Innehållsförteckning för Issue 259-260 från The Week Junior US

On March 27, after more than 10 years of service, the star-mapping space telescope known as Gaia was shut down by the European Space Agency (ESA). The ESA is an international organization based in France (see box at right). What is the Gaia telescope? Gaia (pronounced “guy-uh”) is an acronym for Global Interferometer for Astrophysics. The ESA launched the telescope in December 2013 with a mission of making the largest and most precise 3D map of the Milky Way ever created. It orbited the Sun about 930,000 miles from Earth. Gaia had two telescopes, three scientific instruments, and the largest digital camera ever put into space, which created images with nearly 1 billion pixels. By comparison, smartphone cameras take pictures with about 10 million pixels. Gaia was so powerful that…

A TALL TAIL A 2-year-old Maine Coon cat in Minnesota officially has the longest tail of any living pet cat. Mr. Pugsley Addams, who is named after a character in The Addams Family, loves to swish his 18.5-inch-long tail in the air and often swats his owner, Amanda, in the face with it (unintentionally, of course). Pugsley is mischievous but “just a great little guy to be around,” she said. BODY ART The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City has teamed up with Band-Aid to create adhesive bandages showing works of art from its collection. The art, by Katsushika Hokusai (above) and William Morris, is intended to “spark curiosity and joy,” a museum spokesperson said. A TASTY TRIBUTE A new gelato flavor honors Pope Francis, the head of…

Timothy Mosley, known as Timbaland, is a record producer with a career spanning more than 30 years. Now, for the first time, he is making music for kids as the executive music producer of BE@RBRICK, a new music-driven animated series on Apple TV+ based on the popular collectible figures. Growing up in Norfolk, Virginia, Timbaland, age 53, always loved music. Inspired by producing legends Quincy Jones and Teddy Riley, he began crafting his style at an early age. “It wasn’t just about beats, it was about creating worlds through sound,” Timbaland told The Week Junior. A four-time Grammy (top music award) winner, Timbaland rose to success with futuristic, complex beats. He helped define the music of the late 1990s and 2000s, collaborating with artists like Beyoncé and Justin Timberlake. In…

Birds of paradise are colorful birds found in the rainforests of Papua New Guinea, eastern Indonesia, and eastern Australia. There are 45 known species, and a new study has found that 37 of them can glow using biofluorescence. In this process, a living thing absorbs light and emits it back out as another color, such as bright green, yellow, or red (see box above). Scientists tested this by looking at preserved bird specimens at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. In a dark room, they moved blue lights over the birds and recorded the type of light that the birds emitted. The team also shone ultraviolet (UV) light, which can’t be seen by humans, on the specimens. The researchers found that 37 of the species they…

The San Diego Zoo has teamed up with Spectacled Bear Conservation, an organization based in Peru, to study and protect Andean bears, which are famous for inspiring the fictional character of Paddington Bear. ● LIFE SPAN: 20 to 38 years in human care ● HABITAT: The Andes Mountains in South America ● SIZE: 4 to 6 feet long, 2 to 3 feet tall ● DIET: Mostly plants, honey, snails, and insects ● FUN FACT: They are also called spectacled bears because many have whitish fur around their eyes.…

Eighty years after his death, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, often referred to as FDR, remains one of the most influential Presidents in US history. Early life and career Roosevelt was born in Hyde Park, New York, on January 30, 1882. He married Anna Eleanor Roosevelt (a distant cousin known as Eleanor) in 1905 and entered politics in 1910 when he was elected to the New York State Senate. President Woodrow Wilson appointed him assistant secretary of the Navy in 1913, and he served for seven years. In the 1920 Presidential election, he was the Democratic nominee for Vice President. When the Democrats lost, he returned to private life. While on summer vacation in 1921, Roosevelt fell ill. He permanently lost the use of his legs and used a wheelchair for the…

