Innehållsförteckning för Issue 238 från The Week Junior US

As Election Day approaches, the two main candidates for President—Vice President Kamala Harris, a Democrat, and former President Donald Trump, a Republican—are making their final case to voters. The last major poll before the November 5 election, conducted by The New York Times and Siena College, found the candidates tied at 48% of the vote. What is happening in the US Presidential race? Harris and Trump are focusing their efforts on the “swing states” (Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin), where the race is tightest and the election is most likely to be decided. The candidates are crisscrossing these battleground states to hold events and speak to voters while also flooding TV, radio, newspapers, and social media with ads. In a race that is widely predicted to…

A TRAVELING BEAR Paddington is the proud “bear-er” of an official British passport. Producers of the new film Paddington in Peru requested a replica to use in the movie. Instead, the government issued the beloved bear a real one, complete with a photo. RIDING THE RAILS The Borealis line—a new Amtrak train route between St. Paul, Minnesota, and Chicago, Illinois—reached 100,000 riders in 22 weeks, far exceeding projections of about 125,000 riders a year. Amtrak officials gave 100 Grand candy bars to passengers to celebrate. A HUGE HAUL Amateur treasure hunters in the UK found a trove of ancient coins and sold them for $5.6 million. Using a metal detector in a field, Adam Staples and six friends found one silver piece, then another, eventually digging up 2,584 coins that…

The ISS is one of the greatest scientific achievements in history, with a mission to “learn how humanity can better live and work in space and to return the benefits of this research to people on the ground,” according to NASA. The ISS was assembled over multiple space missions by space agencies from 15 countries. It wasn’t meant to last forever, though, and continuing to use it as a scientific base would pose real challenges. Scientists considered several options for the ISS’s future but ultimately decided that pulling it from orbit and dropping it into the ocean makes the most sense. What do you think? Should the space station be saved? Yes—it’s too important The ISS is still in good condition and could possibly keep working after 2030, so there’s…

David Grimaldi Invertebrates curator, American Museum of Natural History Moths typically use special sensors on top of their head to navigate by moonlight, but they will also use porch lights and candlelight. Because these lights are low instead of high in the sky, moths fly sideways to keep their sensors pointed to the light, so they end up flying in circles! Do you have a question for an animal expert? Send it to hello@theweekjunior.com. Find out more about the American Museum of Natural History at amnh.org.…

More than a third of humans have a tiny bone in their knee called the lateral fabella. This bone is the size of a sesame seed—in fact, the word fabella is Latin for “little bean.” Its purpose has puzzled scientists for a long time. Now researchers from King’s College London in the UK think it might have developed in order to help humans walk on two legs. Scientists studied 93 types of primates (group of mammals including lemurs, monkeys, and humans). They found that most primates have a lateral fabella, along with another small bone called the medial fabella. Humans, however, have only a lateral fabella. This arrangement of bones in early humans could have affected their evolution (process of changing slowly over time). Michael Berthaume, an engineer and anthropologist…

The 2024–2025 NBA (National Basketball Association) regular season tipped off on October 22. The defending champions are the Boston Celtics, and they are expected to be strong contenders to repeat their title. Some of the other top teams this season will likely be the Oklahoma City Thunder, New York Knicks, Denver Nuggets, and Dallas Mavericks, the team that lost to the Celtics in last season’s Finals. On opening night, NBA history was made during the Los Angeles Lakers’ 110–103 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves, when Lakers star LeBron James and Lakers rookie Bronny James became the first father-son duo to share the court. LeBron, age 39 and the oldest player in the NBA, was in the game’s starting lineup, while Bronny, age 20, began it on the bench. Late in…

Coach’s Name: Joey Rodriguez Team: The Generals (baseball) “Coach Joey is a great coach and a great dad. He’s always there for me and the team, telling us to keep our heads up even through the toughest games. He teaches us to have fun, do our best, and enjoy the game. He never really cares whether we win or lose. He’s always smiling and rooting for us and has the best mentality. He loves the sport and is always willing to help out and listen to the team. He is an awesome, inspiring leader!” Noah, 11, Illinois 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.…

