The other magazine my friend lent me is 康軒學習雜誌. Kang Xuan 康軒 is one of the 3 major textbook publishing companies in Taiwan. I recently found out they have a distributor in the U.S. Since another friend asked me to find out about prices, I looked into them for her.
According to my Kang Xuan supplier, the top945 magazine has more subscribers than 巧虎 Qiao Hu in elementary. I don’t love the top945 layout or their characters. I can see it is a bit different from elementary Qiao Hu. As other parents have noted, the focus is on more current events. So I guess one would get different magazines for different types of needed vocabulary.
Info: bi-monthly, 24 issues per year. Focus is more on current events and daily living 時事和日常生活.
Age: Kang Xuan has 3 versions, 3-6, 1st-3rd, 4th-6th. The info I have is for the 1st-3rd grade.
Versions: You can also buy past issues for $205 (24 issues), including shipping. There are also online versions.
Cost: The cost is on the last age. The distributor here is willing to lower the price by doing a group order of 10 people and shipping it only 12 times a year instead of 24. This way it’ll be $299 ($9300 NT) instead of the $337 ($10470 NT).
The magazine comes with 6-7 other things (5-6 in back issues). A read along CD, parent guide, 1 reader on current events, a reader on chinese language, a combo book on language/math/art, storybook or hands on activity. I took pictures of the combo book (Top 好小子）and parent guide. My copy doesn’t have the other stuff.
I have not actually heard the CD so I don’t know what’s in it. But I”m assuming you can read along your magazine with the CD.
The sample magazine below talks about the Tower of Pisa, why food are packaged a certain way, the author of Peter Pan, the plant that is used to make brooms, a Pakistani girl who is a Nobel Peace Prize winner, invention of flashlight, etc.
Main magazine
Parent Guide
Top 好小子
I am interested in the 10 – 12 year old edition. I am an adult that is studying Chinese. I have seen the 7 – 9 year old edition and I am impressed. Could I get the contact information for the US distributor?
Try Mr and Mrs Books http://www.mrandmrsbooks.com/ They’re the official distributor in the US. While the website is in Chinese, they do have an English contact person.