Scientists discovered 1.5-million-year-old tools made from animal bones that were crafted by early humans. It’s the oldest collection of bone tools ever found and suggests that early humans were smarter than scientists realized. The tools were found in Olduvai Gorge in Tanzania, Africa. Many prehistoric artifacts have been found there, including thousands of stone tools. Early humans began using pieces of stone as tools about 3.3 million years ago and started making their own stone tools about 1.8 million years ago. They did this with a technique called knapping, using one stone to chip away flakes of another stone to create sharp edges. It required early humans to envision the tools as well as make them. Scientists expected to find more knapped stone tools at the site. Instead, they were…

2025 WILD BIRDS UNLIMITED BIRDSPOTTER PHOTOGRAPHY CONTEST…

Anne Frank is one of the most well-known young people in history. During World War II (1939–1945), the Jewish girl and her family lived in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. She began keeping a diary at age 13 that covered the two years they spent hiding from the Nazis during the Holocaust (the mass killing of 6 million Jewish people and millions of others). The diary was published in 1947. In 1960, the building where the family secretly lived opened as a museum, the Anne Frank House. Now the museum is presenting Anne Frank: The Exhibition at the Center for Jewish History in New York City. It includes reconstructions of the rooms where the Franks hid and more than 100 photos and artifacts. It will be open through October before moving to…

Gravity Falls (Disney+, Disney Now, Hulu) “This is an awesome series about 12-year-old twins, Dipper and Mabel Pines, who visit their money-loving Grunkle Stan in Gravity Falls. The town is full of mysteries and interesting characters, like two staffers at Grunkle Stan’s Mystery Shack, Wendy (who Dipper likes) and Soos (a goofy handyman). There are a lot of mysterious monsters, too, like Bill Cipher, a one-eyed floating triangle with arms and legs. Dipper and Mabel battle with many villains, including Gnomes that are in love with Mabel.” Matthias, 8, New York Do you have a film or TV show to recommend to other kids? Send your review to hello@theweekjunior.com.…

By Eric Colossal (Abrams Fanfare) No one can figure out why the electricity keeps going off in Lily’s hometown. Her parents are so frustrated that they put their house up for sale and enrolled Lily in a special science academy for the following school year. Lily tries to get out of attending the new school by purposefully failing her science exam, but her plan backfires. Even though she’s grounded, one day she hops on her bike to play baseball with her friends. She hits the ball so hard that it travels to an abandoned mansion, breaking a window. When she and her friends walk to the mansion to retrieve the ball, a ghost shoots out a skeleton! After the entire mansion collapses, they discover a paper with instructions on how…

Bunnybirds By Natalie Linn (Holiday House) This graphic-novel adventure features bunnies with wings who practice magic. But when some bunnies begin disappearing, a brave princess travels to a dragon court and through the desert to rescue her friends. If you enjoy the Warriors books, try this new series. Ages 8–12 Cress Watercress By Gregory Maguire, illustrated by David Litchfield (Candlewick) A rabbit family moves to the basement of a run-down apartment after their father goes missing while gathering honey. His young daughter wonders whether the new place will ever feel like home again. The illustrations in this novel are beautiful. Ages 8–12 ParaNorthern and the Chaos Bunny A-hop-calypse By Stephanie Cooke, illustrated by Mari Costa (Clarion Books) A young witch accidentally allows a group of adorable but troublesome rabbits to…

Floating to world-record fame Jack Pressman has done a backflip in zero gravity at the age of 8. Pressman has always had a passion for space, so when his family saw a company offering zero gravity flights, they wanted to try it. After training, they boarded the plane and experienced weightlessness 18 times for about 30 seconds each. Pressman, who officially became the youngest person to fly in zero gravity, also tried some tricks midair. “It was really exciting,” he told Guinness World Records, “but when you first push off a wall, you just fly superfast and then you need to learn a lot.” Golden toilet mystery solved Putting an end to a case flush with history, three men in the UK have been found guilty of stealing a golden…