Happy Feet In this 2006 award-winning musical, Mumble is a penguin with a talent for tap dancing. He embarks on a journey away from home to find acceptance and purpose. A Ballerina’s Tale Misty Copeland made history in 2015 when she became the first Black woman to be named a principal dancer of the American Ballet Theatre. This documentary from that year reveals how she reached the top of the ballet world and handled challenges along the way. Step Up The first of five Step Up films came out in 2006 and follows Tyler, a rebellious teen working at a performing arts school. He forms a bond with dance student Nora and helps her prepare for a showcase. It is rated PG-13.…

San Diego: America’s Wildest City (PBS App) (PBS.org) (PBS) November 6 at 8 p.m. ET Find out about the remarkable wildlife living in San Diego County in Southern California, the most biologically diverse county in the US. This documentary showcases squirrels, aquatic birds called grebes, orcas, and other species. Beyond Black Beauty (Amazon Prime) This new series follows Jolie Dumont, a teen equestrian with Olympic dreams. After moving from Belgium to her family’s old Maryland ranch, she bonds with a spirited horse and connects with her mother’s heritage. The show is set in the present day but was inspired by an 1877 novel. Kung Fu Panda 4 (Netflix) In the latest installment of the popular franchise, Po, a slacker panda turned martial arts warrior, has been promoted to Spiritual Leader…

What did you learn from Melody’s challenges that would make you a better friend to someone who uses a wheelchair? In what ways did the author weave humor into the book? How do Melody and Sky become good friends? What was your favorite place that Melody visits in London with Miss Gertie and Sky? If you’ve read the first two books in the series, how do you think the tone in this story is different? Are you satisfied with the conclusion of the series? Why or why not?…

Word search Can you find all these words associated with pianos? 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. BABY GRAND BENCH CHORD CRESCENDO ETUDE FLAT FORTE G CLEF IVORIES KEYS METRONOME MIDDLE C NOTES OCTAVE PEDALS SCALES SHARP SHEET MUSIC STAFF TEMPO TIMBRE TREBLE TUNER UPRIGHT WOOD FILL IN THE BLANKS Fill in the blanks in each sentence with two words so the second word is the same as the first word with one letter dropped, like THROUGH and THOUGH. (NEED A HINT? Check the bottom of the page.) 1. We wanted to make a cake that would serve six people, but we didn’t have enough —————, so it was only large…

“I am a huge fan of The Week Junior and read it every week! My twin sister Megha, my friend Avery, and I created a nonprofit food business called Suga-Friez. We make delicious french fries topped with cinnamon sugar. We received a grant from our school for the business and have held two sales. At our first sale, we made $123. We held our second sale at a local festival and made $606.05. We donated 100% of our profits to Kiva, an organization that gives microloans to underserved communities around the world, and we plan to do more. Through this process, we have learned a lot about starting a business and cooking, and we also have had a bunch of fun together!” Have you done something interesting or raised money…

“We went to see The Great Elephant Migration in New York, and I got to touch the elephants!”Annabelle, 10, New York “Thank you so much for including my favorite baseball player, Shohei Ohtani! I love to read The Week Junior every day!”Shivank, 8, Texas “We were so excited to see the new John Lewis statue in our community featured in The Week Junior. We love your magazine!”Isaac, 9, and, Oliver, 9, Georgia…

1 In a new study, scientists discovered that female crested gibbons do what? _____________________ 2 In the video game Sonic x Shadow Generations, who is Shadow’s nemesis? a) Black Doom b) Dr. Eggman c) Time Eater a □ b □ c □ 3 Which state is planning to put up a statue of Robert Smalls on its statehouse lawn? a) Alabama b) Georgia c) South Carolina a □ b □ c □ 4 True or false? The brass bells of Wall Street ring once a day. True □ False □ 5 Charlie Cooper is the first American wheelchair tennis player to win which Grand Slam competition? a) Australian Open b) French Open c) US Open a □ b □ c □ 6 In what year does NASA plan to stop…

