SPIDER magazine features short stories, poems, articles, and activities for 6 to 9-year-old children from around the world. It is published by Cricket Media: a global education company and receiver of the Parents Choice Gold Award. Every issue invites readers to submit their original artwork or writing to Spider's Corner. Hundreds of entries are received every month, and editors select their favorites to be published. In September, editors chose the poem "Rain" by 8-year-old JBLM resident Wednesday Courtney.

Rain
I like to run in the rain.
I love to jump in puddles!
My favorite is catching raindrops
on my tongue.
I love to dance and hop, too!
I like to see sidewalk chalk
suck up the other colors
and swirl!

Wednesday loves to read and write and enjoys the process. She said, "When I can take my time I can write some really cool stuff." Wednesday began the poem as a school project learning about poetry that doesn't rhyme. She quickly understood the concept and created her own version. From there, her parents encouraged her to submit the piece to SPIDER's September theme of Rainy Day. Wednesday has submitted her writing to other magazines in the past, so when SPIDER informed the Courtney family that Wednesday's poem would be published, they were ecstatic. Wednesday's mother Jennifer said, " We were so excited for her because she does a lot of stuff like this, she likes doing competitions and putting herself out there. We don't want to push her into anything she doesn't want to do, but anytime we see something, we ask if she's interested and she usually jumps on it."

The Courtney family enjoys incorporating educational magazines like SPIDER and Highlights into their homeschool curriculum. Jennifer especially loves how Cricket Media publishes different magazines for different ages, such as BABYBUG for infants and toddlers ages 6 months to 3 years old; LADYBUG for children ages 3 to 6; and CRICKET for ages 9 to 14. They also publish magazines focused on science and discovery called CLICK, ASK, and MUSE; and COBBLESTONE, which focuses on history and world culture. You can access and order these magazines by visiting cricketmedia.com.