Is It Just Media launches free Robob title for schools

Surrey based independent publisher, Is It Just Media?, have announced the arrival of The Adventures of ROBOB, a new interactive magazine and trading card game aimed at primary school children which includes an element of contributed comic strip.

The magazine was launched last year and encourages readers to write their own stories based around the character set and environment for the ROBOB trading card game. The best of these stories will be published each month in the glossy, A4 magazine, while a further selection will be published on the website (http://www.theadventuresofrobob.com/).

Readers will also have the opportunity to submit their own comic strips, news stories and pictures for publication in print and on-line.

An added and innovative twist to the project is the option for children to submit their own character designs and a selection of these are made into real trading cards, distributed with the rest of the collection.

The magazine addresses key social responsibilities for children in school years 3 to 6 and is a recognised resource of the National Literacy Trust. The product range also promotes a very strong ‘anti-bullying’ message with the backing of Kidscape, the UK’s longest standing Anti Bullying charity.

Godstone based graphic designer Marcus Leitch, the creator of the project, reveals he got the idea for Robob while on hold on the phone for a long time, and started scribbling at his desk. The result of his doodles was a cute, retro robot that he promptly named ROBOB.

On returning from school, Marcus’ son, Lucas, saw the drawing and immediately fell in love with it and started designing his own characters. With a few key robots created and a fascinating background story, The Adventures of ROBOB trading cards and magazine were born.

A prototype of the cards and magazine was then presented to Kidscape, the UK’s longest standing Anti-Bullying charity, who were enticed by the strong moral messages running through the range. Kidscape kindly agreed to lend their support to the project by providing a dedicated team offering professional advice and guidance in the form of an ‘Agony Uncle’ page.

Today... The Adventures of ROBOB is a beautifully produced, cool, fun and educational monthly publication and collectable trading card game. The magazine is distributed throughout schools, libraries, clubs and retail stores for free.

Some schools have incorporated the magazine into their Literacy Clubs and Peer Mentor schemes.

Is It Just Media? Say they're already receiving thousands of drawings and stories from readers each month and continue to expand the card collection using the readers’ designs.

"We will be featuring more 'readers comic strips' in future issues," Marcus told downthetubes. "It's a section of the magazine that seems to have really captured our readers imagination."

The collectable trading cards now have a strong, loyal fan-base throughout the South East of England and The Adventures of ROBOB is on the verge of becoming a nationally recognised brand.

• More info and a pdf download of the first issue at http://www.theadventuresofrobob.com/

Put some dinosaurs in your Christmas!

Here's something that might make for a great last minute stocking filler - Dinohistoria, a different, fun and entertaining, educational card game for all the family.

Dinohistoria has 56 playing cards, each with an illustration licensed by the Picture Library of the Natural History Museum, London featuring over 30 different dinosaurs. Many of them are familiar, such as Tyrannosaurus rex, Allosaurus, Brachiosaurus, Iguanodon, Triceratops and Pteranodon, but there are over 20 other animals too, including Smilodon (Sabre-toothed Tiger) and Mammuthus primigenius (Woolly mammoth), with facts about them.

Although it's aimed at kids of 7+ the publishers, Educational Learning, have have added rules for additional games to the company's website, www.educationallearning.co.uk, so younger children from 5+ can play.

Also on sale is the Wildcat game, featuring photographs of wild cats from around the world.