At age16, American wheelchair tennis star Charlie Cooper is making history in his sport. In May, he and his teammates on the US junior national team won the World Team Cup Championship. Then, in September, he won the junior boys’ singles wheelchair event at the US Open and became the first American wheelchair tennis player to win a Grand Slam, one of the top four tennis competitions in the world. Cooper, who lives in Southern California, has spina bifida, a birth defect that affects the spine. He has difficulty walking, and he wore leg braces for many years. At around age 11, he was in a guitar shop and met someone with the same disability who told him about a local wheelchair tennis clinic. Cooper decided to check it out…

A new study has found that water anoles have a special technique for breathing underwater, which they can use as a last resort to escape from predators. Water anoles are small lizards—about the size of a pencil—that live near streams and waterfalls in South and Central America. When they spot a bird or snake, they usually stay very still to try to avoid being eaten. As an alternative, sometimes the lizards will dash into a nearby crack in a rock to hide. If those strategies fail, a water anole will dive into a stream. As it does, it breathes out to form a bubble of air over its nostrils. Tiny bubbles also form on its skin and combine with the bigger nostril bubble. The anole can then breathe the bubble…

Hoiho Voters chose this shy, fishy-smelling penguin as New Zealand’s bird of the year in an online contest. The hoiho, which means “noise shouter” in the Māori language, typically prefers to live alone and may be the world’s rarest penguin. • LIFE SPAN: Up to 25 years• HABITAT: Coastal forests in New Zealand• SIZE: About 2 to 3 feet tall, 8 to 20 pounds• DIET: Fish and squid• FUN FACT: A hoiho, also known as a yellow-eyed penguin, appears on New Zealand’s $5 bill.…

Wall Street is the name of a street that runs for about eight blocks in the southern part of Manhattan, a borough of New York City. Wall Street is also much more than that. What is Wall Street? The street and the area immediately around it are known as the Financial District. The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is located on Wall Street, and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York is located in the Financial District. The term “Wall Street,” as it is commonly used today, does not refer to a physical location but to big business in the US as a whole. Citibank, Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan Chase, and Goldman Sachs are some of the largest Wall Street businesses. How the industry works The NYSE is a place…

As the world moves toward renewable energy, scientists and experts are working on new ways to harness solar power. A company in Turkey has created “walkable solar panels” that can be installed in the floor and ground to absorb sunlight and generate electricity. The panels are built to withstand foot traffic, bumps, scuffs, and scrapes. They can be installed indoors or outdoors, in homes, businesses, public spaces, and other areas. The panels also gather data on energy use and store power that can be used another time.…

Sonic x Shadow Generations is a new action platform game. It is out now for the Nintendo Switch, Xbox systems, and PlayStation consoles. There are two games in Sonic x Shadow Generations. One is a remastered version of Sonic Generations, which came out in 2011 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the first Sonic game. Generations sent Sonic and his sidekick, Tails, back in time on a tour of the franchise’s most popular games. In the classic and new version of the game, the story begins when evil Dr. Eggman meets a being called the Time Eater and they travel back in time to erase all of Dr. Eggman’s failures. They begin in the first level of the original 1991 Sonic the Hedgehog game. They attempt to attack the old-school,…

What do you hope readers take away from this new book? I want readers to know that Melody has found her voice in the world. She now has friends and a support system around her. How did you begin your writing career? In 1997, I was named National Teacher of the Year, and I got to travel for 12 months, meeting people around the world. After that, I decided to write full-time, but I really did enjoy my time teaching. Did you read a lot as a child? Every Saturday, my mom took me to the library. I read every book in the elementary section by the time I was 10 years old. I realized that I wasn’t a fan of mysteries or science fiction, but I loved stories about…

