There’s a dragon in Joanne Andrews’ basement. He’s a few feet tall, brilliant green and clad in a wizard’s hat and a wand. He’s also made onto a foam board. Andrews created him as the mascot for Magic Dragon, the children’s literary magazine she assembles in her Pittsford home wit h editor Patricia Roesch. Andrews is the art director. The dragon comes with them to book fairs, school events and other pop-ups. He’s so popular, in fact, his hand is falling off. Lots of high fives. But that’s a champagne problem. It means the dragon makes an impression. “I wanted ‘Magic Dragon’ [as a name] because I imagined picking up the phone and saying, ‘This is the Magic Dragon. May I help you?’” Roesch said with a laugh. “But nobody ever calls us.” It could be because they don’t have a phone, she allows. They don’t need one. A life-size dragon of the magazine’s mascot is well loved from greeting kids at school events. Credit: PHOTO BY JACOB WALSH Since the pair began the magazine in 2005, they’ve sourced the artwork, poems and stories from schools in Rochester and the surrounding towns. But the quarterly’s reach has grown — the summer 2025 issue, for example, featured student work from schools in North Carolina, Florida, Michigan and even South Korea. Though Roesch and Andrews still physically collect piles of drawings (colorful cakes, imaginative robots) from art classes, digital submissions make it easier than ever to fill the pages with unique animals, bold self-portraits and partying snowmen. “We pretty much publish 95% of the stuff that comes in,” Andrews said, “because I think people are pretty self-evaluating. Other than a few random [entries on] notebook paper, they’re not sending in stuff that they know is not cherished.” A page from a 2025 issue sees a vase of flowers painted in different styles — one in vibrant hues recalling van Gogh, another jagged and splattered. They’re paired with a short poem about competitive sports with a bit of a twist ending, penned by a 12-year-old named Kaitlyn. Andrews creates the layout for each issue at her home studio, often with Roesch sitting at her side. The work can be made by children up to age 12, and it’s subject to the same rigor that any other creative publication would give. “There’s no bad art,” Roesch said. “But it has to have some craft to it. It has to be grammatically correct, right? Unless that’s part of the story. And then it has to be original.” Credit: PHOTO BY JACOB WALSH Roesch would know. She held editing jobs at the University of Rochester and Xerox in her professional life, while Andrews is a former art director for the Democrat and Chronicle and an art teacher. They came together at Andrews’ kitchen table in 2005 after Roesch spotted a feature in the paper highlighting Andrews’ artwork. “We could tell right from the beginning that we were a good match,” Andrews said. “She was the words, and I was the art, and it was a good marriage.” “She’s the magic part,” Roesch said, then followed up with a laugh: “Don’t call me the dragon.” Of course, her editor’s letter in each issue is labeled “Message from the Dragon.” It’s one of the only sections of the magazine not devoted to the creativity of children. Every issue has a writing prompt and a craft or art prompt, designed as an education tool. One thing Magic Dragon has never had? Ads. Roesch and Andrews have relied on individual subscriptions and donations as well as previous support from local businesses like ESL Federal Credit Union and Paychex. As with many other local nonprofit arts organizations, funding is uncertain.  “We don’t really fit into the structure of big donors,” Roesch said. “I mean, we don’t need a lot of money, and we don’t qualify for their requirements.” Unlike museums and cultural institutions, Magic Dragon’s so-called success is difficult to measure and therefore can be difficult to fund. “It’s hard to quantify the results,” Andrews added, “because we’re not trying to get into so many schools, or whatever measurable thing we could do.” Magic Dragon celebrates 20 years. Credit: PHOTO BY JACOB WALSH As they look back on more than 20 years highlighting children’s creative work, Roesch and Andrews must also look to Magic Dragon’s future amid an uncertain financial landscape. There are plans to launch a Friends of Magic Dragon donation tier with incentives. There’s also the publicity factor. Much of Magic Dragon’s sustained growth has come via word of mouth, and the publication does maintain a modest though informational website for submissions. But there are decidedly no plans to put a tiny microphone in the dragon mascot’s dangling hand and make him an Instagram star. Roesch and Andrews are keen to protect the purity of what Magic Dragon offers. “It is not a competition,” Roesch wrote in an email to CITY. “There are no contests. Magic Dragon helps children understand the value and legitimacy of their ideas and feelings and how to express them in an artistic way.” As they finalized the Winter 2026 issue, the two debated including details for an upcoming summer art camp Magic Dragon is hosting at the Memorial Art Gallery. On the one hand, they’re eager to fill the class’s 20 spots as a way of fundraising. On the other hand, Roesch wants to preserve the special placelessness of the magazine. “I thought I was part of Magic Dragon. I thought Magic Dragon was mine,” she said in the voice of a theoretical concerned reader. “Now I see they’re advertising a workshop in Rochester, and I’m here in San Francisco.” As such, Magic Dragon occupies a unique place in the Rochester arts scene. With a Webster P.O. Box, a Pittsford home base and work from more than a dozen Rochester schools, it is firmly rooted here, even as its reach — like the wings of its mascot — knows no limits. Local educators understand this. Tracy Bodyk, an art teacher at Paddy Hill Elementary in Greece, has had work from many of her students appear in the magazine. She said the fact that the work is presented in a salon-style gallery layout makes the art both relatable and aspirational. “The moment you get to present it to the students, and the moment they see it in print, it’s amazing,” Bodyk said. Many share with her that they want to be artists when they grow up, and Bodyk knows better than to delay those dreams: “I tell them an artist is anyone making art.” This is foundational to Magic Dragon’s entire operation. And, as it turns out, it could likewise be the key to its longevity. “There are many lost artists and writers living before the age of 12,” Roesch said. “When you hit that person, you’re in.” The post Children’s lit magazine ‘Magic Dragon’ looks to its future in an uncertain financial landscape appeared first on CITY Magazine. Arts. Music. Culture.. ...read more read less