Highlights previously focused on developing the reading and thinking skills of 3- to 12-year-olds. In 1954, the
Highlights for Children cover changed to feature a design by
Munro Leaf. The magazine introduced its familiar "smiling H" logo in 1957. Circulation first reached one million subscribers in 1971. By 1981, the magazine mailed 1,250,000 issues 11 months out of the year. That January, after 35 years, the magazine changed its cover to a new six-color, illustrated format. By 1995,
Highlights circulation had grown to 2.8 million, with most subscribers still being families. In 2006, the
United States Postal Service delivered the one-billionth copy of
Highlights magazine to a young subscriber in Dallas, Texas.
Highlights' illustrations feature people of all colors and its stories also cover diverse communities. Its February 2017 issue included a family with two dads, the first depiction of a same-sex relationship in the magazine's 70-year history. By March, same-sex couples were also depicted in
High-Five and
Hello. The magazine is now offered in many different languages, including Korean, Chinese, Malay, Polish, Czech, Russian, Greek, French, Turkish, Portuguese, Thai, and Hungarian. The company donated the magazine's archives to
Ohio State University. At the time, 1,200 boxes of back issues and Dear Highlights letters were being kept in a Honesdale barn.
Regular features Ask Arizona Appearing in the magazine since 2005, "Ask Arizona" is a story series featuring a girl named Arizona who writes an advice column for other children, similar to
Dear Abby or
Ask Ann Landers. The article depicts real-life experiences and appears in every issue.
Hidden Pictures "Hidden Pictures" has appeared in every issue of
Highlights since the magazine's inception. Children are asked to find small hidden images within a larger picture.
Goofus and Gallant First appearing in
Highlights in 1948, that features two contrasting boys, Goofus and Gallant. Created by Garry Cleveland Myers, the boys were originally drawn as elves and originated from an earlier version of the strip called “The G-Twins” at the magazine
Children’s Activities. In each cartoon, it is shown how each boy would respond to the same situation. Goofus chooses an irresponsible, immature and unkind path, while Gallant chooses a responsible, mature and kind path.
What's Wrong? Featured on the back cover, "What's Wrong?" is a large drawing of a typical scene of children playing, but unusual objects take the place of normal things throughout the picture. The page instructs the reader to find the various objects that are wrong.
Dear Highlights "Dear
Highlights" is an advice column from real children appearing at the back of each issue.
Highlights editors write back to every child who writes to them.
Highlights also runs contests asking kids to submit stories to the magazine. They may be asked to complete an unfinished story or submit a short story based on an illustration. Several ideas would be chosen as winners and featured in a future issue.
Former features Aloysius The Aloysius stories were written by Sydney K. Davis. They centralized on an anthropomorphic wolf named Aloysius, who would get into a situation and have to be rescued by the other characters in the story, a male named Samuel Samuel and a female named Wanda. These stories began in 1951 and appeared until 1993.
The Bear Family This is a cartoon created by Garry Cleveland Myers. It focuses on a family of bears consisting of Father Bear, Mother Bear, daughter Woozy, and sons Poozy and Piddy. They learned about everything from name-calling to discipline. This comic appeared from the beginning until 1989, and again from 1998 to 2012.
Your Best Self "Your Best Self" is a one-panel comic that appeared until June 2015 showing kids doing the right thing. ==
Highlights High Five==