For everyone who grew up finding spoons in dog tails and snails in knee caps, this is the celebration for you.

It's true. Highlights, the magazine that has brought fiction, poetry, puzzles, cartoons, scientific nuggets, and quiet lessons on life to several generations of children, turns 60 this month. Today, the one billionth copy of the magazine will be printed in Clarksville, Tenn. At some point it will undoubtedly turn up in a dentist's office near you.

Highlights being Highlights, the magazine is seizing on the milestone as a teachable moment for its young readers. According to editor Christine French Clark, the August issue will explain the concept of a billion this way: ``If Goofus stacked a billion children on his shoulders, they would reach the moon, wrap around the moon 11 times, stretch back to the earth, wrap around the earth five times, and there would be enough kids left over for 34,944 Little League teams."

Boston.com