Tree House Books Magazine

Vol Two, Issue Two is Ready
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The Ave, The Magazine

Magazine Project: produces and publishes the local magazine written and designed by and for neighborhood residents. We hold a weekly workshop, which hosts guest artists and provides an opportunity for children, teens, and adults to create projects together.


Vol 2 Issue 2 became a collection of art created during Tree House Books' Summer Shade Program. It is the combination of nine weeks of laughter, hard work, and discovery.

The goal this summer of 2009 was to explore the surrounding neighborhood and to explore what it means to live in this particular place. We understood place as a shared past and sense of likeness. The program was divided into three units, each with its own unique focus.
  • "Voice of Philadelphia:" the first unit was spent capturing the voices that make up our surrounding community. We focused on the sounds we heard in the community, everything from the birds chirping to the cars speeding past. Tree House Books' Campers used digital recording equipment to physically capture sounds. They were also given the opportunity to travel to Center City and interview Mayor Street's son, Sharif Street, a former Diamond Street resident. From the sounds captured, campers created their very own podcasts that share their understanding of the neighborhood.

  • "Voice of Creativity:" the next unit was dedicated to finding artistic inspiration in our neighborhood. We traveled to beautiful sites such as the Magic Garden, the Wagner Free Institute of Science, and the Uptown Theatre, to uncover ways in which our own creativity could be stirred. We braved our way to the dingy basement and climbed our way to the attic, searching for places with hidden stories.

  • "Voice of Me:" the final unit took everything we learned throughout the program and applied it to our own lives as well as to the future of our community. Campers wrote and performed monologues, mailed postcards from their future selves, and created a mural of what they envision the future neighborhood to look like.
Through each day, the campers, along with the dedicated volunteer staff, gained knowledge and power, strengthening their voice. With the publication of this magazine, the neighborhood speaks.

We believe you will enjoy bringing this unique and attractive magazine into your home as much as we did in imagining it!

Based on the editor's letter by Miss Danielle, Summer Program Coordinator.

Buy this unique and valuable record of the accomplishments of a unique group of volunteers and artists and writers.



tree house magazine

Vol Two, Issue One Reprint
will soon be available
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Tree House Magazine

The Beginnings

From our beginnings, Vol 1, Issue 1, we saw The Ave as a place in the community.

The very definition of "The Ave," is
  1. a way of access
  2. a channel for pursuing a desired object
Webster's Online Dictionary Our first Table of Contents (excerpt)
  1. Galileo Goes Looking for His Mom
  2. Once Upon a Time
  3. Looking out my window
  4. This is a new Day

Read an excerpt from Vol 1, Iss 1:

Galileo goes looking for his mom...

    Galileo Goes Looking for His Mom

    It was an ordinary wednesday afternoon when ALL OF A SUDDEN... two people came into town and saw a guinea pig in the Tree House Books! The people started petting the guinea pig and he begin to GROW! He got bigger and bigger and turned into a mutant! The guinea pig's name was Galileo.

    Galileo was so big that he started eating all of the food. Galileo was so hungry he even ate Ray's cheesesteaks. Then the food surplus ran out, and Galileo began to eat books and people!