University of Mississippi

                                                    Sports Illustrated Kids 

Another publication promoting literacy under another pretext is 

Sports Illustrated Kids

. 

Launched in 1989, the magazine for boys and girls who love sports “hooks kids on the pleasure 

of reading with sports, through invisible learning,” publisher Cleary Simpson explained. “Time 

Inc. feels that literacy is a big issue for our country and that boys tend to be more reluctant 

readers than girls.”

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Letters from 3,000 readers each month remind the publisher that staying fun and relevant 

are the first priorities to meeting educational goals. Award winning 

Sports Illustrated Kids

 

presents sports the way adults think that kids want to read about them with action photos, easy-

to-read stories about star athletes, helpful instructional tips from the pros, and humor, comics, 

and activities. Every issue comes with a two-sided pullout poster of two superstar athletes and 

nine sports cards.  

“Use sports to motivate,” Craig Neff, managing editor elucidated. “The great thing about 

sports is almost all fields of study intersect with sports. Geography—where a player is from or 

history—the history of a sport.”

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