Innehållsförteckning för Issue 216 från The Week Junior US

On May 23, the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) agreed to pay certain student athletes for playing college sports like football and basketball. The historic settlement could end the long-standing practice of treating college sports as amateur (unpaid) activities. What is the history of paying college athletes? College sports bring in billions of dollars each year, mostly from ticket and merchandise sales. Since the NCAA’s early years, however, student athletes have not been allowed to receive a share of that money. Under NCAA rules, student athletes can only receive scholarships that cover the cost of tuition and some money for related college expenses. The NCAA states that the goal of this policy is to prevent sports from taking priority over a student’s educational experience and to ensure that no college…

A CAT COMMENCEMENT With a “resounding purr of approval,” a cat named Max received an honorary degree from Vermont State University. Max, who lives nearby and often strolls around campus, was awarded a “Doctor of Litter-ature.” HELPING OTHERS After an unusually great year for potato crops, a farmer in Canada, Isaiah Hofer, had millions of pounds of potatoes he couldn’t sell. Hofer didn’t want them to go to waste, so he gave them to food banks that serve people facing food insecurity. “It’s just good to give back,” Hofer said. HONORING ATHLETES American tennis star Venus Williams is one of nine female athletes from around the world who are being honored with their own Barbie doll. The “role model” collection marks Barbie’s 65th anniversary. Williams said she is thrilled to…

US Marine Corps veteran and paracyclist Dennis Connors, age 38, has a positive approach to life: “Never quit doing the things you love.” That outlook helped him earn one of the 28 spots on the US paracycling team competing at the Paralympics in Paris, France, this summer. Connors served in the Marines from 2003 to 2012. While on combat duty in Iraq, he suffered multiple brain injuries that caused ataxia (a neurological disorder involving loss of coordination and balance). In 2020, he had a stroke (blood clot in the brain) that resulted in reduced mobility in his left side. Through a veterans program, Connors found paracycling, a sport in which athletes with disabilities compete on adapted bikes. He told The Week Junior that when he rides, “I feel like a…

Koalas are one of Australia’s most iconic animals, but they are at risk of disappearing from the wild. Experts are now testing several different ways to protect the species. It is believed that koalas were once common across Australia. After Europeans settled there in the 1700s, however, the animals began to disappear from many areas. Today they are considered endangered in at least two Australian states. Counting koalas is difficult, but between 100,000 and 500,000 adult koalas are estimated to remain in the wild. Koalas face several threats to their survival, including habitat loss, disease, dog attacks, and traffic accidents. “That’s why they’re endangered,” wildlife veterinarian Michael Pyne told The New York Times. “Everything’s against them.” Koalas live in eucalyptus forests, many of which have been cut down for wood or…

Fish in the US A government report found that fewer fish species were affected by overfishing last year than ever before. About 94% of US fish have now been deemed safe, including local populations of cubera snapper and Atlantic mackerel. Antarctic wildlife Experts say a hole in the ozone layer (part of the atmosphere that absorbs some of the Sun’s rays) is affecting Antarctic wildlife. It’s getting harder for penguins, seals, and whales to eat krill, which swim deeper to avoid the Sun’s damaging rays.…

An invasion of Europe to overcome the Axis powers was widely expected by Americans at home, who were anxious to learn when and where the battle would be. When news that the operation was underway broke in the US, workers at factories stopped for a moment of silence. In New York City, crowds gathered in Times Square to read live updates on electronic billboards and people filled houses of worship. Meanwhile, the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was rung for the first time in more than a century. With 100 million people listening on the radio, President Franklin Roosevelt read a prayer he wrote with his daughter in the largest mass prayer in history.…

On May 26, drivers competed in the 108th Indianapolis 500, a key race in the IndyCar Series, an elite level of American championship car racing. The race, which is known as the Indy 500, takes place at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indiana. It consists of 200 laps around a 2.5-mile track, making the entire race about 500 miles long. For the second year in a row, American driver Josef Newgarden of Team Penske was the winner. He is the first back-to-back champion in 22 years. The victory was a record-extending 20th Indy 500 win for Team Penske, which is owned by businessman Roger Penske, a former auto racer who also owns IndyCar and the speedway. It has not been an easy time for Newgarden and the team. Recently, one of…

Coach’s Name: Sabrina Shapiro Team: Beverly Hills Fencers’ Club “Coach Sabrina is the best coach I could ask for! She is nice and always asks how we won or lost. She’s super awesome, supportive, and there for us. She holds private lessons every week and helps us find out what we are doing wrong and helps us improve. I’ve been fencing with her for two years and it’s been the best two years ever! She is also supercool. She’s done falconry, speaks Hebrew, and is sometimes a bodyguard!” Gigi, 11, 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.…

