Innehållsförteckning för Issue 199 från The Week Junior US

The Winter Youth Olympic Games (YOG) ended on February 1 in Gangwon Province, South Korea. Athletes from more than 200 countries competed, with more than 270,000 spectators watching. The US capped the Games with a gold medal for the men’s ice hockey team. On the final night, a closing ceremony was held in Gangneung Olympic Park. What happened? The Winter YOG began on January 19 and ran for two weeks. About 1,800 young people competed in 15 disciplines across seven sports: skiing, snowboarding, figure skating, speed skating, ice hockey, luge, and ski jumping. Athletes had to be (or turn) 15 to 18 years old in 2024 to qualify. On January 31, the US men’s hockey team beat the Czech Republic by a score of 4–0 to win the gold medal,…

A FAMOUS FORECAST Punxsutawney Phil, a Pennsylvania groundhog who has been “predicting” the weather since 1886, emerged from his den on February 2 and did not see his shadow. According to legend, that means spring will arrive soon. A WORK OF ART The only known painting by the four members of the Beatles rock band has sold at auction for $1.74 million. The bandmates created it together in 1966 while on tour in Japan and signed it inside a circle in the middle. One art dealer said the painting “crystallizes a magical moment in Beatles history.” SHOWING YOU CARE Elmo, the beloved red puppet, posted a simple question on social media—and started a meaningful conversation about mental health. “How is everybody doing?” he asked. More than 20,000 people replied, many saying…

Florida Everglades The Everglades is the largest subtropical wilderness in the US. Its 2 million acres of wetlands are in central and south Florida. A shallow, slow-moving river, once called the “river of grass,” flows south, passing through marshes, forests, and mangroves on its way to Everglades National Park and eventually Florida Bay. The Everglades is home to at least 70 threatened and endangered species, including sea turtles, manatees, and Florida panthers. It is the only place in the world where alligators and crocodiles live together.…

Two Siamang gibbons, also known as singing gibbons, were released into the wild in Indonesia after they were rescued from illegal pet traders. The pair will be monitored for four months to make sure they can survive on their own. ● LIFE SPAN: 25 to 40 years ● HABITAT: Forests in Southeast Asia ● SIZE: 29 to 35 inches tall ● DIET: Fruit, leaves, insects, and bird eggs ● FUN FACT: Siamang gibbons have large throat sacs that inflate to grapefruit size when they sing.…

A team of researchers has developed an artificial skin for a robot, which can help it feel the difference between objects and living sea creatures. The robot could be used to collect trash from the ocean or for undersea exploration. The artificial skin takes advantage of something called the “magnetoelastic effect.” This means that when an object is pushed or pulled, its magnetic field changes. Scientists from the University of California recently found that the magnetoelastic effect could occur in certain polymers—soft plastic materials. They made the skin from these polymers, which are also waterproof and can function underwater. The polymer skin was attached to a robot arm, which was trained to pick up many objects. These included samples of garbage, like bottle caps or plastic cups, and sea creatures…

The first season of the new Pro Volleyball Federation (PVF), an indoor women’s volleyball league, is underway. The PVF has seven teams based in cities across the country. One of the league’s goals is to give top players a way to compete in the US instead of having to join teams abroad. Many of its athletes were college players, and some come from other countries. Several players in the league are members of the US National Team. In a pre-season poll, the PVF’s head coaches predicted the Omaha Supernovas would be the top team during the regular season, while the Atlanta Vibe placed a close second. Those two teams competed in the PVF’s debut match on January 24 in Omaha, Nebraska. There were 11,624 people in attendance, which is the…

Coach’s Name: Richard Barth Team: Alto Swim Club “Coach Richie is the best swim coach anyone can ever have. He always pushes us to do our best and always encourages us when we want to give up. He says hi to everyone at the start of practice and always smiles. He plays upbeat music to get us going and makes practice fun so we can enjoy the sport and also get better and faster. He is always there for us, and that’s what makes him a great coach.” Kate, 12, California To nominate a Coach of the Week, send your coach’s name, photo, sport, and team to hello@theweekjunior.com. Include your name, age, state, and a few reasons why your coach is great.…

Tigger The energetic tiger first appeared in the 1928 book The House at Pooh Corner. He made his screen debut in Disney’s 1968 short film Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day. The Detroit Tigers In 1894, the Tigers were established as a minor league baseball franchise. They joined the majors in 1901. In a nationwide poll of baseball fans last year, the country’s most popular mascot was the Tigers’ Paws (right). Hobbes This stuffed toy was a main character in Calvin and Hobbes, a popular comic strip published from 1985 to 1995. Hobbes’ mischievous owner, Calvin, imagined he came to life during their adventures.…

