New Moon Girls was established in 1992 as New Moon: The Magazine for Girls and Their Dreams. The first issue of the magazine was published in March 1993. The magazine was started by Nancy Gruver, Joe Kelly and their daughters Mavis and Nia. The magazine consists of 36 pages and contains no advertisements. It is created by of girls ages 8 and up. About 90 percent of the magazine's content is contributed by girls, and submissions from readers are encouraged. Magazine issues come in the mail every two months and are sold online and in many chain and independent bookstores in the US and Canada. In September, 2008 the group created a COPPA-compliant Girls Online Community, a safe, creative social network for girls, monitored by trained moderators. On the site, girls from different countries can create and share stories, poems, illustrations, and message each other. Regular departments in the magazine include "Body Language," which explains the physical changes that happen during childhood and puberty; "Global Village," which introduces readers to girls from other countries; "Women's Work," which profiles a woman in an interesting profession; "Herstory," which introduces readers to little-known women from history; "Girls on the Go," which covers girls' activism and adventure stories; and "Science Side Effects," which contains a science experiment intended for trying at home. Other regular departments are "Ask a Girl", where girls give each other advice on problems, "Voice Box", where girls debate topics like allowances, "Luna's Art Gallery", art submissions from readers, and "Girl Caught", intended for improving girls' media literacy by identifying ads and products that they believe are respectful or disrespectful to girls and women. The magazine's content and online features are written primarily by girls ages 8 and up. They also create content to be featured on the website, and help promote the magazine and website through posters, word of mouth and the Internet. The online community includes more than 20,000 pages of writing, poetry, opinions, advice, photos, and art by girls. The online community is moderated by adults who have been on a specialized training course, and is designed to be appropriate for girls ages 8 and up. Most contributions of girl-created content to the site are from girls ages 10 and up. Users of the site are required to obtain permission from their parent or guardian.
