Bibliographic Information:
- Title: The Teen Magazine (March Issue)
- Author/Founder/Editor: Mia Johansson
- Creative directors: Malak Yousry, Khushi Gupta
- Visual Designers: Jane Park, Jessica Zhu, Jennifer Xia, Nameeda Elmi, Chayanon Kesorn
- Writers: various
- Publisher: TheTeenMagazine.com
- Issue: March 2021
Genre / Format of the Title: non-fiction [online magazine]
Awards or Honors: None to date
Awards or Honors: None to date
Reading Level/Interest Level:
- appeals to all high school students as it is written by teens for teens.
General description:
The Teen Magazine is a completely online magazine made for teens and written by teens. It was the brainchild of Mia Johansson who saw the need for an online accessible magazine where budding journalists could begin their portfolio. There are currently 651 teen writers from around the world who contribute articles to this magazine.
The Teen Magazine is a completely online magazine made for teens and written by teens. It was the brainchild of Mia Johansson who saw the need for an online accessible magazine where budding journalists could begin their portfolio. There are currently 651 teen writers from around the world who contribute articles to this magazine.
Author Background:
In her junior year in high school, Mia Johansson founded this completely online magazine where budding teenage journalists could write and submit their articles. The articles were meant to appeal to teenagers. Now a student at Harvard, Johanson is taking a gap year so she could continue to manage the publication of The Teen Magazine full time (TheTeenMagazine.com, 2021).
In her junior year in high school, Mia Johansson founded this completely online magazine where budding teenage journalists could write and submit their articles. The articles were meant to appeal to teenagers. Now a student at Harvard, Johanson is taking a gap year so she could continue to manage the publication of The Teen Magazine full time (TheTeenMagazine.com, 2021).
Critical Evaluation:
The online magazine aptly named The Teen Magazine, TTM for short, is made just for teens and managed and written entirely by teens and it is actually quite impressive. TTM is professionally laid out, its contents accessible to teens and because it’s completely online, it can take advantage of all the technology available to make the magazine interactive and reader friendly. Technology of all types is embedded within each article such that one can link to social media of whatever or whoever the article is about and go directly to the source of the article. For example, the article, such as the one written about Maude Latour, an up and coming musician, is so timely and in touch with what teens are listening to and included links to Latour’s instagram and links to her music (Jayanthi, 2021).
TTM is not a giant professional production like Teen Ink, a longer running (31 years) teen magazine but its online design and variety of articles that appeal to teenagers has found a teen niche. The Teen Magazine is completely online and has been from its inception four years ago. The magazine suffers somewhat from a lack of editing. Some articles contained a misspelling or two (“terror” instead of “terroir”;” afain” instead of “again”) or malapropisms (ex. bellowing smoke instead of billowing smoke) or even headline errors like that on the March cover: “Does Gen Z has more anxiety…” All these are easily fixable with better editing,
Because teens from all over the world are able to contribute articles, this magazine will likely gain more traction with time. What it lacks in flashiness and editing, it more than makes up for in content that’s as rich and interesting as the teen writers themselves.
The online magazine aptly named The Teen Magazine, TTM for short, is made just for teens and managed and written entirely by teens and it is actually quite impressive. TTM is professionally laid out, its contents accessible to teens and because it’s completely online, it can take advantage of all the technology available to make the magazine interactive and reader friendly. Technology of all types is embedded within each article such that one can link to social media of whatever or whoever the article is about and go directly to the source of the article. For example, the article, such as the one written about Maude Latour, an up and coming musician, is so timely and in touch with what teens are listening to and included links to Latour’s instagram and links to her music (Jayanthi, 2021).
TTM is not a giant professional production like Teen Ink, a longer running (31 years) teen magazine but its online design and variety of articles that appeal to teenagers has found a teen niche. The Teen Magazine is completely online and has been from its inception four years ago. The magazine suffers somewhat from a lack of editing. Some articles contained a misspelling or two (“terror” instead of “terroir”;” afain” instead of “again”) or malapropisms (ex. bellowing smoke instead of billowing smoke) or even headline errors like that on the March cover: “Does Gen Z has more anxiety…” All these are easily fixable with better editing,
Because teens from all over the world are able to contribute articles, this magazine will likely gain more traction with time. What it lacks in flashiness and editing, it more than makes up for in content that’s as rich and interesting as the teen writers themselves.
Creative Use for a Library Program:
This magazine has inspired me to start up a literary magazine for our school. There is a lot of writing happening in our high school that should be shared and using The Teen Magazine format, we could curate something that’s specific to our school and its students.
This magazine has inspired me to start up a literary magazine for our school. There is a lot of writing happening in our high school that should be shared and using The Teen Magazine format, we could curate something that’s specific to our school and its students.
Speed-Round magazine talk:
Want to have a platform to share your articles and boost your writing portfolio? Consider writing for The Teen Magazine and reach a worldwide audience of teens and build your portfolio while gaining real life experience in publishing. Check out what your peers are writing.
Want to have a platform to share your articles and boost your writing portfolio? Consider writing for The Teen Magazine and reach a worldwide audience of teens and build your portfolio while gaining real life experience in publishing. Check out what your peers are writing.
Potential Challenge Issues and Defense Preparation:
Although the magazine covers beauty, style, wellness, culture, and relationships written by writers from all around the world, one could argue that the magazine, with its stock photos of mostly female, white, skinny, well-dressed teens does not represent all teens, let alone American teens. However, to its credit, the magazine does provide a platform for all teens who wish to get started in their journalism journey by accepting and publishing articles from teens from around the world and the articles are actually valuable and meaty; and, based on the information provided by the articles’ authors themselves, their writers are from varied backgrounds and some are international as well.
Although the magazine covers beauty, style, wellness, culture, and relationships written by writers from all around the world, one could argue that the magazine, with its stock photos of mostly female, white, skinny, well-dressed teens does not represent all teens, let alone American teens. However, to its credit, the magazine does provide a platform for all teens who wish to get started in their journalism journey by accepting and publishing articles from teens from around the world and the articles are actually valuable and meaty; and, based on the information provided by the articles’ authors themselves, their writers are from varied backgrounds and some are international as well.
Reason for Inclusion:
I wanted to showcase a magazine that appealed to teens and could potentially be promoted at my school for our students to contribute articles.
I wanted to showcase a magazine that appealed to teens and could potentially be promoted at my school for our students to contribute articles.
REFERENCES
TheTeenMagazine.com. (2021, March). Mia Johansson. The Teen Magazine. https://www.theteenmagazine.com/writers/mia-johansson.
Jayanthi, R. (2021, April 12). Up-And-Coming Artist Maude Latour is a revolutionary of musical manifestos. The Teen Magazine. https://www.theteenmagazine.com/up-and-coming-artist-maude-latour-is-a-revolutionary-of-musical-manifestos.
Jayanthi, R. (2021, April 12). Up-And-Coming Artist Maude Latour is a revolutionary of musical manifestos. The Teen Magazine. https://www.theteenmagazine.com/up-and-coming-artist-maude-latour-is-a-revolutionary-of-musical-manifestos.
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