The launch of the Arabic, for-teens edition of National Geographic, argues Rania Khallaf, will fill the gap in the market, as well as the minds of the young The Arabic, teens edition of National Geographic, published by the Nahdet Misr Group, is out today. It will appear at the beginning of every month. Up until the mid-1990s, only two major publications, the Arabic Mickey and Samir, catered to children. The habit of reading them would sometimes stay with children well into their teens, but now -- thanks in part to the Nahdet Masr Group -- there is more choice, including a Winnie the Pooh magazine as well as plenty of English- language offerings. Still, whether it is at a bookshop or street- corner stall, scouring what is on offer will reveal few options for the young. National Geographic should be able to fill that gap. The new release is a blend of National Geographic for Kids and the National Geographic Explorer, comprising a well-researched miscellany of science, astrology, history, animal life and, notably, archaeology, including Egyptology, a subject on which young Egyptians are not as informed as they might be. The first edition features a four-page piece on King Tut and his treasures, and explores his mysterious death. According to Dalia Ibrahim, head of Nahdet Masr, "we decided the cover of the first edition should portray the main story of King Tut. We wanted it to reflect our aim -- that the children of the pharaohs should realise that their ancestors were the origin of the contemporary scientific renaissance." But Ibrahim sustains no illusions: "The gap between us and the advanced world is still very large, but scientific reading and research are the only means to fill that gap." Founded in 1938, Nahdet Misr is one of the best established houses in the Arab world (it acquired the ISO international certificate in December 2006). The Group's logo, an image of the famous Nahdet Misr statute by the late Egyptian Sculptor Mahmoud Moktar, reflects its philosophy -- "contributing to a real renaissance in contemporary Egypt." The Arabic National Geographic is no mere translation of the English. The topics chosen are relevant to Arab culture and answer society's needs. To help revive scientific research, the magazine will publish local scientific contributions as well -- articles that deal with the local natural environment and young people's inventions. Ibrahim pointed out that the Arabic edition will have the right to change any phrases or ideas concerning Islam or Arabs, because in some cases, she says, "the magazine has tended to alter established facts relating to the Arabs' historical leadership role in some scientific areas." The release of the magazine is part of the efforts undertaken over the last few years to "promote awareness of scientific culture among our children," as Mohammed Ibrahim, chairman of the Group's board of administration, puts it: "The new release comes in a wake of other deals with prominent international houses, including Scholastic, DK, and Disney." At the launch, Terrence Adamson, executive vice president of the National Geographic Society, said that the Arabic edition has been a dream of his for years: "It was a necessary move, especially that now, 120 years after the magazine was first published, the magazine comes in 31 different languages and distributes over 40 million copies on a monthly basis all over the world." Adamson added that the first article published in the magazine in 1901 was about ancient Egypt, and since then Egypt's nature and history have been included in numerous National Geographic Society articles, books, maps and documentaries. In addition to the new release, as Mohamed explained, "we have started working on our first scientific website in Egypt, which will also be dedicated to the young, with the collaboration of the National Geographic Society." According to Ibrahim, the website will be launched next summer so that students can spend a fruitful time during the holidays. But pitted as it is, against football, video games and television, will the magazine be popular among the young? Why not have an English edition, since much of the educated readership, especially among this generation, prefers that language? Ibrahim believes the magazine should be published in Arabic because it is aimed at the vast majority: "Scientific school curricula is not interesting enough to kids, so much so that many of them end up simply hating science." How can an LE8 magazine be affordable to "the vast majority", however? While admitting that it is not cheap, Ibrahim feels that, given the quality of the printing, it could hardly cost less. "Through our deal," she adds, "we should be able to distribute it to government and experimental school libraries in good time." The issue of promoting scientific reading among the young was the focus of a recently held seminar at the General Egyptian Book Organisation in collaboration with Italy, the guest of honour of this year's Cairo International Book Fair (23 January-4 February). The speakers, most of whom were Italian specialists, emphasised those features shared by Egyptian and Italian children. "Children are curious by nature, they tend to ask questions about changes around them," Maria Arca, a biologist and children's writer, explained. "The problem is that children do not find answers about natural phenomena in school curricula. They are not given the chance to express their opinion and meditate on incidents surrounding them, which is a serious problem. We should provide our children with the opportunity to think, and practise scientific games in a way that mixes science with imagination. For example, a parent or teacher should ask his kid, 'Could you imagine how water runs up in the plant stalk?' Or 'Could you draw a picture of how you feel when you have a stomach ache?' Or else, 'Do you know how sugar dissolves in water?'" For his part Adriano Favole, an anthropologist who is contributing to the first comprehensive encyclopedia for children in Italy, "Children must know a lot more about other people on our planet, how they build their houses and cook their food. They should also learn what it means for a person to live in a shack without real walls, or how it feels when you have a really big family, or when you live without your parents." The point is to deal with cultural differences, since as Favole argued, anthropologists warn educationalists against the danger inherent in thinking of the other as inferior: "Dissimilar cultures should not be dealt with as barriers towards knowing the other."