Muslims (people who follow the religion of Islam) around the world began celebrating Eid al-Fitr on March 30 to mark the end of the holy month of Ramadan. During Ramadan, Muslims fast (do not eat or drink) from dawn to sunset. Eid al-Fitr celebrates the end of the fasting period. It begins after the waning crescent moon is sighted. The Eid al-Fitr festival lasts one to three days and begins after dawn with a prayer service. Traditions typically include eating something sweet, attending prayers, then visiting family and friends and exchanging sweets and gifts. These treats vary around the world. For example, a pudding called sheer khurma is prepared in South Asia, while a shortbread cookie called maamoul is made in Syria and Jordan. A greeting during Eid al-Fitr is…

The American Library Association (ALA), the largest and oldest organization of its kind in the world, is celebrating National Library Week from April 6–12. This year’s theme is “Drawn to the Library,” which communicates the idea of drawing people into libraries to enjoy what they offer. What is National Library Week? National Library Week honors the contributions of libraries, highlights their importance to the communities they serve, and advocates for their support. The event came about in the 1950s, when research showed that Americans were more interested in enjoying radio and television programs than they were in reading books. The ALA decided to create a week to promote reading. This year marks the 67th National Library Week. How is it being observed? The ALA has designated days for specific celebrations…

The Hague, Netherlands Artists re-envision famous painting The Mauritshuis museum in The Hague is displaying 60 different people’s versions of Girl with a Pearl Earring, a famous painting by Johannes Vermeer. The new works were submitted for a competition hosted by the museum, which has the original painting in its collection. Thousands of artists from around the world entered their version of the work, featuring a variety of materials including orange peels and bottle caps. Brasilia, Brazil Ex-president to go on trial On March 26, Brazil’s top court voted to put former President Jair Bolsonaro on trial. He is accused of trying to overthrow the government after losing an election in 2022. The trial is expected to happen later this year, and if Bolsonaro is found guilty, he could be…

A group of mice with thick, golden-brown A hair are adorable—and represent a major scientific breakthrough. The “woolly mice” were created in a lab by a team of scientists who edited the animals’ genes. Genes are short sections of DNA, a chemical that carries all the instructions for how a living thing should grow and develop. The scientists work for a company called Colossal Biosciences that is aiming to bring a version of the extinct woolly mammoth to life as soon as 2028. To “de-extinct” the animals, the scientists are editing genes of Asian elephants, which are the closest living relative of woolly mammoths. Colossal said it will use those genes to create a new type of elephant that looks, sounds, and walks like a woolly mammoth. Testing that process…

The 150th season of Major League Baseball (MLB) is officially underway. Over the next six months, each of the league’s 30 teams will play 162 regular-season games. The reigning World Series champions, the Los Angeles Dodgers, are the favorites to win this year’s title. They hope to become the first team to winback-to-back championships since the New York Yankees won three straight titles from 1998 to 2000. Other anticipated top teams include the Yankees, Atlanta Braves, Philadelphia Phillies, and Baltimore Orioles. The season started early for the Dodgers and the Chicago Cubs, who competed in the Tokyo Series 2025 in Japan on March 18 and 19. The two-game set was held at the famous Tokyo Dome. While they were there, the teams also competed in exhibition games against local teams.…

Coach’s Name: Michael Khrol Sport: Lacrosse “My coach is such an encouraging person who wants all his players to thrive and grow. He pushes us to do our best. Even if we lose, he focuses on how we can play better rather than looking at our mistakes. When I was struggling with the new concepts of lacrosse, he gave me one-on-one lessons after practice to help refine my skills. Coach shows love and kindness to every single player and wants us to be the best athletes we can be.” Joanna, 12, Massachusetts 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.…

Who Was Anne Frank? This book, which is part of a popular illustrated biography series, covers Anne Frank’s life before and during her time in hiding, the lasting impact of her diary, and the history of World War II. White Bird R.J. Palacio wrote this graphic novel, which features Julian, the bully from her book Wonder. It is a story about kindness and courage told by his grandmother, who hid from the Nazis when she was young. Number the Stars This award-winning novel by Lois Lowry is set in Denmark in 1943 and was inspired by real events. It follows a 10-year-old as she and her family help her Jewish best friend.…

