March 2022 'REAL FRIENDS' Magazine

March 2022 'REAL FRIENDS' Magazine

"I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship."

The March 2022 'REAL FRIENDS' OwlCrate Jr box celebrates friendships in all their wonderful and messy forms. Below, you'll find our March 2022 monthly magazine featuring an interview with our March book author, a fun craft project perfect for BFFs, and more!

Scroll down to check out this magazine below, or download the complete magazine HERE. 

Careful! Spoilers ahead!

Illustration of three children holding hands in an open field, a forest starting just to their left and a mountain in the background. From left to right, there's a dark-skinned Black child with their hair in a bun with a purple tied bandana holding the hand of a lighter skinned Brown child with braided pigtails and a yellow baseball cap, holding the hands of a lighter skinned Brown child with short brown hair. The text "Real Friends March 2022" follows the illustrated lines of the mountain at the top right of the image.

Illustrator Melanie Demmer created this scene for the cover of our magazine depicting three best friends just at the beginning of what promises to be an incredible adventure. I love the way each has their own distinct personality and style. I only wish we could get the full story! Thanks, as always, to Melanie for her beautiful work!

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What goodies did we include in this month's box? Take a peek below to find out!

Background images shows 3 friends on a path looking at a deer with a mountain in the distance. Text at the top reads Real Friends, and lists the items included in the Real Friends box, and artists and companies that created them.

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We were so excited for a chance to work with middle grade suspense master Margaret Peterson Haddix once again as this month's featured author. We last featured Margaret back in April 2019, and her latest publication, The School for Whatnots, is an incredible semi-sci-fi mystery that focuses on how friendship can change you for the better. Read on for what inspired this story, what inspires Margaret to keep writing, and some great book recommendations!

Author interview with Margaret Peterson Haddix, page 1. Author photo of a smiling white woman with brown hair featured in a circle in the top left side on a pale yellow background. Interview is in a white text box with the interview questions in a light blue font and author answers in black font. Author interview with Margaret Peterson Haddix, page 2. Author photo of a smiling white woman with brown hair featured in a circle in the top left side on a pale yellow background. Interview is in a white text box with the interview questions in a light blue font and author answers in black font. Middle of the page shows two side-by-side images of the book School for Whatnots, the OwlCrate Jr cover on the left and the regular bookstore edition on the left. Below that and separated by a dark blue rectangle are the book covers for (from left to right) Cleo Porter and the Body Electric, When You See Me, and The Last Last Day of Summer.

We'll be starting on our OwlCrate Jr Book Club Read-Along for The School for Whatnots next week on Monday, April 11 2022. Our reading schedule will be as follows:

  • April 11 — Chapters 1 - 24
  • April 13 — Chapters 25 - 46
  • April 15 — Chapters 47 - Epilogue

**Anyone who participates in the comments will be entered to win a free OwlCrate Jr box, one per post!**

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Learn how to make paper fortune cookies to send secret messages to your friends in this month's creativity corner! Personalize and decorate them however you like, and then send them off to your BFF. 

Text reads Creativity corner in white font at the top of the page, with the text "friendship fortune cookies" in white font on a teal banner just below. Text goes on to describe the materials and instructions needed to make your own.

Download PDF here. 

Need some visual help? Check out ‘Happy Hooligans Crafts’ YouTube video on How to Make Paper Fortune Cookies!

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For our March 2022 community feature, we interviewed long-time and beloved OwlCrate Jr rep Jayshree of @flipwithjoy. Check out Jayshree's teaching tools on Teachers Pay Teachers under the name Flip With Joy!

Community corner interview with Jayshree from flipwithjoy on Instagram. Image shows a brown skinned person with short dark hair reading the book Strangeworlds Travel Agency.

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Don't forget about our March box photo challenge, on now!

Over on the OwlCrate Jr Instagram page, we love seeing subscribers opening their boxes, reading selfies, family read-aloud photos, book stacks, and the fun ways young readers interact with our goodies! We are proud of our young readers community and we want to show it.

To enter: post up to three different photos on Instagram and make sure to use the hashtag #OCJRFRIENDS so that we can see them. Accounts must be public on the day we select our winners, which will be chosen at random. We'll select a series of photos from the entries to win a free OwlCrate Jr box!

Image shows a young dark-skinned Brown child lying on green grass next to a robot. The child and the robot have one arm each raised above the head toward the other, forming a heart. Big white text at the top of the image reads March box photo challenge. For this year's photo challenge, we want to see you! Other smaller text info to the right of the child is described in post.

 

And be sure you also tune in for our OwlBabble live chat with Margaret Peterson Haddix on Thursday, April 21 at 2:00 PM PT / 5:00 PM ET on Instagram Live!

Two-toned yellow background, with the text at the top reading OwlBabble with author in white, and below that in a white banner, Margaret Peterson Haddix. Below the text is the book cover image of The School for Whatnots and beside that is an author photo of a smiling white woman with short brown hair.

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Thanks, as always, to the two incredible artists who put together our magazines each month, designer Michelle Gray and artist Melanie Demmer!

Subscribe to OwlCrate Jr today at www.owlcratejr.com!

Use code JRBLOG15 to save 15% off any new subscription purchase.

Pick up your own 'REAL FRIENDS' box in the OwlCrate Jr Shop now!

— Shanleigh Klassen
Tagged: Magazine Monthly Theme photo_by_pages.for.dawn Real Friends
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