47 Years Longer than the Average Raccoon Lifespan!

November 14, 2016 6:45 PM

Ranger Rick magazine turns 50! Beginning publication in 1967, the NWF's flagship children's publication has been introducing kids to wildlife for three generations. At Classic Ranger Rick, explore the history of the magazine's look to get your nostalgia gland going, or check out early artists like Lorin Thompson and Alton Langford. Or enjoy some glorious photography it's featured through the years.
posted by Eyebrows McGee (43 comments total)

I LOVED getting Ranger Rick as a kid. Thanks for this post.
posted by curious nu at 6:47 PM on November 14, 2016 [4 favorites]

Pretty sure I still have all of mine somewhere.
posted by brennen at 6:53 PM on November 14, 2016 [1 favorite]

I never subscribed to Ranger Rick, but I remember reading it at the library ALL THE TIME.
posted by SisterHavana at 6:53 PM on November 14, 2016

bringin' me back to the pediatric waiting room

where's my Cricket and my Highlights at
posted by Countess Elena at 6:55 PM on November 14, 2016 [11 favorites]

Cricket

oh my gods i forgot about that one

* disappears down a memory hole of kids magazines *
posted by curious nu at 7:01 PM on November 14, 2016

OH MY GOD. I loved Ranger Rick and all the kids at school made fun of me because I read about animals instead of Rick Springfield or whatever but that is why they just, at forty-whatever years old, learned what a pangolin is.
posted by louche mustachio at 7:13 PM on November 14, 2016 [13 favorites]

National Geographic World reader here...and a little sad for it.
posted by lazycomputerkids at 7:14 PM on November 14, 2016 [4 favorites]

I loved this magazine. Any idea if it's still as good in a world of "Lets look up that animal on the internet!"?
posted by WowLookStars at 7:20 PM on November 14, 2016

I loved getting this magazine when I was a kid. However, I pretty vividly remember the period of time where I was still receiving it and was getting too old to receive and it would show up and I'd grit my teeth and go, "welp, let's see what this son of a bitch raccoon has going on now." Thanks, Aunt Verna!
posted by fluffy battle kitten at 7:24 PM on November 14, 2016 [2 favorites]

p.s. I still love raccoons. Rainbow tutu-wearing, pirouetting raccoon.
posted by fluffy battle kitten at 7:26 PM on November 14, 2016 [1 favorite]

It is still good! My kids get it, and their 50th anniversary edition came today and the back cover was this straight-up trolling of parents*, which is what sent me down a Ranger Rick nostalgia hole! It's more photography-oriented now than when I was little, but it's still a similar mix of facts, stories, photos, crafts, etc. My seven-year-old sits down with it and reads it cover to cover with the sort of seriousness usually reserved for The Economist. My five-year-old likes it for his read-aloud (that he reads to us) at bedtime. They have a nice mix of classic favorite animals and weird unknown animals.

(*Previously on metafilter if you require context and/or an earworm.)
posted by Eyebrows McGee at 7:26 PM on November 14, 2016 [9 favorites]

I'm so happy to hear that it's still good! Can't wait for my kids to be old enough to enjoy it.
posted by WowLookStars at 8:06 PM on November 14, 2016

Ranger Rick, actual animal documentaries on The Discovery Channel and then Animal Planet... Yeah, that was the stuff.
posted by tobascodagama at 8:16 PM on November 14, 2016

Refrigerators were ferric and infrequent. Half of the family called them "Iceboxes". I failed the color the lion badly. My teacher, Dorty Dubson. Yeah, Pisses Poopson. (shut the up) was probably nuts but quite kind in a 60's kind of way. When confronted with a picture of a bulb - asked - Aaron McDonald responded to Mrs. Dubson's question of "what kind of bulb is that?" with "a light bulb".
Now it's John Stanford International School. I almost wish I had kids.