Katie Grimes The 18-year-old was the first individual athlete to qualify for the 2024 US Olympic team in any sport. She has won three straight US Open Water National Championships in the 10K. Mariah Denigan She has been a swimming star since she was 10 years old. Now age 21, she is a member of Indiana University’s swim team and earned a spot on the 2024 Olympic team after placing sixth in the 10K at the World Championships in February. Ivan Puskovitch This athlete was a junior national champion in the pool and open water. At age 23, he’s now the fifth US male swimmer to ever qualify for the Olympic 10K. He is also known for his famously long hair.…

Rodgers & Hammerstein’s 80th Anniversary (PBS.org) (PBS App) Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II were lyricists and musical theater pioneers. This special honors the anniversary of their first hit, Oklahoma!, with performances of songs from that and other shows, like The Sound of Music. Geek Girl (Netflix) Based on the best-selling books of the same name, this new series follows awkward British teen Harriet, whose life changes after she meets a top modeling agent. She becomes a model and has to balance the world of high fashion with growing up and finding herself. The Fairly OddParents: A New Wish (Paramount+) Cosmo and Wanda, the funny fairy godparents from the classic animated show The Fairly OddParents, are back in this new series. When a girl named Hazel and her family move…

What inspired this book? While playing Pokémon Go with my son, I noticed all of the historical markers describing events that took place in our town in New York. I started reading them and thought someone should write a book about this. How did you learn about Nancy Smith Strong? I read a lot. Our local library has tons of books about local history, so I dug into those. Were the characters of Rachel or Joon based on anyone in your life? No, I actually never base my characters on real people. What’s the best writing advice you’ve received? Believe in yourself. And keep writing. The more you write, the better you’ll get at it. Do you have a favorite type of food? Anything chocolate.…

Basketball is a fun, social sport that can also provide a vigorous workout. Playing the game can improve your balance, coordination, and concentration. For these and other reasons, basketball is a great activity to learn at any age. Whether you’re a beginner at dribbling and shooting or you want to improve your game, follow these tips to get started. Make a plan All you need to play the game is a basketball and a hoop. If you don’t have a hoop, ask an adult to help you find a basketball court at a nearby park or recreation center. If you have friends who want to play basketball, make a plan to meet up regularly to practice together. Do dribbling drills Dribbling—continuously bouncing the ball with one hand—is an essential basketball…

Mosquitoes and their itchy bites may be a nuisance to humans, but they serve an important role in our ecosystem. For example, some mosquito species pollinate flowers. Birds and bats may also rely on them as food. If you’re spending time outdoors, you likely don’t want mosquitoes hovering close by. Instead of using chemicals to keep mosquitoes away, which can harm other insects, talk to your family about repelling mosquitoes naturally. Numerous plants, like marigolds, lavender, and rosemary, are known to deter mosquitoes. Setting up an electric fan to use when you’re outside can also keep mosquitoes away.…

In this week’s issue, I learned so much from our coverage of the 80th anniversary of D-Day—a 1944 battle that led to the defeat of Germany and the end of World War II in Europe (p12). I didn’t realize the invasion took about a year to plan! And the photos of US troops carrying out the mission made me appreciate the democracy we live in today. In our cover story (p10), I was excited to read about efforts being made in Australia to protect koalas, such as planting more trees for them to live in. I also hope to get to a movie theater soon to see Young Woman and the Sea (p20). It’s about Trudy Ederle, who overcame many obstacles to become the first woman to successfully swim across…

Karsyn, who is 11 years old and from Missouri, told us that she hopes that in five years we figure out how to stop using harmful things for energy. She also wants everyone to put effort into keeping a healthy ecosystem. If you’d like to share your ideas for protecting the Earth, go to kids.theweekjunior.com/activities to print out a form, like the one at right. After you fill it out with your ideas and drawing, have an adult email it to us at hello@theweekjunior.com. We’ll feature some of the submissions on this page in future issues.…

Bruce Kornreich Feline expert, Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine The color, pattern, and texture of a cat’s fur are determined by genes, which are made up of DNA (a chemical that carries all the information about a living thing). A cat gets half its DNA from each of its parents. Some genes control production of substances called pigments, which give the cat color. Do you have a question for an animal expert? Send it to hello@theweekjunior.com. Find out more about the College of Veterinary Medicine at vet.cornell.edu.…

Mice are often used in scientific studies because they can be trained to perform tasks in exchange for a reward. However, they don’t always do what they’re expected to do. Researchers have assumed this meant the mice were making mistakes, but a new study found that the mice are misbehaving on purpose. Kishore Kuchibhotla and a team of scientists at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland were curious about why mice that had been trained would sometimes do the “wrong” thing. To find out, the team designed an experiment. They trained mice to respond to two different sounds. One sound meant the mice should turn a wheel to the left. The other sound meant they should turn the wheel to the right. When the mice made the correct decision, they were…

