Reader's Digest facts for kids
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Cover of the November 2022 issue
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| Chief Content Officer | Jason Buhrmester |
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| Format | Digest |
| Total circulation (2020) |
3,029,039 |
| Founder | |
| First issue | February 5, 1922 |
| Company | Trusted Media Brands, Inc. |
| Country | United States |
| Based in | Manhattan, New York City, New York, U.S. |
| ISSN | 0034-0375 |
Reader's Digest is a popular American magazine for families. It comes out ten times a year. It was started in 1922 by DeWitt Wallace and his wife Lila Bell Wallace. For many years, Reader's Digest was the best-selling magazine in the United States. It lost that title in 2009 to Better Homes and Gardens.
This magazine is read by many people around the world. It reaches about 40 million people in over 70 countries. There are 49 different versions published in 21 languages. It is one of the biggest magazines in the world by how many copies are sold.
Reader's Digest is also available in Braille for people who are blind. You can also find it in digital versions, audio, and a special large print version. The magazine is small, about half the size of most American magazines. Because of its small size, the U.S. edition used to have the slogan "America in your pocket." Later, it changed to "Life well shared."
Contents
History
How it Started and Grew
In 1920, DeWitt Wallace and Lila Bell Wallace got married. Soon after, they started Reader's Digest in a basement in New York City. Their idea was to collect interesting articles from different magazines. They would sometimes make them shorter and rewrite them. Then, they would put them all into one new magazine.
The Wallaces hoped to earn about $5,000 a year from their magazine. But people really liked their idea, and it grew very fast. By 1929, the magazine had 290,000 subscribers. It was earning $900,000 a year!
The first international version of the magazine was published in the United Kingdom in 1938. By the time Reader's Digest was 40 years old, it had 40 international versions. These were in 13 languages and even Braille. At one point, it was the most popular magazine in countries like China, Mexico, and Sweden. Its international sales reached 23 million copies.
What's Inside the Magazine?
For many years, each issue of Reader's Digest had 30 articles. It also had fun sections like "It Pays to Increase your Word Power." This was a quiz to help you learn new words. Other popular parts included "Amusing Anecdotes" and "Personal Glimpses," which were funny stories. There were also "Humor in Uniform" and "Life in these United States." Each issue also had a longer article, often a shorter version of a published book.
Other regular features included "Drama in Real Life," which were survival stories. More recently, they added "That's Outrageous." These sections were listed on the front cover. Each article used to have a small, simple drawing. Now, the magazine has bright, colorful pictures. It also has many short facts mixed in with longer articles. The table of contents is now found inside the magazine.
Learning New Words
The first "Word Power" column appeared in the magazine in January 1945. It was written by Wilfred John Funk. This popular section helps readers learn new vocabulary.
From 2002 to 2006, Reader's Digest held a vocabulary contest for schools in the U.S. It was called the Reader's Digest National Word Power Challenge. In 2007, the magazine decided to pause the competition. They wanted to review the program and make it even better.
Going Global
In 2006, the magazine started three new local language versions. These were in Slovenia, Croatia, and Romania. In October 2007, the Digest also started publishing in Serbia. The magazine launched in the People's Republic of China in January 2008. However, it stopped publishing there in 2012.
For 2010, the U.S. magazine started publishing 10 times a year instead of 12. It also focused more on digital versions. In January 2013, the U.S. edition went back to publishing 12 times a year.
Reader's Digest Around the World
Reader's Digest is the best-selling monthly magazine in the world because of its international versions. It has reached 17 million copies sold worldwide and 70 million readers. It is published in 49 versions and 21 languages. You can find it in over 70 countries.
In each country, local editors choose or buy articles for their readers. They also share content with the U.S. and other versions. These articles are then translated by local translators. The translations are checked by local editors to make sure they sound like the American magazine.
Over 90 years, the company has published versions in many languages and countries. Often, these versions started as translations of the U.S. magazine. But over time, they became unique. They started including more stories that were important to local readers.