Gremlins: The Wild Batch (Max) New episodes from the show’s second season begin streaming on April 10. When Sam, Elle, and Gizmo the magical Mogwai travel from China to the US to track evil Mogwai, they meet figures from American folklore, such as Johnny Appleseed and Calamity Jane. Wildlife Rehab (Disney+) (Hulu) (Nat Geo Wild) At Living Sky Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Saskatchewan, Canada, Jan Shadick, the province’s first registered wildlife rehabilitator, cares for rescued animals with her team. This new docuseries follows them as they help animals, including birds, foxes, and a porcupine. Unicorn Academy (Netflix) This animated series, based on the books of the same name, is set at a boarding school for unicorn riders. Chapter 3 of the show arrives on April 9 and will follow main…

What inspired this book? I wanted to write what I call a “kids on bikes” story. The characters ride all over the town they live in. This makes them feel like the town is theirs and it’s up to them to protect it. What do you hope kids take away from this book? You can be complicated and messy. If that means you don’t make a good decision, remember you can make a better one next time. Why do you think ghosts are fascinating? Ghosts are something that are scary but safe to think about. It feels like they can’t really touch me or interact with anything. Which is harder: writing or illustrating? For me, writing is harder. What do you enjoy doing in your spare time? I love eating,…

SEASONAL VEGGIE PUFF PASTRY TART Ingredients • 10 ounces goat cheese, softened• ¼ cup heavy cream• 8 basil leaves, finely chopped• 4 sprigs mint, leaves plucked and finely chopped• Zest of 1 lemon• Kosher salt• Black pepper• 1 (14-to 17-ounce) package puff pastry, thawed• 2 small Roma tomatoes, thinly sliced• 8 asparagus spears, halved• ¾ cup sugar snap peas, halved crosswise• 2 tablespoons olive oil Instructions 1. Heat oven to 400° F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. 2. In a medium bowl, blend the goat cheese, heavy cream, basil, mint, and lemon zest. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside. 3. On a lightly floured cutting board, use a pizza cutter to slice the puff pastry into 8 even rectangles. Arrange 4 of the rectangles on each…

When The Week Junior went to press on April 1, an earthquake had struck Myanmar, causing widespread devastation (p7). With a magnitude of 7.7, the quake was the most powerful to strike the Southeast Asian nation in more than 100 years and could also be felt in other countries, including Bangladesh, India, China, and Thailand, where a large building collapsed in the capital city. Because of a civil war that has been fought in Myanmar since 2021, its people had already been experiencing severe poverty and hunger. Millions had been displaced from their homes. So the earthquake made a dire humanitarian situation even worse. I’m grateful that the world has taken notice. Several governments are sending aid to Myanmar, and nonprofit groups are providing medical care, food, water, and other…

A bill that passed 54–2 in Georgia’s state senate bans the use of phones or electronic devices by students in grades K–8 during the school day. Governor Brian Kemp said he would sign the bill into law. Nine other states, including Florida and Ohio, previously passed bans, and New Mexico, Utah, and other states are drafting similar legislation. Jason Anavitarte, a Georgia state senator, said the law was important for improving students’ well-being.…

Some people say there’s no harm done, but others think it’s just not right. What you need to know • Public art includes sculptures, murals, or other artwork displayed in a public place, like a plaza or street. They’re usually put there by local officials or governments. • Some public art is unofficial. British artist Banksy, whose real identity is unknown, has gained international fame for secretly putting up wall paintings around the world. • “Scarf bombers” leave scarves on statues across the US for anyone who’s cold to take for free. In December, big sticky googly eyes mysteriously started appearing on public sculptures in Bend, Oregon. The decorations were an online sensation that amused many people. But city officials were not pleased because they had to spend money to…

For many people, spending time stuck in traffic is an annoyingly unavoidable part of life. Ants, however, are a different story. When moving in large groups, they manage to avoid bumping into each other or getting in each other’s way. Two professors from the University of Trento in Italy recently decided to study how they move. The professors observed a group of ants as they walked along a path to find food. They found that a leader ant first marks a trail by releasing a special chemical called a pheromone. Then the other ants follow that trail. The ants travel in groups of three to 20 individuals who all move at the same speed and maintain a safe distance from each other. Unlike human drivers, no ants speed up to…