A farm in England paid tribute to the recently released film Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice with a mosaic made out of 10,000 pumpkins and other gourds. The staff at Sunnyfields Farm used a mix of orange, black, white, and gray squash to depict Michael Keaton’s famous character sitting on top of a pile of pumpkins. “All of the pumpkins in the mosaic are naturally colored,” said owner Ian Nelson, and “a lot of them are edible.” After approximately 50 hours of planning, it took a 15-person team about seven hours to set up the display for the farm’s 80,000 visitors. “It’s showtime!” they said in a video on social media.…

November 3, 1992 Carol Moseley Braun elected to Congress On November 3, 1992, Carol Moseley Braun became the first Black woman elected to the US Senate (one half of Congress, the branch of government that makes laws). Previously, she had served in the Illinois State Legislature for nine years and had also worked as an environmental activist and lawyer. She is “a stepping stone for all of us, someone to look up to,” a colleague said after her victory.…

Jim Corbett National Park, named after a famous naturalist, was established in 1936 as India’s first national park. Located near the Himalayas mountain range, the forested wildlife refuge is known for having the most tigers of any national park in the country. Attractions include the Garjiya Devi Temple, the Sonanadi Wildlife Sanctuary, and the Corbett Waterfall, a popular picnic spot. Visitors can also go rafting in the River Kosi and take jeep safaris. In addition to Bengal tigers, people may see Asian elephants, leopards, bears, deer, and more than 650 types of birds.…

Night parrots Experts in Australia have discovered the largest known population of night parrots, one of the country’s rarest birds. About 50 of the secretive birds were found living and nesting in the Great Sandy Desert in Western Australia. Pawpaws Changing weather patterns are affecting North America’s largest native fruit, the pawpaw. Farmers in Ohio and Kentucky report that extreme temperatures and long periods without rain are causing smaller harvests and bitter fruits.…

Scientists used artificial intelligence (AI, when a computer imitates human learning) to identify 303 ancient works of art in the Nazca Desert in Peru. Known as the Nazca Lines, the geoglyphs (designs made on the ground) were created between 200 BCE and 650 CE. The Nazca civilization was a group of Indigenous people (first people known to have lived in a place). They made the designs by removing reddish rocks and gravel to reveal light-colored sand underneath. The geometric shapes, lines, and pictograms of animals, plants, and human-like figures range from about 1,200 feet to 30 miles long. Because of their size, the Nazca Lines are best viewed from above, by aircraft or drone. Their purpose remains a mystery. The lines were first spotted by airplane passengers in 1927. In…

2024 COMEDY WILDLIFE PHOTOGRAPHY AWA RDS FINALISTS Laugh out loud Ingo Hamann snapped this photograph of a baby seal in Germany. Strike a pose This image of a hippo in profile was taken by Artur Stankiewicz in Zimbabwe. Open wide This shot of a ground squirrel was taken by Kath Aggiss in Austria. Seeing stripes Zebras in Kenya create an optical illusion in this image by Sarosh Lodhi. Peek-a-bug Alex Pansier captured this picture of a red ant in the Netherlands. Leaping lemur This photo of a sifaka in motion was shot by Andy Rouse in Madagascar.…

Dance fans will soon be able to watch one of the world’s most popular ballets in an unlikely location: movie theaters. A new film stars members of the renowned Paris Opera Ballet performing Swan Lake. The movie will be shown not only in regular theaters but also on IMAX screens. It is the first ballet ever filmed in IMAX and was designed to be an experience that immerses audiences in the ballet’s music and movement. Swan Lake premieres in IMAX theaters on November 8 and in standard theaters on November 10. Swan Lake was created and composed between 1875 and 1876 by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, who also wrote The Sleeping Beauty and The Nutcracker. The story follows Prince Siegfried, who falls in love with Odette, a princess cursed to become a…