Luz (Netflix) Netflix’s first Brazilian children’s series (available dubbed in English or with subtitles) is about an orphaned girl who lives with Indigenous (first to inhabit a place) people. When she discovers a secret about her past, she runs away and ends up hiding out at a boarding school. Rock Paper Scissors (Nickelodeon) February 12 at 5:30 p.m. ET This new animated series follows three roommates: Rock, who has a huge heart; Paper, who dreams of being an inventor; and Scissors, who longs to be cool. In each episode, they go on a wacky new adventure. Puppy Bowl XX (Max) (Animal Planet) (TBS) (truTV) (Discovery Channel) (discovery+) February 11 at 2 p.m. ET Each year, this event raises awareness for rescue dogs and promotes pet adoption. More than 130 puppies…

Is Stanley based on anyone in your life? He’s inspired a little bit by me. He moves to a new school in the middle of the year, which also happened to me. It was really hard. Do you like telling jokes? Yes, I’m also a comedian. Often, I’ll think a joke is funny, but when I tell it onstage, nobody laughs. So I have to find a way to tell it differently to make it humorous. What’s more difficult—writing or illustrating? I find illustrating more difficult because it’s time-consuming to do. Is there a particular superpower you’d want to have? I would choose the ability to fly. That would be so fun. What advice would you give your younger self? Whatever you choose to do, try to enjoy the process!…

Word search Can you find all these words in the grid that mean “love” in different languages? (The languages are not in the grid.) They are hidden horizontally, vertically, or diagonally and can be forward or backward. When you’re done, read the remaining letters to get a bonus message. AGAPI (Greek) AHAVA (Hebrew) AIQING (Mandarin) ALHUBU (Arabic) ALOHA (Hawaiian) AMOUR (French) BHALABASA (Bengali) CARIAD (Welsh) DRAGOSTE (Romanian) HERE (Tahitian) KARLEK (Swedish) LASKA (Czech) LIEBE (German) LOLOMA (Fijian) LOVE (English) MAYA (Nepali) MEILE (Lithuanian) NGOI (Cantonese) PYAAR (Hindi) RAKKAUS (Finnish) SALANG (Korean) UTHANDO (Xhosa) FILL IN THE BLANKS Fill in the blanks in each sentence with words that are homophones of each other (pronounced alike but spelled differently), like DEAR and DEER. FOUR IN A ROW Place four of the letters…

In last week’s Big Debate, we asked you to have your say on this question: “Should more sports teams be coed?” We received an extraordinarily high number of votes, so you must’ve been intensely interested in the topic! In the final tally, 56% of you said no and 44% said yes—a very interesting result! We hope you’ll be just as eager to share your opinion about this week’s question: “Should schools have a plant-based meal day?” (p8). We thought this was such an intriguing topic that we made it the subject of our cover. On the Big Debate page inside, we’ve outlined the arguments on both sides. We hope you’ll think about them and then go to kids.theweekjunior.com/polls to cast your vote. We’ll share the results in our next issue.…

Teacher’s Name: Mrs. Roehl School: Holy Trinity Episcopal Academy “Mrs. Roehl is kind, loving, funny, and so much more. When students have a math question, she helps them by making rhymes! Each student also gets a day to eat lunch with her to talk about what they think of third grade. I am always filled with joy when she does her happy dance and when she laughs! Her positive attitude is such a treat. She is always telling us to never give up. I am so lucky to be her student!” Elise, 9, Florida Nominate your teacher for Teacher of the Week! Send your reason for the nomination, a photo of your teacher, and your school’s name and address to hello@theweekjunior.com.…

Many school cafeterias are offering more plant-based options. On Fridays, New York City schools have a plant-based meal as the main option. Schools in Austin, Texas, offer at least one vegetarian or vegan dish daily, and California plans to spend $100 million to provide more plant-based options and source locally grown food. About 5% of people in the US identify as vegetarian and 4% as vegan, and more people are choosing to eat less meat. While some argue that changing our diets is important for health and environmental reasons, others say not all plant-based foods are equal. What do you think? Should schools have a plant-based meal day? Yes—starting young is easier Experts say plant-based foods are healthier for people as well as the planet. If we ate 25% less…

