The day we spoke, Netali Gvirtz got a surprise.

In the mailbox in her house, a postcard was waiting for her.

A real one, such as a paper, sent to her by a young reader of "A Young Man," the magazine that Gvirtz is currently being appointed editor of.

"One of the sections that we are most proud of is from one pen pals, allows children to write and receive letters from other children. Issue century have released this section addresses the editors and hobbies, and here, one of the girls decided to write to me '.

The kids Advertisers Their address, and we want to meet them at eye level, not look at them from above. "

" First I have to check that I have envelopes and stamps at home ... "

"We changed the picture"

Gvirtz, a successful children's author ("Owls" series she is writing with Bar Ben Yosef; "The Inverted Princess", "Yolanda de Miao", "The Dragon and the Secret of the Branches") who will soon publish a new book she wrote for adults, wrote for "Adam Adam" even before He was succeeded by veteran editor Rinat Primo, whom Noam Sharon, the publisher and founder, calls the "spiritual mother of the paper."

Gvirtz's personal celebration intersects with that of the magazine, whose centennial issue was published this month, and she says she does not plan for far-reaching changes, although it is clear that her personal taste will be reflected.

What began in 2011 as a quarterly, a subsidiary of the anthroposophical magazine Adam Olam, became a magazine a decade later.

Each issue of Young Man, which defines itself as an "experiential monthly", is devoted to the subject - "nonsense", "lost", "shy", "cooking", "books", "home", "twins" and more, and all Another illustrator takes over the helm, so the sheet is also a kind of one-time exhibition.

Sharon came to the publishers in a tortuous way: after military service he served as a sports reporter in the late "Game of Thrones," went out in search of himself in India, completed a degree in Indian studies, and decided that the best way to realize his deep love for children was to be a gardener.

After observing an anthroposophical kindergarten, he was conquered, began teaching in kindergarten and first grade at the Adam School in Jerusalem, and took on "the role that no other teacher wanted, to edit the school newspaper."

eye to eye.

Netali Gvirtz // Photo: Orit Pnini,

The positive experience led Sharon to take the risk of purchasing a community newspaper entitled "Man of the World," and devoted to the anthroposophical worldview.

"I got into it without any knowledge," he admits, "and the paper lost a lot of money.

Then I set up Young Man, which completely changed the picture. '

'What parents who want to bring their children to the newspaper have in common is not necessarily anthroposophy but the desire to find a good education for them.

'Young Man' has broken out of this community quite quickly, because its guideline is to offer children an external reflection of what they are going through, a place where the child is at the center, and he learns through experiences, art, fantasy, stories that evoke emotional experiences.

This thing speaks to many. '

The screen "turns off".

Noam Sharon // Photo: Nitzan Strugg,

The word "anthroposophy" is not mentioned in "young man", but the worldview is felt in a mixture of new stories and classics (Oded Burla, Nurit Zarchi and even Danny Sanderson, for example), multi-tasking (board for recording activities on the big day, the slowest cycling competition) and much more. A place for self-expression of readers. Sharon says that there is a clear preference in the newspaper for emotional content and those that activate the imagination "and less rational content. We turn less to the head and more to the heart. All our sections encourage activity and creativity, from the cooking section to puzzles, with the main course being long stories. '

How do you persuade children to leave the screens and sit down to read or hear a long story?

'Children who listen to or immerse themselves in a story are emotionally active, and in front of the screen they are turned off from the inside.

When parents allow it, children discover that it is a great experience.

It's not for everyone and I know it's a bit against the current, but we want to give children a chance to develop their minds as much as possible, so that they mature, before they start learning to operate a computer and write code. '

According to Sharon, "Young Man" has 6,000 subscribers, and all the hundred issues that have been published so far are printed in hundreds of copies each year, in light of the public demand.

How do you choose the topics for each issue?

Gvirtz: "All the issues come from the children.

At the last meeting, we went through 22 pages of readers 'suggestions and chose from them.'

"Active reading"

By the way, Gvirtz has its own mole in the "Young Galileo" system, the older magazine, owned by the publisher Shiri Aviv, which has been published since 2004, and declares 49,000 copies per month and an audience of 24,000 subscribers.

Gvirtz's daughter, Emma Schur, 12, writes a regular column there, "Making History," in which she describes her fictional encounters with important female figures in history.

It is, of course, just one of a team of young writers in what is defined as a "monthly for curious children," whose mission is almost the opposite of that of a "young man."

"Young Galileo deals with different areas of life from a scientific point of view," says editor-in-chief Roni Langerman-Ziv, who previously edited parenting magazines, declaring that she herself is the mother of three "young scientists" and is also a personal trainer for adolescents.

"We want to open doors and provide knowledge and information, to show children that you don't have to wait until they grow up to make dreams come true."

The contents of "Young Galileo" are very diverse: damage caused by forest fires, animals and the Corona virus, space tourism, the history of computer games, the Big Bang, the beginning of public education and the age of mass communication.

There are also puzzles and amusements here, but these are related to astronomy, technology, the environment and the like, and there is also a section of experiments and an annual competition of inventions for the development of creative thinking.

Langerman-Ziv is convinced that although so much of this information is available online, it is important to develop reading habits in children, because "many studies show that reading predicts academic success and improves brain function."

But you are addressing an audience of children born with the screen in hand.

'True, and it does not surprise me that they love the paper so much.

Screen viewing is passive, and reading is active.

We bring them writers who are experts in their field and present them with the illustrated materials and accompanying comics, as well as quizzes and experiments that they can conduct at home. "

The prestigious title of veteran children's magazines is "Eyes", which is published once a month since November 1994. "Eyes" was born as a little brother to "Glasses", a magazine from the Israel Museum, and the like, with a strong emphasis on culture and art.

Tamir Rauner, the founding editor, is responsible for the design and content line that was innovative and surprising at the time.

The level of investment is still evident today, in the spectacular design and the choice of original themes for each issue: "Privacy", "My", "Wound", "Air", "Jump".

There is a section in "Eyes" where children are invited to compose sequels to a story whose beginning is written by Amit Weisberger - and the sequels are all published on the newspaper's website;

An unfinished comic, drawn by Michelle Kishka and the children are invited to continue;

A tips section where a psychologist answers questions that bother readers, and according to Rauner, some receive unpublished personal advice, as well as many stories.

Rauner says the secret is to "make a newspaper we'd like to read.

There is no other patent.

We present each topic in a way that interests us most, and that speaks to the children. '

"Eyes", which belongs to the Haaretz group, has, according to Rauner, 10,000 subscribers.

His mission, to arouse interest in young readers and enrich their world in the fields of culture, science, art and nature, "Eyes" tries to fulfill by "treating his readers as a parent treats a child."

A parent who succeeds in a place where many parents fail - that is, to interest the children.

"We focus on the visual aspect of the issue, so children also enjoy browsing, rather than reading on the phone."