New Magazine Wants To Show Young Girls They Can Do Anything

A new print magazine called Kazoo is uniting top female artists, chefs, writers, and scientists for a single purpose: to inspire young girls to be true to themselves. Kazoo Magazine is the creation of writer and editor Erin Bried, who is currently raising money for the magazine on Kickstarter. According to Bried, if funded, Kazoo will be published quarterly and feature sections on everything from art and science to emotions, citizenship, and critical thinking targeted to girls ages five to 10. 

Bried has already brought some truly impressive talent on board. MacArthur Genius Alison Bechdel, New York Times bestseller Lucy Knisley, artist Mickalene Thomas, James Beard-nominated chef Fany Gerson, Caldecott Honor winner Doreen Cronin, National Book Award winner Jacqueline Woodson, and cosmochemist Meenakshi Wadhwa have all promised to contribute to the nascent magazine. Each contributor is creating a unique written or artistic work just for Kazoo. Bechdel, for instance, is creating a drawing tutorial called “How to Draw a Cat”—her first original, full-length comic in a year. Gerson, meanwhile, is contributing a recipe for Mexican ice pops called paletas, while Cronin is submitting a short story. 

Bried told mental_floss that she was inspired to create Kazoo during a disappointing shopping trip with her daughter. "I started Kazoo because, after browsing the newsstand with my 5-year-old daughter one day, I was upset—and honestly—kind of angry at what I saw. I don’t think there was a single title for young girls that didn’t include a story on pretty hair,” she wrote in an email. “What’s more, every cover I saw featured a princess, a doll or a little girl wearing makeup. Since my daughter happens to prefer pirates to princesses, we left the store that day empty-handed.”

Bried was frustrated with the limited (and limiting) print media available for young girls, and wanted to create something truly expansive, a publication that would show girls their options in life are unlimited. “This sort of messaging that we see in the media (and in the toy aisles)—that there’s only one right way for a girl to be—has real and negative consequences,” wrote Bried. “We’ve got to let our girls know that they have other options. They can be loud. They can be messy. They can be strong. They can be adventurous. They can be silly. They can be intellectually curious about science, art, engineering—anything. Everything! That’s why I wanted to create Kazoo.”

Interested in showing your support for Kazoo? Visit Bried's Kickstarter page.