“Why is eucalyptus poisonous to humans but not koalas?” Asher, 9, New York Marco Wendt Wildlife ambassador, San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance Like many plants, eucalypts make toxic compounds to avoid being eaten. Most plant eaters cannot tolerate these toxins, but koalas have unique microbes (tiny living things) in their digestive tract that can break down the poisonous compounds. The microbes are passed on from mother to baby. Do you have a question for an animal expert? Send it to hello@theweekjunior.com. Find out more about the San Diego Zoo at sandiegozoowildlifealliance.org.…

Scientists have discovered a new type of antibiotic that can kill one of the three types of bacteria (tiny living things) that doctors say are the greatest threat to human health. These bacteria cause serious and often deadly diseases. Antibiotics are medicines that fight illnesses caused by bacteria. The new one, called Zosurabalpin, has been shown to work against bacteria called Carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (CRAB). According to the World Health Organization, CRAB is one of the most dangerous bacteria because it can cause serious illness—but most antibiotics can’t kill it. CRAB bacteria have an outer shell that acts like armor. This allows them to live in harsh conditions and survive attacks from medicines or the immune system (the body’s way of protecting itself against infection). Zosurabalpin stops CRAB bacteria from…

Just Dance 2024 Edition is a new competitive dancing game. It is available for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, and Xbox platforms. The Just Dance franchise challenges players to follow choreography and dance to the rhythm of hit songs from many genres. The first edition came out in 2009, and a new one has been released every year since. There have also been spin-offs, such as Just Dance Junior, and collaborations with companies like Disney. Last year, Just Dance was one of the video games featured in the Olympic Esports Series, an international virtual and simulated sports competition. Just Dance 2024 is filled with new features and big upgrades, and it has 40 songs that appear in the game for the first time. The tracklist includes music by artists such…

For the Fans: Taylor Swift Edition By Niki Catherine, Olivia Luchini, and Mad Libs (Mad Libs) This Mad Libs activity book is all about Taylor Swift. Fill in the blanks with adjectives, verbs, and other parts of speech to complete the 21 stories. Some, like “Fall Too Well,” are puns on Swift’s hits. Ages 8 and up Hip-Hop: The Beat of America By Jarrett Willems (First Second) This new graphic novel in the History Comics series traces the roots of hip-hop and is full of fun facts. You might be surprised to learn that hip-hop was influenced by jazz. The book highlights the contributions of many top hip-hop artists, such as Jay-Z and Grandmaster Flash. Ages 10 and up Marvel Super Stories Edited by John Jennings (Harry N. Abrams) The…

Iowa artist Carlos Maldonado has sculpted a giant shark out of snow. His two children wanted to make a classic snowman after a winter storm, but “I didn’t really want to do anything plain,” Maldonado said. Instead, he proposed a different challenge. The family worked together for six hours to pack and shape the snow and paint the creature’s fins, jaw, eyes, and gills. The snow shark, which measured 20 feet long and 5 feet tall, quickly drew the attention of other local families. One visitor said, “It will be a very good memory for my kids.”…

“The pizza dip was perfect for a cold Sunday night—cheesy, salty, and delicious!” Ezra and Ellen, 10, New York “I had fun making the pizza dip and garlic knots before the football game!”Nathan, 10, Nevada “I made the pizza dip because everyone in my family loves pizza and we just had to try it! We all thought it was delicious. Thank you for this recipe.”Blaise, 10, Maryland “I made the garlic knots and pizza dip! My family loves pizza and this was a great twist to a pizza recipe. I will definitely make it again!”Adhya, 10, Indiana IT’S YOUR TURN Email your news, views, and photos to hello@theweekjunior.com. We want to hear from you! To have your letters, photos, nominations, recommendations, or ideas considered for inclusion in the magazine, please…

Environmental activist Umesh Balal, age 28 and from Nepal, is on a mission to ensure that people with disabilities and those from Indigenous communities are included in conversations about fighting climate change. In December, Balal brought his cause to leaders at the world’s largest annual climate meeting, the United Nations COP28 summit in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE). Balal has dwarfism (a condition that causes a person to be short in stature) and is a part of the Magar tribe, who live in the Himalayan foothills of western Nepal. He works as a project manager for the Nepal Water Conservation Foundation, organizing workshops to teach people about global water concerns, such as melting glaciers. Growing up in Nepal, Balal became passionate about solving climate change. He saw how problems like…

