magazines with a religious focus like Weite Welt [Wide World] (8–14). Das Knickerbocker-
Bandenblatt, started in 1993, entertains 8 to 12-year-olds with detective stories, science
fiction, and adventure.
Several magazines, published by banks and regularly given away to customers, have
become quite popular and threaten the existence of commercially produced children’s
magazines.
BelgiumA quality, general-interest, cultural education magazine in Belgium is TOP (12– 15). It is
written in Dutch and was started in 1973.
BulgariaThe magazine Slaveiche (3–8), founded in the early 1900s, was not regularly issued until
- Its focus is literature and art, and the prominent Bulgarian poet Petko R.Slaveyko
is considered to be the magazine’s godfather.
ByelorussiaVyasyolka (5–10) is a general-interest magazine that publishes the best works of
Byelorussian writers and those of neighbouring republics. Children’s letters are
included.
Czech and Slovak RepublicsEven before the fall of the totalitarian socialist regime and Czechoslovakia’s split into the
Czech and Slovak Republics, children’s magazines were published in both the Czech and
Slovak languages and even in Polish, Ukrainian, and Hungarian for children of ethnic
minorities in the border regions of the country. Several magazines have long traditions
and have survived all changes, even though the number of issues printed has rapidly
decreased. This is not caused by a lessening of their high standards (on the contrary,
they have more colour, better paper, more variety of content), but by a rise in prices and
an increase in imported mass magazines, mainly cartoons and comics. In the Czech
language there are Slunícko [Little Sun], founded in 1967 for children under 6;
MateĢídouška [Thyme] (6–8), founded by the Czech poet Frantisek Hrubín in 1945; and
OhníĀek [Bonfire], which has been entertaining 9 to 11-year-olds for forty-five years.
They all publish poems, good stories, fantasy, fairytales, competitions and children’s
drawings.
ABC Mladých Techniküa PĢíodovśdcu [ABC for Young Technicians and Natural
Scientists] (10–15) has been published for thirty-seven years and is very popular. Studio
Pastelka [Studio Crayon] is a new, clever and imaginative magazine for pre-school
children and their parents.
The Slovak periodicals are Vcielka [Little Bee] for the youngest age group,
440 TYPES AND GENRES
Kartinna Galerija [Art Gallery] was founded in 1925 and is still broadening 10 to 14-year-olds’
knowledge of art and literature.