Countdown to our 35th Anniversary in May:
It Began With a "Plan"...
By Allen A. Raymond, Publisher

As a countdown to that momentous event it is my plan, over the next four issues, to reflect on some of the events that got us where we are today.

To begin, I must tell you that launching a new magazine is – let's see, how shall I say this? – well, let's say it's an "interesting" experience.

And it is definitely not for the faint of heart, because raising enough money to pull it off is a daunting, never-ending task.

But it can be exhilarating, too, such as the day when, with a handshake, I knew I had half the money I needed.

When that happened I was on such a "high" I took a wrong turn driving back to Connecticut and became hopelessly lost.

But I'm getting a little ahead of my story.

Our idea of a new magazine for teachers began back in 1970, when Patricia Broderick and I – we'd been running several educational magazines for Macmillan – thought a new magazine for teachers of pre-school through grade 3 would serve an important niche.

With the help of Anthony Lisanti, a whiz at numbers and a former comptroller for us at Macmillan, we prepared a detailed business plan. Some people call these plans "smoke and mirrors" (or worse), but we were proud of our Plan.

Investors liked it, too. As a result, we didn't have too much trouble raising the money needed to pull it off.

The Plan was created with loving care and tremendous, almost Messianic zeal on our part, because Pat and I were – and still are – "missionaries" in our fervor to do good things for teachers, and for the children they teach. While this is, of course, a "job" for us, if you looked inside our hearts, you'd know it is more than a job – it is, indeed, a mission.

That mission – and our vision – was to create a magazine that would serve cutting-edge teachers like you, teachers who would – hopefully with our help – make a significant difference in the lives of the kids they teach.

We would call our new magazine Early Years, a beautiful name for a beautiful magazine that, at the end of its very first year (1972) won The Golden Lamp Award from The Educational Press Association of America (now called the Association of Educational Publishers) for what EdPress called "achievements of breakthrough proportions in education publishing."

It doesn't get any better than that, and we were so proud.

Fifteen years after we launched the magazine, however, funds were getting very tight. So, we approached several publishers to see if they might be interested in helping us.

Among those companies who showed interest, Highlights For Children, Inc., a family owned company with several educational and family-focused subsidiaries seemed like a perfect home – and it is.

Yes, on November 1, 1985, we became a subsidiary of Highlights For Children, Inc. That was 20 years ago, the rest is history and we couldn't be more proud.

Allen Raymond is the Editor/Publisher for Teaching Pre K-8.