Ranger Rick Jr. Vol 6 Issue 2 - February 2018 - Magazine

Collins, Lori. Ranger Rick Jr. Vol. 6 Issue 2. United States of America: National Wildlife Federation, February 2018.  

Summary: For the month of February, there are two major articles: “Little Red Panda” and “Animal Valentines.” In “Little Red Panda” the reader learns about the animal as a natural creature. “Animal Valentines” is an anthropomorphic   story of animal characters exchanging Valentines- readers have to use clues to discover who sent the Valentine. 

Awards: Parent’s Choice Gold Award – Spring 2017 

Audience: Ideal reader is 4 – 7 years. The 4 – 5 year-old reader will enjoy the talking animal stories and the many large pictures of animals. The 6 – 7-year-old reader will enjoy reading the articles. All readers will appreciate the animal poster included every month, the art projects, and suggested science activities.  

Strengths and Weaknesses:  A strength of the magazine is the depth produced on a topic through the use of multiple articles, activities, and pictures. Readers will be able to interact with the information in multiple ways. The in-depth interactions help move information to long-term memory.  Another strength is the magazine solicits drawings and photos from readers. These are published in a section called "Ricky's Mail." Finally, if a reader has outgrown the magazine a phone number is provided so readers can change the subscription to Ranger Rick. (I do not know if there is a credit provided and you simply change which publication you receive or if you have to pay for an entire year of Ranger Rick up-front.) I could not find a weakness in this magazine.

Creative Uses: Ranger Rick Jr. has games online like Squirrel vs. Bird Feeder- which is harder than it sounds. There are videos for Ranger Rick Jr. Readers like "We Love Mud" and other videos for older Ranger Rick readers. The site has animal jokes, arts, crafts, and activities for the whole family. Just scroll to the bottom of the site and select an activity under "Family Fun" or there is a section for educators with activities as well. Ranger Rick Jr. Has a parent reading guide to help parents extend the learning. For Feb. 2018 edition the guide advises having parents focus on the color red and counting animals. This will help teach colors and numbers (Ranger Rick Jr.).  

For a classroom or reading program in a public library try reading aloud the story "Animal Valentines." The story is a mystery- who delivered the valentines? Send your children on a scavenger hunt following clues to discover a new book to love or a Valentine/prize from a librarian. Children will have to use written or picture clues to hunt for the prize. Send a picture of the children with the prizes into Ranger Rick Jr. It might be featured in "Ricky's Mail" in the next edition.  

Works Cited 

Parent’s Choice Foundation. “Parent’s Choice Award Winners.” Parents’ Choice Awards, www.parents-choice.org/allawards.cfm.  

“Ranger Rick Jr.” NWF | Ranger Rick, rangerrick.org/magazines/ranger-rick-jr/.