Discovery Girls

Magazine features two 12-year-olds By Colin Gustafson GREENWICH -- Charlotte Stone and Rebecca Riolo, both 12, have long considered themselves avid magazine readers, but until recently neither imagined that their pictures and writing would grace the pages of one of their favorite national glossies. They're soaking up their 15 minutes of fame as two of the dozen "Girls of Connecticut" selected from a pool of several hundred to be featured in the February/March edition of Discovery Girls. "I've had two or three girls at school come up to me already, and say they think it's really cool," said Rebecca, a Central Middle School student who appears on the cover and in an inside photo spread. "My mom has showed everybody the magazine, which is a little embarrassing," said Charlotte, who attends Greenwich Academy. The bimonthly magazine, which targets "tween" girls ages 8 to 12, picks a dozen contestants from a selected state to pose for photos and share what they think should be featured on its pages. Other states spotlighted have included New York, Pennsylvania and Arizona. "We look for girls who have a certain spark, who would be good role models for their peers, who are willing to share with us," said associate editor Julia Clause, who selected the 12 Connecticut girls. "They were both great -- very energetic, lots of enthusiasm. That's what we're looking for." Charlotte and Rebecca had to fill out and submit a questionnaire that was sent to the magazine's Connecticut subscribers last winter asking them to list their hobbies, discuss their personality traits and offer their best advice for girls. After waiting for several months, Charlotte and Rebecca finally learned they'd been selected after the magazine's San Jose, Calif.-based editorial staff called to notify their parents last spring. "I was planning to go to my friend's house that day, but my parents called and said I had to come home, so I thought it was going to be bad news," Rebecca recalled. But when she found out she'd been chosen, "I was so excited." Next came a two-day photo shoot in Manhattan, where the girls first got to spend a summer afternoon eating cupcakes and flying kites with the 10 other finalists in Central Park. They spent another afternoon in a studio having their individual pictures taken for a two-page spread. Snippets from their survey responses also were included in various sections of the magazine, which relies heavily on reader-generated content, editors said. In the "Embarrassing Moments" section, for instance, the Connecticut girls related a variety of blush-inducing tales, from tripping in the cafeteria to being embarrassed by their mom in front of "really cute boys." The girls also contributed their responses to the mag's "Great Debate" sections, which features answers to questions such as "Are girls under too much pressure to look pretty?" and how to deal with "mean boys." For Charlotte, who described her "dream job" as being a fashion magazine editor, the opportunity to share her observations on girls' body image in parts of the magazine was especially valuable. "I like to look through magazines, and I notice when the woman has obviously been touched up with computers," she said. "That affects girls a lot, even though it's not real, and nobody's perfect, so it was nice to be able to share that in my writing." The magazine boasts a circulation of 200,000, and is carried at such national chain stores as Barnes & Noble, Borders Books and Music, Wal-Mart and Target. -- Staff Writer Colin Gustafson can be reached at Colin.Gustafson@scni.com or 625-4428.