Here's the specs; As of 2006 each regular student spends half of his or her time studying in English, and the other half in either Spanish or Japanese. Students with English as a second language take immersion programs. As of 2008, due to the popularity of its program, the school had a waitlist of about 90-100 families, with other families declining to use the waitlist due to distances from their residences.

I loved Ranger Rick and Boy's Life.
posted by vapidave at 8:17 PM on November 14, 2016

Ranger Rick introduced me to the Hodag, the Mkele Mbele, the Sasquatch... and actual creatures living here on this planet! Ranger Rick made me a cryptid believer... and then a skeptic! Awesome. The photography was so beautiful, the articles so clearly written on the North American Porcupine or the South American Tapir for early readers... big square, staple-bound issues every month from Granma. I loved each and every one of them.

Mostly the ones with the Mystery Monsters I'd have to talk my self into disbelieving! So much fun...I mean that unironically.
posted by Slap*Happy at 8:45 PM on November 14, 2016 [1 favorite]

I can't believe I forgot about Ranger Rick. But I'm glad I've been reminded in time to buy a subscription for my daughter.
posted by chimpsonfilm at 8:48 PM on November 14, 2016

How is Cricket these days? I remember loving the heck out of it when I was a kid, and I have a quasi-niece who might be coming up to the right age for it.
posted by tavella at 9:05 PM on November 14, 2016

Our American relatives gave us a subscription to Ranger Rick when I was a kid and I saved every issue. I bet my mother hasn't thrown them out because it'd be like throwing away knowledge!
posted by peripathetic at 9:08 PM on November 14, 2016

Oh oh! DDT is bad because it gets in the rivers and the water waters the apple trees and DDT gets in the apples and then we can't eat the apples!

I wasn't even into nature and I loved Ranger Rick. Happy birthday!
posted by Room 641-A at 9:21 PM on November 14, 2016

One of my first vivid elementary school fiction memories was a story in Ranger Rick about a mother raccoon who had been hit by a car.

Did Ranger Rick traumatize me? Is it responsible for a reluctance to drive that continues well into my thirties? Is that initial intimation of how important fiction can be in raising awareness about real world issues the first spark for my eventual enrollment in a graduate program in creative writing and the environment?

Probably not. But I still appreciate it, and appreciate my school library for stocking it.
posted by Jeanne at 9:57 PM on November 14, 2016 [1 favorite]

I had a Ranger Rick backpack!

I never did become a park ranger, or an entomologist, or the next Jacques Cousteau....but I am in the 13th year of volunteering to ID and count migrating raptors, and I'm certain Ranger Rick had a hand in the inclination that got me here.
posted by rtha at 10:45 PM on November 14, 2016 [2 favorites]

Ranger Rick, Cricket, Zoobooks, National Geographic, etc., each have a full series of magazines targeting your kid's specific age level from the womb all the way to Professor Emeritus, so no need to wait until they get to the right age.
posted by polecat at 11:19 PM on November 14, 2016 [1 favorite]

So glad to hear that Ranger Rick is still around! I adored getting these in the mail. I'm sure there are still a few issues hanging around in my parents' attic all these years later. Thanks for the memories!
posted by bookmammal at 3:44 AM on November 15, 2016

Ranger Rick.
Rocket Raccoon.

Think about it.
posted by Halloween Jack at 4:29 AM on November 15, 2016

I remember Ranger Rick from 1971, the summer after second grade, when I could finally read. The Ranger is just a little younger than I am. Happy Half Century Birthday RR!
posted by haiku warrior at 4:41 AM on November 15, 2016

Ollie Otter's Fun Pages! Thank you for this post!
posted by Orange Dinosaur Slide at 5:35 AM on November 15, 2016

I never did become a park ranger, or an entomologist, or the next Jacques Cousteau....but I am in the 13th year of volunteering to ID and count migrating raptors,

My God. They've begun to migrate! How did they even get off the island?
posted by leotrotsky at 6:07 AM on November 15, 2016

To absolutely nobody's surprise, I was a Ranger Rick/Zoobooks devotee. However, I always conflated Ranger Rick and Smokey The Bear and could never remember which one did which thing.
posted by ChuraChura at 6:27 AM on November 15, 2016

I loved those magazines. It is great that they are still around.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:36 AM on November 15, 2016

Dear Ranger Rick Forum,
I'm a single coed living with three friends in a dorm at OSU...
posted by charred husk at 6:59 AM on November 15, 2016

Ranger Rick was my favorite magazine, and I always felt slightly superior for choosing it over Highlights.

