I don't know what made me think of this today, but for some reason the Grit Newspaper popped into my head. It was really geared toward kids and small town people. The stories were just fun trivia and human interest for the most part. No downer stuff at all. And it had some very fun word games that we always looked forward to playing.
The Grit was sold in the early 80s and changed considerably. It still has small town appeal but nothing the kids would care about. You can find it online now, but don't waste your time. It just isn't the same. Here's a photo of an old copy from the early 70s when I was reading it:
