Customer Reviews

Boys Life

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I was surprised at the low reveiws for this magazine and had to write to say that my three boys (ages 10 to 14) fight over who is going to read it first when an issue arrives. We've not subscribed to any other magazine that my boys are as enthusiastic about.

My son is a Boy Scout and really enjoys this magazine. Jokes and puzzles are probably more appropriate for Cub age than the big boys but my son still thinks they are funny. A lot like the scout skits.

Not sure I would pay the money to subscribe on my own - he gets it from his scout troop. It is a healthy, wholesome magazine though and there are VERY few of those out there for boys this age.

This magazine is a great one. My son (age 7) looks for it in the mailbox and when it arrives he reads it cover to cover. He particularly likes the section about scouts saving their leaders or scouts helping scouts. It is an interesting book. It has badges you can earn at times and hints and helps and advice for a variety of scouting type activities and events.

Enjoy.
Well worth the money.

My 8 year old son is obsessed with this magazine. He spends a good portion of his free time scouring over his new & back issues. It really keeps his attention & keeps him quiet! He always gets so excited when a new one comes. Well worth the $ if you have a boy who likes scouting.

This is my 9 yos first year of Cub Scouts (Webelos), and we were all very excited for this new opportunity. I went ahead and ordered Boys Life when I registered my son for scouts, looking forward to a monthly magazine that would reinforce the Scout values. I am very, very disappointed. The amount of advertising is disturbing. It seems that for every 1-2 pages of content there is an equal (if not more) amount of advertising. The few articles that I've read have been interesting, but not at the expense of over-exposure to pop culture and media. Shame on you, BSA, for failing to reinforce the values that your organization promotes during den and pack meetings. One look at this magazine, and the values I see promoted are consumerism and video gaming. This will be the last year that I waste $24 on this magazine.

I was really disappointed with this magazine because it is so full of advertisements and blatant "product placement." It seems to promote "pop culture" and related attitudes rather than truly exploring nature and values. Sadly, aside from Boys Quest (which is too young for my son), I haven't found another magazine aimed at the 10-14 year-old boy. For those who have really open-minded, secure boys, or progressive girls, I recommend New Moon Magazine -- it's an outstanding ad-free pub.

This magazine is inundated with advertising. The few articles that do exist are saturated with trend ideals and sparcely include the moral values that the Boy Scout organization is said to imply. I am disappointed that the BS organization is willing to be associated with such junk, and supports yet another venue for exploiting funds from its particpants.

My son is 9. He LOVES his Boys' Life subscription through cub scouts and reads each issue thoroughly. He rereads older issues as well, and loves to tell us the jokes and information he finds. I think it is well worth the $12 we pay through cub scouts.

Back in the 1980's, yours truly was a husky lad, squeezing himself into his trusty Scout uniform. Want to keep up on the latest in Scouting? Well, read Boys' Life! It had some fine features on Scouting, and some really awful, not even close to funny cartoons featuring "Pedro" the burro, and "Dink and Duff". ...my Dad bought me a subscription, and I thought it was quite lame. Fast forward to 2004: What is keeping this magazine alive? It is so anemic, so fluffy. I guess the dumbing down started by "Maxim" has even affected a G-rated kids' magazine. It still has "Pedro" and "Dink and Duff", but not much else. It was awful then, and even worse now. Were kids ever innocent enough to enjoy this?

I haven't touched this magazine in over a decade. I used to read it every time I got an issue in my parents' mailbox. Of course, by read, I mean I would skip through the articles that taught me nothing and head over to the comics. Dink and Duff were my favorite, although not laugh-out-loud funny. I recently skimmed through Webelos Woody, The Tracy Twins, Peewee Harris, and the sometimes hilarious Pedro. When I was even younger, I used to spend a *lot* of time perusing the junk pages, where you could order 8 pranks for the price of a dollar or something.

Now, as an alternative, I highly recommend going through the Boy Scout Handbooks with your kids. The Cub Scout handbooks are just as interesting as the Boy Scout ones, and they actually teach you about health, staying fit, learning knots, Fire safety, backpacking/camping tips, etc.

I don't know how the modern Boys' Life compares to the old issues, but it seems like it's fallen for the same virus as every other magazine I've stopped ordering: advertisements.