Here are some of the countries where Reader's Digest has been published:
- 1938 – United Kingdom
- 1940 – Cuba and Latin America (in Spanish)
- 1942 – Brazil
- 1943 – Sweden, Egypt (in Arabic)
- 1945 – Finland
- 1946 – Australia, Denmark, Japan
- 1947 – Belgium (in French), France, Norway, Canadian French
- 1948 – Canada (English), Germany, South Africa, Switzerland (in French and German), Italy
- 1950 – Argentina, New Zealand
- 1952 – Austria, Spain
- 1954 – India and Pakistan (in English)
- 1957 – Netherlands
- 1959 – Chile, Costa Rica and Central America
- 1965 – Taiwan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia (in traditional Chinese)
- 1968 – Belgium (Dutch)
- 1971 – Puerto Rico and United States (in Spanish), Portugal
- 1978 – South Korea
- 1991 – Hungary, Russia
- 1993 – Czech Republic
- 1995 – Poland
- 1996 – Thailand
- 1997 – Slovakia
- 2004 – Indonesia
- 2005 – Romania, Slovenia, Croatia, Bulgaria
- 2007 – Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Ukraine
- 2008 – China
Canadian Edition
The Canadian version of Reader's Digest first came out in July 1947 in French. The English version followed in February 1948. Today, most of its content is about Canada. Almost all the articles are made locally or chosen from Canadian magazines. Usually, there is one American article in each issue.
The Canadian version has a section called "Life's Like That." This is similar to the "Life in These United States" section in the American magazine. On December 6, 2023, it was announced that Reader's Digest Canada would stop publishing in the spring of 2024.
Indian Edition
The Indian version of Reader's Digest was first published in 1954. It started with 40,000 copies. For many years, it was published by the Tata Group of companies. Today, the magazine is published in India by Living Media India Ltd. It sells over 600,000 copies. It includes both Indian and international articles.
UK Edition
The United Kingdom version first started publishing in 1938. In 2010, Reader's Digest UK faced financial difficulties. It was later sold to its management. The magazine stopped publishing after 86 years in April 2024.
Books and More
Reader's Digest also publishes nonfiction books and yearly collections of its magazine content. These are sold through their website and in stores.
Since 1950, Reader's Digest has published a series of hardcover books. These books contain shorter versions of novels and nonfiction stories. This series was first called Reader's Digest Condensed Books. In 1997, it was renamed Reader's Digest Select Editions.
From the mid-1960s to the early 1980s, they also published full-length, original nonfiction books. These were under the name Reader's Digest Press. Later, they started a series of classic novels called World's Best Reading. These were available to magazine subscribers by mail.
In Germany, Reader's Digest has its own book-publishing company. It publishes the German version of the magazine. It is also known for a science fiction book series called "The Road to Tomorrow." This series had 50 hardcover books with classic science fiction novels.
Who Were the Editors?
Here is a list of the main editors of Reader's Digest over the years:
- Lila Bell Wallace and DeWitt Wallace (1922–1964) (the original founders)
- Hobart D. Lewis (1964–1976)
- Edward T. Thompson (1976–1984)
- Kenneth O. Gilmore (1984–1990)
- Kenneth Tomlinson (1990–1996)
- Christopher Willcox (1996–2000)
- Eric Schrier (2000–2001)
- Jacqueline Leo (2001–2007)
- Peggy Northrop (2007–2011)
- Liz Vaccariello (2011–2016)
- Bruce Kelley (2016–2021)
- Jason Buhrmester (2021–present)
Images for kids
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First issue of the Reader's Digest, February 1922
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Former Reader's Digest building in Chappaqua, New York
See also
In Spanish: Reader's Digest para niños
- World's Best Reading
- List of United States magazines
- John Patric, a writer for Reader's Digest
- "My Last Wonderful Days", a 1956 article