Sofia, 13, Florida Adam Ari Pack Professor, University of Hawai’i at Hilo Whales are some of the largest animals: Blue whales can be 100 feet long. Many species travel thousands of miles from feeding grounds to breed in tropical seas. Their size helps regulate heat and allows them to store enough fat to survive long periods of travel and breeding without food. Do you have a question for an animal expert? Send it to hello@theweekjunior.com. Find out more about Adam Ari Pack’s work at tinyurl.com/TWJUS-DrPack.…

Winter sports enthusiasts can skip long ski-lift lines and power up to the peak on electric skis. The Vipera ski system has been described as a combination of regular skis and a snowmobile. They’re equipped with treads that grip the snow and a strong motorthat propels users through the snow—and even uphill. Vipera can hit 20 miles per hour and travel up to 10 miles on one charge, depending on conditions. A remote control built into a ski pole lets the adventurer speed up, slow down, or brake.…

The best shows for young people were honored at the Children’s & Family Emmy Awards on March 15 in Los Angeles, California. Emmys are one of the most prestigious prizes in television, and they are voted on by members of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. A big winner this year was the Disney+ series Percy Jackson and the Olympians. The show, about the adventures of a demi-god and his friends, is based on Rick Riordan’s best-selling books of the same name. The series was nominated for 16 awards and won eight, including one for best young teen series. Percy stars Walter Scobell (Percy), Leah Sava Jeffries (Annabeth), and Aryan Simhadri (Grover) attended the ceremony, and afterward, Jeffries posted on Instagram, “Guys I literally am so grateful right…

Breakout Beyond is a new arcade game. It is out now for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation platforms, Xbox systems, and PC. Atari released the original Breakout nearly 50 years ago, and it became a big hit. It was inspired by the company’s game Pong and was created in part by Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, the founders of the Apple computer company. Breakout was easy to play but hard to master: A player controlled a paddle to deflect a bouncing a ball so it would break colorful bricks in a wall. The wall had eight rows, and as more bricks were broken, the ball would speed up and the paddle would get smaller. The new version of the game keeps the basic concept of the original, but the action has…

Wonder By R.J. Palacio ”I love this book because it is about accepting others. The main character, August, is struggling in school because he has always been homeschooled, and he also has Treacher Collins syndrome, a rare disorder that causes malformations to his face. I like that the author takes one situation and tells it from everyone’s perspective. This book will make you want to cry, laugh, and dance!” Lily, 9, Iowa Do you have a book to recommend? Send your review to hello@theweekjunior.com.…

New start crisscross In celebration of spring, each of these words can follow the word NEW to form a new word or phrase, like NEWTON or NEW ENGLAND. Can you find where each one goes to complete the grid? When you’re done, transfer the letters in the yellow boxes, in order from left to right, into the boxes below to get the answer to the riddle. 3 letters AGE CAR DAD ERA KID LOW MOM ONE TOY 4 letters BORN DEAL FACE IDEA MOON PORT WAVE YEAR 5 letters BLOOD BREED BROOM DELHI LIGHT MEDIA MODEL ORDER SHOES SLANT TOOTH WORLD 6 letters CASTLE GUINEA JERSEY MEXICO NORMAL POTATO RECORD REGIME 7 letters ARRIVAL BALANCE CLOTHES EDITION ORLEANS RELEASE WRINKLE 8 letters ADDITION ATTITUDE BALLGAME CUSTOMER FRONTIER 9 letters BRUNSWICK…

“ We’ve been reading The Week Junior for three years now, and our favorite issue was Bird Bonanza. We read it on the airplane as we flew to Costa Rica, where we stayed at a research field station right in the jungle. The people at the field station were participating in the Great Backyard Bird Count, just like we had read about in the article! We joined in, too, and learned how to identify birds by their colors, size, and calls. In the end, we counted more than 50 bird species. Thanks so much for inspiring us to explore and learn more about our Earth! It’s sparked a love of birding in all three of us! ” Have you done something interesting or raised money for a cause you care…