A new quarterly publication for girls ages 5 to 10 has a Vermont connection. Kazoo, touted as “a magazine for girls who aren’t afraid to make some noise,” is printed at Lane Press in South Burlington. And the inaugural Summer 2016 issue features an original comic, “How to Draw a Cat,” by Vermont resident and MacArthur Fellow Alison Bechdel, author of graphic novel Fun Home. Other contributions — all of them written or inspired by women — include a short story by Caldecott Honor children’s book author Doreen Cronin, how-to instructions for making a boat out of twigs and an article highlighting Olympic athletes. The magazine is the baby of Brooklyn-based Erin Bried, a mom of two young girls and former Condé Nast editor who’s worked at SELF and Glamour. Bried recalls being “upset and, honestly, kind of angry” that she couldn’t find any inspiring mags for her 5-year-old girl. She launched a Kickstarter campaign in April to publish the first four issues and raised over $170,000 in 30 days, making Kazoo the highest-funded journalism campaign in the site’s history. Where’d the quirky name come from? “The beauty of the kazoo is that everybody already has what it takes to play one,” she writes. “I want girls to feel the same way about their own voice — that they already have everything it takes to use it.”
To learn more about, and subscribe to, Kazoo visit kazoomagazine.com.
This article was originally published in Seven Days’ monthly parenting magazine, Kids VT.
This article appears in Kids VT, August 2016.
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