The passing reference to Ranger Rick in Guardians of the Galaxy won that movie a place in my heart forever.
posted by TwoStride at 7:26 AM on November 15, 2016 [2 favorites]

tavella: “How is Cricket these days? I remember loving the heck out of it when I was a kid, and I have a quasi-niece who might be coming up to the right age for it.”

Cricket is still going strong. The Cricket Media Group have age-appropriate arts & letters periodicals for kids as young as 6 months. They're running a promotion for the holidays where when you buy a subscription for a loved one, they will donate a subscription to a library or family who needs one.
posted by ob1quixote at 8:59 AM on November 15, 2016 [1 favorite]

My first sleepaway camp and first airplane flight alone was to Ranger Rick camp in...the south? Somewhere? Mid-Atlantic maybe. Crafts and nature walks and bunk beds, the works.
posted by gottabefunky at 9:00 AM on November 15, 2016

My mom went to Ranger Rick Camp in North Carolina in 1976, gottabefunky. Anything look familiar?
posted by ChuraChura at 9:11 AM on November 15, 2016 [1 favorite]

Yes! That's it. Wow.
posted by gottabefunky at 9:29 AM on November 15, 2016 [1 favorite]

I know the magazine Cricket is still around, I was just wondering if the quality was the same. It's been 40 years probably since I read it.
posted by tavella at 10:18 AM on November 15, 2016

I know the magazine Cricket is still around, I was just wondering if the quality was the same.

My kids get ASK magazine (put out by the folks who do Cricket) and they LOVE it. It's great. I'd bet all of the magazines are similarly high-quality.

They also love Ranger Rick just as much as I did when I was their age & fight over who gets to read it first. The youngest kid has been dictating a steady stream of jokes and riddles for me to email to "my friend Ranger Rick" to put in the magazine. (He sends personal thank you messages when you write!)
posted by belladonna at 6:18 PM on November 15, 2016 [1 favorite]

Dumb idea of the day:

Ranger Rick and Rocket Racoon vs. the evil Raccoons of Pawnee, IN.
posted by CBrachyrhynchos at 7:20 PM on November 15, 2016 [2 favorites]

I was in Ranger Rick magazine twice! My Dad used to sell a lot of photographs to them.
posted by WalkerWestridge at 7:34 PM on November 15, 2016 [1 favorite]

Hey, Ranger Rick has international subscriptions, and they're not even that pricey ($37)! This is great news because as soon as my kid was old enough to sit still for long stories, I went to subscribe him to Cricket... but they only deliver domestically, and I live in Europe.

Nostalgia is really difficult when you don't live in the country you grew up in.
posted by lollymccatburglar at 5:39 AM on November 16, 2016 [1 favorite]

Charlie Harper's art is all the rage now, but I remember him fondly from Ranger Rick.
posted by acrasis at 4:06 PM on November 16, 2016 [1 favorite]

I know the magazine Cricket is still around, I was just wondering if the quality was the same. It's been 40 years probably since I read it.

There's a sample issue (PDF) from January 2013 available to read via their website. I love that the Cricket League (monthly writing contest) is still going strong. That was my favorite part of the magazine!

And wow, I totally forgot about Cobblestone, the American history magazine also published by Cricket Media. I got that one as a kid too. Loved it!
posted by SisterHavana at 4:59 PM on November 16, 2016

Oh man, I had a subscription to this and loved it. Anybody remember who made the animal card subscription stuff?
posted by klangklangston at 9:46 PM on November 17, 2016