Visitors exploring the Denver Botanic Gardens in Colorado from now until September 8 will see more than plants and flowers. Eight sculptures of hybrid animals, such as a camel-eagle and a rabbit-deer, are on display in the exhibition Spirit Guides: Fantastical Creatures from the Workshop of Jacobo and María Ángeles. The two are artists in Oaxaca, Mexico. At their workshop, more than 100 local artisans make crafts that include alebrijes, colorful Mexican folk art sculptures of animals. Their alebrijes inspired the spirit guides in the film Coco. The gardens commissioned the workshop to create the fiber-glass sculptures in Spirit Guides. The designs are rooted in culture of the Zapotecs, the Indigenous (first to inhabit a place) people of Oaxaca. Their calendar was made up of 13 months with 20 days…

Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is a new role-playing adventure game. It was recently released for the Nintendo Switch. The Thousand-Year Door was originally made for the Nintendo GameCube in 2004. It was the second game in the Paper Mario series, which turns Mario and his pals into paper-thin, 2D characters. It was a big hit, and Nintendo has rebuilt it with modern graphics and new features. The game begins with Princess Peach sending Mario a treasure map featuring the town of Rogueport, which sits on the ruins of an ancient town. The town’s treasure is supposedly locked behind a portal called the Thousand-Year Door, which requires seven legendary Crystal Stars to open. The map contains the locations of the stars. Unfortunately, Peach wasn’t the only one who knew about…

“This story is about a girl named Ally who figures out she has dyslexia. She then embarks on a journey to figure out who she is and who she wants to be. She later learns how to read and write with the help of her good teacher Mr. Daniels. I love this story because it teaches you to never give up and that you can accomplish anything you set your mind to.” Shravya, 10, Georgia Do you have a book to recommend? Send your review to hello@theweekjunior.com.…

Word ladder To change the word HAIR into the word CUTS, use each clue to fill in a word that is only one letter different from the word before it. If you get stuck, try solving from the bottom up. STEPPING STONES Each figure hides a seven-letter military rank. To find each one, start anywhere and move in an unbroken path through letters that share a border (no jumping!), using each letter once. DETOURS Draw one continuous path from START to END that goes through every single square without crossing itself. For squares with signs, you may only enter at the arrow’s base, and you may only make a turn in the direction of an arrow shown. (NEED A HINT? Check the bottom of the page.) Crossmath Fill each empty…

Airbnb, a home rental company, has re-created the house from the animated movie Up—and it actually “floats.” Located in New Mexico, the house features more than 8,000 balloons. An Airbnb spokesperson told Time magazine a few lucky guests will win a stay inside it and a chance to watch from the ground as the house “flies away” (suspended from a crane). It is part of the company’s Icons series, where guests can also spend the night at the Ferrari Museum in Maranello, Italy; the Musée d’Orsay in Paris, France; or the home of a film star in Chennai, India.…

We’d love to see pictures you’ve taken or pictures with you in them! Have an adult email them to us at hello@theweekjunior.com, along with anything you would like us to know about what’s happening in the photo. “I loved making the colorful crispy treats. I can’t wait for more fun recipes!”Lina, 8, Virginia “My favorite parts of the magazine are the fun animal facts, especially about endangered and extinct ones.” Gunnar, 8, Hawaii “My brother and I love reading The Week Junior and wait for it to come in the mail every week!”Gillian, 10, and Lucas, 8, California…

There are tens of thousands of parks in the US, including nearly 23,000 in the 100 largest cities. Parks are important to communities, especially in towns and cities where many residents don’t have private outdoor space. People use parks for exercise, sports, dog walking, enjoying nature, and meeting up with friends. But in many places, those activities come to a halt when the parks close after dusk or at a set hour. Some local parks don’t have the funds to pay staff to work at night, and many people don’t think parks are safe when it’s dark. But others say parks should be open 24 hours a day. What do you think? Should parks be closed at night? Yes—it keeps them clean and safe Parks can attract trouble at night.…

On June 6, 1944, more than 160,000 soldiers from the US, UK, and other nations participated in Operation Overlord, also known as D-Day. Prelude to D-Day On September 1, 1939, World War II began when Germany, under Nazi rule, invaded Poland. The UK and France (the Allies) declared war on Germany (an Axis power, with Japan and Italy). Germany went on to invade western Europe and occupy France. It had also undertaken the Holocaust, the mass killing of 6 million Jewish people and millions of others in Europe. In 1941, the US and the Soviet Union joined the Allies. In 1943, leaders of “The Big Three” nations—Franklin D. Roosevelt of the US, Winston Churchill of the UK, and Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union—met to discuss a plan to cross…