My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (Netflix, YouTube) “I love this animated series because it is filled with twists, turns, and two-part episodes with cliff-hangers. My favorite episode is ‘Sounds of Silence’ in Season 8. In it, two of the ponies go on a friendship quest where they meet other ponies who don’t speak because they don’t want to hurt each other’s feelings. Some of the characters in the show that I really like are the Mane Six, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, the Young Six, Starlight, and Trixie. I love how there is a friendship lesson in each episode, and I also love that not all episodes are about the Mane Six.” Evelyn, 8, New York Do you have a film or TV show to recommend to other kids? Send…

(Atheneum Books for Young Readers) Melody has a dream one night that she’s giving a speech. But she wakes up to the reality that she has cerebral palsy, uses a wheelchair, and can only communicate by typing on a computer. From her bedroom window, Melody sees her neighbor, Miss Gertie, fall on the sidewalk. Melody isn’t able to get her family’s attention, so she calls 911 on the computer. The operator sends help and Miss Gertie, who turns out to be a famous actress, is treated at the hospital. A TV station hears about Melody’s quick thinking and invites her on the show. During her appearance, the station surprises Melody with an all-expenses-paid trip to London to attend a conference for exceptional young people. Miss Gertie and her grand-niece Sky…

The best way to get started with cooking—or improve the skills you already have—is to make friends with your kitchen, says Mark Bittman. “Exploring the kitchen—opening drawers and doors, seeing what’s in the fridge, learning about knives and tools—is the best way to begin cooking,” Bittman, author of the new book How to Cook Everything Kids, told The Week Junior. Here’s how to get started. Begin with the ingredients The first thing you’ll want to know about your kitchen is what ingredients—all the different food and seasonings—you have to work with. Ingredients can be found in several places: in the refrigerator, freezer, cabinets, or pantry. Look around, then touch, smell, and taste what you find. Seeing what you have can help you decide what you can make right away or…

When it comes to food, people often prefer the tastes and textures they have had before. But there are benefits to trying new cuisines. Eating new foods can help you discover more foods to enjoy. Food is also a way to explore and appreciate the traditions from different cultures. For example, in a Moroccan restaurant, chicken may be enjoyed with everyone gathered around a tagine (a cone-shaped cooking pot), using bread to scoop up the meal by hand. In a Japanese restaurant, slurping while eating noodles is a sign of appreciation for the chef. You can also make new recipes at home. Remember that it can take several tries before you decide you like it.…

At The Week Junior, we are getting ready to report on the results of Election 2024 (p2). This has been an exciting time in the US, and the outcome will affect everyone in our nation for years to come, so we are eager to see what happens and determined to do the best possible job of explaining it to our readers. The last day to vote is November 5, and our deadline for next week’s issue is 9 a.m. on November 6. So there is a chance we will not yet know the winners of many races—including the most closely watched race, the contest between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump for the Presidency—at press time. We will provide the most current information possible in that issue and continue our coverage…

If you would like to see your artwork on the cover of The Week Junior, here is your chance! We are accepting entries to our 2024 Winter Cover Contest. At right is the winning cover from our 2023 competition. The drawing form and consent form needed to enter can be found at kids.theweekjunior.com/activities. Entries will be judged on creativity, originality, and how well they reflect the winter theme and The Week Junior. Be sure your artwork is in color! When you’re finished, have a parent fill out the consent form and email it with a digital image of your artwork to covercontest@theweekjunior.com. The deadline to apply is November 13! IT’S YOUR TURN Email your news, views, and photos to hello@theweekjunior.com. We want to hear from you! To have your letters,…

Teacher’s Name: Mrs. Mullen School: Dayton Christian School “I am nominating Mrs. Mullen for her caring ways and her kind heart. She is so positive and encouraging to me and her class. I want to thank her for showing me magazines that I love and for being the best teacher I’ve ever had. She brings joy every day and makes learning fun and enjoyable for everyone. I’m so glad I’m in her class this year!” Lucy, 10, Ohio 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.…