My Childhood Favorite

I am 21 years old now, and I used to get this magazine. It was a gift from my grandma and grandpa. I used to count down the days before my next one would come. Sometimes it was 28 days, sometimes only 20. I would mark it off on the calendar and everything. I would always open to the free poster first and look at it on the walk back to the house. Then I would read what seemed the most interesting article first, (usually the one about the main animal) and then my next favorite and so on. The only thing I didn't ever, ever read was the adventures of Ranger Rick stories. For some reason those never appealed to me. But at the end of reading it I would ever so carefully lift up the staples from the middle of the magazine and gently pull out the poster. The challenge of where I was going to hang it was usually something I tried to work out in those long days between issues.

Eventually my mom couldn't afford to keep my subscription so I had to do with out. I got out the box of all the past issues from the last five years. I would read them over and over, until I eventually got over my "loss".

I don't know of any magazine out there like this one. I think it is extremely important for kids to understand the lives of animals. I know it harbors respect for them. I think it keeps a kid from growing up into one of those jerks who tortures animals for fun. It teaches kids that wildlife is better left where you found it. To leave the snake by the side of the road not because mom said so because she just doesn't like snakes, but because the snake likes it much better where he was. This is stuff everybody should have learned as a kid. I have met plenty of people that could use the magazine as an adult. When I have kids, you better believe they will have a long lasting subscription to Ranger Rick!