A new “portable water bike” helps people move quickly and smoothly through water without tiring themselves out. Swimmers attach the Seabike around their waist. They pedal with their feet, which spins a propeller and lets them move at a speed up to 3.1 miles per hour. Seabike can be used in salt water or fresh water. It glides along the water’s surface or can be angled for use fully underwater. The water bike weighs less than 5 pounds and doesn’t require a battery or charge to run. Seabike can also be worn over a scuba suit.…

Over Memorial Day weekend, men’s and women’s teams competed in the finals of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division 1 lacrosse championships. Boston College (BC) won the women’s title, and the University of Notre Dame won its second men’s title in a row. The women’s final was played on May 26 at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, North Carolina. It was a rematch of last year’s final but with a different outcome. BC, the second seeded (ranked) team, beat the 2023 champions and top seed, Northwestern University, 14–13. BC reached the last seven national championship games but had won only once before this year. BC executed a major comeback to win the 2024 title. They were down 6–0 early in the game and didn’t pull ahead until the final…

Seven years ago, screenwriter and producer Jeff Nathanson was disappointed when he couldn’t find an inspiring, female-led movie to watch with his tween and teen daughters. Then he came across the biography Young Woman and the Sea in a bookstore. In it, sportswriter Glenn Stout told the story of Trudy Ederle, the first woman to successfully swim across the English Channel, a body of water between England and France. Nathanson turned the book into a film of the same name, and it’s now in theaters. Gertrude “Trudy” Ederle was born in New York and lived from 1905 to 2003. She set many swimming records as a teenager and won three medals at the 1924 Olympics. In 1926, she was nicknamed “Queen of the Waves” after making it across the channel.…

“This is one of my favorite movies. Even though it’s utter nonsense, it’s very funny and I highly recommend that you watch it. The main character is Pee-wee Herman, a sweet and friendly man who acts more like a boy than an adult. He lives in a very cool house in a small town and drives a child-size car. In the movie, he makes a new friend who invites him to his birthday party in New York City. Pee-wee ends up on an adventure when he tries to travel there. He meets so many funny and unique characters along the way, including a caveman and a woman with a flying car.” Mollie, 9, New York Do you have a film or TV show to recommend to other kids? Send your…

Best friends Rachel and Joon overhear Rachel’s mom and soon-to-be stepdad Dave discussing a ring that’s rumored to have belonged to Anna Smith Strong. They’re immediately intrigued because they learned in school that Strong is believed to be the only female member of a group of spies assembled by George Washington during the Revolutionary War (1775–1783). Dave, who is a descendant of Anna Smith Strong, plans to give the ring to Rachel when he marries her mom. Rachel and Joon can’t wait to see the ring, and they locate it in the house. After cleaning the ring, they discover that “Find me” is engraved in it. They think the inscription might be a clue to a rumored treasure in their hometown of Setauket, New York. Rachel and Joon embark on…

Harry Potter: Bake, Create, and Decorate! By Joanna Farrow (Scholastic Inc.) With more than 30 desserts inspired by the Harry Potter series, this cookbook, which will be published on July 2, is truly magical. The recipes, such as Hogwarts Crest Cookies and Platform 9 ¾ Cupcakes, come with helpful photos. Ages 8 and up The Juneteenth Cookbook By Alliah L. Agostini and Chef Taffy Elrod, illustrated by Sawyer Cloud (Becker&Mayer Kids!) Juneteenth, which takes place on June 19, celebrates the end of slavery in the US. The recipes in this book are for some of the most popular Juneteenth treats, such as red lemonade (made with strawberries), potato salad, and baked beans. Ages 8 and up Priya’s Kitchen Adventures By Priya Krishna (Harvest) Kids tested more than 50 recipes for…

An age-old controversy has reached the courtroom: Are tacos sandwiches? Judge Craig Bobay of Allen County, Indiana, weighed in on the question to settle a local legal dispute. The case involved a shopping center where fast-food restaurants are banned but serving “made to order” sandwiches is allowed. Judge Bobay ruled that the Famous Taco eatery could open there because tacos and burritos are “Mexican-style sandwiches.” He added that the definition of sandwich can also include “Greek gyros, Indian naan wraps, or Vietnamese bánh mì.”…

Teacher’s Name: Mrs. Busk School: Peirce Elementary School “Mrs. Busk is a really good teacher. She makes sure that everyone is learning new things every day. She helps everyone with strategies for math problems and makes sure we know all the 50 state capitals in the US. Furthermore, she gives us class breaks and can tell when we need one. She’s kind to us no matter what we do. Teachers like Mrs. Busk are one in a million.” Jonah, 9, Massachusetts 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.…