People often wonder what the animals around them are feeling, but it may not be as impossible to understand as we think. According to a new study, humans can identify whether a chicken is happy or upset by listening to its calls. Scientists from the University of Queensland in Australia played 16 recordings of chicken noises to 194 volunteers. The recordings were made by training a group of chickens to recognize different scenarios. In one of the scenarios, there was a bowl behind a door containing a treat, such as chicken feed or mealworms. In the other, there was only an empty bowl. When the chickens knew there was a treat behind the door, they produced fast or high-pitched clucks, known as food calls. When there wasn’t a treat behind…

Ancient forests in Poland The Polish government has announced that it will limit logging (cutting down trees for wood) in 10 areas of ancient forest. The woodlands are home to many animal species, including brown bears, gray wolves, and bison. Norway’s deep sea The government of Norway voted to proceed with plans to mine for precious metals in the deep sea. The metals are used for building environmentally friendly technologies, but the process of mining them could be harmful to ocean life.…

One woman’s courageous act helped change the history of racial injustice in America. Find out why Rosa Parks is called “the first lady of civil rights.” Her early life Rosa Louise McCauley was born on February 4, 1913, in Tuskegee, Alabama. At the time, many parts of American society were segregated (unjustly separated) by race. For example, there were different schools for Black and white children. Rosa lived with her mother, who was a teacher, and her grandparents, two formerly enslaved people who became advocates for racial equality. As a child, she recognized that Black people were treated unfairly and began standing up to bullying from white peers. At age 11, Rosa moved with her family to the city of Montgomery. At 19, she married a barber named Raymond Parks.…

Scientists have developed a fiber inspired by the heat-retaining properties of polar bear fur. It’s made from aerogel, a material created from a gel that has had the liquid removed and replaced by air. The team from the Chinese Academy of Sciences made a sweater with the fiber. The garment was thinner and better at holding in heat than similar sweaters made of wool, down, or cotton. The fiber is also flexible and durable. The team stretched it to twice its normal size 10,000 times, and it kept its original shape.…

A popular book series has inspired a new animated film. The Tiger’s Apprentice is a fantasy adventure based on the first story in Laurence Yep’s trilogy of the same name. It is a tale about being selfless and accepting what makes you special. It is now streaming on Paramount+. The film centers on Tom, a Chinese American teen in San Francisco, California. After his grandmother dies, he learns he comes from a long line of mythical protectors of the world, called Guardians. Tom needs to use his newfound magical powers to retrieve a charm from a dragon villain. He is trained by a man who can transform into a tiger and also gets help from warriors who become other animals. The animals in The Tiger’s Apprentice are based on the…

“This is one of my favorite documentaries. It is a must-watch if you are a fan of Taylor Swift. It is about how she uses her songwriting power as a woman. The film includes some footage from her early years and it is funny and heartwarming. It has a powerful message about body positivity, and shows her take on activism and the obstacles she has been exposed to as a woman. The film is inspiring and makes you want to watch it again and again. My favorite part is when she turns on her ‘party shoes’ for vocals.” Pearl, 14, Washington Do you have a film or TV show to recommend to other kids? Send your review to hello@theweekjunior.com.…

By Doogie Horner (G.P. Putnam’s Sons) At the school science fair, Gene (short for “Genius”) demonstrates a potion that can make grape juice stains disappear. Stanley, a new student who thought his own last-minute robot project was lame, bumps into the stain-removing potion by accident. When the liquid spills on Stanley, he turns invisible. At first, Stanley loves the freedom of being able to do what he wants without anyone knowing. But his family becomes worried when he doesn’t come home from school. Stanley’s sister even thinks a ghost may have kidnapped him. Stanley tracks down Gene, who says that in two hours the potion could cause Stanley to become permanently invisible. It seems they may run out of time, but then Stanley gets an idea that involves his robot…

Valentine’s Day, which takes place on February 14, is a holiday celebrating love, and its origins may date back more than 1,000 years. Today, it’s a holiday that honors all types of relationships that bring people joy and happiness. In addition, Random Acts of Kindness Week kicks off on February 11—another reason to make others feel special! Here are some sweet ways to spread love and kindness this year. Deck out your home Get your family in a festive mood with holiday decorations. One idea is to cut paper hearts out of construction paper, punch holes in them, and use string to hang them across a mantel or bookcase. Another fun way to decorate is to write messages on paper hearts and put them in unexpected places. Surprise your family…

“I love reading The Week Junior to my baby brother. You’re never too young to start learning about the world!” Lou, 13, California “I was so excited when I saw this headline because my name is Caitlin and I’m a huge fan of Caitlin Clark!” Caitlin, 11, Illinois “I love reading The Week Junior because it has so much exciting and surprising news from all over the world!” Sua, 8, Washington…