Designed to provide guidance to elementary or middle school library media specialists in the selection of periodicals that will support a school's multicultural goals and objectives, this study developed a checklist and used it to analyze the treatment given to children and adults of various racial and ethnic groups in 15 of the most popular American magazines for children in the 10- to 12-year-old age range. The study had three parts: (1) the editor of each of the selected magazines was contacted and asked whether that magazine has an editorial policy or mission statement governing the treatment of minority-group members in the articles, illustrations, or advertisements published; (2) an evaluation tool was designed; and (3) the checklist was used to analyze three randomly selected issues published in 1990 of each of the magazines. It was found that most of these children's magazines exhibit multicultural awareness in their illustrations and advertising, although articles featuring minority group children or adults are not yet representative of the population; there is still a tendency toward tokenism, especially in illustrations; stereotypes are rare, but more apt to appear in pictures of American Indians or in representations of black males as athletes or entertainers; the percentage of representation of a particular race or ethnic group approximates the 1988 Census Bureau estimates. Analyses of the data for each of the magazines provide detailed information on that magazine's status for each of the variables. Appendices contain a list of the magazines used in the study, a list of other magazines cited, the magazine list by circulation, sample letters to the magazine editor and circulation manager, the Children's Periodical Checklist, and a copy of Minnesota State Board of Education rules pertaining to multi-cultural and gender-fair curriculum. (39 references) (MAB)