural Review, Rethinking Schools, Creative Classroom, Earth Island Journal, Green Teacher, Learning and East-West Journal. Every year, Skipping Stones prepares an Honors List of exceptional multicultural and nature books for children and their educators. In keeping with its ecological concerns, the magazine is printed on recycled paper with soy ink.

Young readers from all over the world are encouraged to submit stories, artwork and photographs to the magazine.

School librarians or principals in a low-income countries or regions of the world are encouraged to request a free, one-year subscription to Skipping Stones, a set of 100 back issues of the magazine, or a box of children’s books (mostly in English).

Visit the Skipping Stones webpage, www.skippingstones.org, for more details.