Innehållsförteckning för Issue 261 från The Week Junior US

DID YOU KNOW? On July 4, 1789, the first tariffs were signed into law in the US, charging other countries a 5% tax on imported goods. On April 2, President Donald Trump announced major economic policy changes involving tariffs, which are taxes imposed by the government on goods brought into the US from other nations. The tariffs will affect most of the countries in the world. What are the tariffs? The White House announced two major tariff plans. One is a universal “base line” tariff of 10% on almost all items imported into the US, except for products from Canada and Mexico. (A 25% tariff on goods from Canada and Mexico, with some exceptions, had already been imposed in March.) The second plan is what Trump calls a “reciprocal” (done…

A NEW TREE Last year in the nation’s capital, Stumpy, a small cherry tree that was beloved by visitors, had to be cut down. Now there’s Stumpy II. The short tree had its top cut off but still sprouted branches and blossoms this spring. CELEBRATING A BIRTHDAY Renowned wildlife advocate and conservationist Jane Good all turned 91 on April 3. To honor her birthday, Colorado’s governor, Jared Polis, declared it Animals Matter Day in the state. Polis said Goodall is “a true champion for wildlife and a beacon of hope for our planet” and called on others to continue her work. A FIRST-TIME MOM A Galápagos tortoise named Mommy, who is believed to be about 97 years old, welcomed her very first hatchlings. Mommy has lived at the Philadelphia Zoo in…

Tamron Hall, 54, is an award-winning journalist and television host, known for her daytime talk show The Tamron Hall Show. Now she is also a children’s book author with the publication of Harlem Honey: The Adventures of a Curious Kid, a picture book inspired by her son. As a teenager in Lulling, Texas, Hall became interested in journalism by watching Iola Johnson, the first Black woman to anchor the news in Dallas. She earned a degree in broadcast journalism from Temple University in Pennsylvania and rose to prominence at NBC, which she had joined in 2007. There, she co-anchored NBC Nightly News, hosted a primetime hour on MSNBC, and became the first Black woman to co-host the Today show. In 2019, The Tamron Hall Show premiered on ABC. Since then, Hall…

SUPER SENSE Polar bears can smell a seal, their favorite food, from 20 miles away. Polar bear cubs spend the first few months of their lives in dens with their mothers, staying warm until they are ready to emerge into the harsh Arctic environment. It has been difficult for scientists to study this important time in a cub’s life because dens are often built under the snow in areas that are hard to reach. Now an international team of scientists has found a new way to learn about polar bear dens by using remote cameras. Pregnant female polar bears typically begin creating dens by digging into snowdrifts in the fall. They then move into the dens, where they will give birth to their cubs in January. At birth, polar bear…

Baw Baw frogs About 3,000 Baw Baw froglets and 40 adult frogs have been released in the wild in Australia as part of a conservation program. Experts hope this release will help restore the critically endangered species in Victoria’s high-altitude forests. Butterflies According to a new study, one fifth of the butterflies in the US have disappeared in the past 20 years. Some of the species that have declined most severely include the Hermes copper, tailed orange, and sandhill skipper.…

Arediscovered monument complex in Cambodia is one of the largest religious and archaeological sites in the world. What is Angkor Wat? Angkor Wat is a temple complex on about 400 acres in Cambodia. It was built in the 12th century by King Suryavarman II, ruler of the prosperous Khmer empire, in the empire’s capital city of Angkor. (Today, Cambodia’s king lives in the nation’s capital, Phnom Penh.) The kingdom stretched across Southeast Asia, from present-day Myanmar to Vietnam. Suryavarman II practiced Hinduism and built Angkor Wat as his kingdom’s state temple dedicated to the Hindu god Vishnu. A monumental effort The ambitious structure took thousands of people and about 30 years to build. It was never truly finished, however. The Khmer used sandstone and laterite, a type of strong clay,…

A fossil that was first discovered 50 years ago in Scotland was recently identified as a pony-sized dinosaur that lived about 166 million years ago. Named Elgol, after the area where it was found, it’s the most complete dinosaur skeleton ever found in the country. Elgol was spotted in 1973 in the face of a sea cliff on the Isle of Skye. Researchers left it there because it was too difficult to remove. In 2018, however, a paleontologist (scientist who studies fossils) named Elsa Panciroli and her team removed Elgol. They docked an inflatable boat at the foot of the cliff and retrieved the fossils from the rock during low tide. Once in the lab, the team of scientists used noninvasive scans to create highly detailed 3D images of the…

2025 UNDERWATER PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR FINALISTS Deep focus Patrick Webster took this photo of a sea lion in the waters around the Falkland Islands. Vivid view Catherine Holmes snapped this picture of a coral reef in Indonesia. Over and under Dawn McDonald took this photograph of a white whale calf in Argentina. Devoted parents Two whip coral gobies guard their eggs in this image taken by Mark Chang. Blue hues Adam Martin shot this picture of a juvenile emperor angelfish in Bali. Red hot Doris Vierkötter used a special lens for this portrait of a seahorse near Bali.…

HOW IT STARTED Alex Ovechkin scored his first two NHL goals on October 5, 2005. April 6 was a historic day in the NHL (National Hockey League). That afternoon, Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals scored his 895th career goal, the most ever by an NHL player. He broke a 31-year-old record held by hockey legend Wayne Gretzky, who retired in 1999. Ovechkin, age 39, is from Moscow, Russia, and plays left wing. He was the number one pick in the 2004 NHL Draft and has averaged 49 goals per season. He is the only NHL player who has scored 200 goals in three different decades. He broke the record in the 1,487th game of his career. Gretzky is known as the Great One, and Ovechkin, who wears number 8,…

FAMOUS FELINE A pet cat named Stubbs served as the honorary mayor of Talkeetna, Alaska, from 1997 to 2017. Pet Day was April 11, and that was also the day the new documentary Pets premiered on Disney+. The film explores the extraordinary bonds formed between people and animals. It was directed by Bryce Dallas Howard, a star of the Jurassic World films. Howard got the idea to make Pets after directing the 2020 documentary Dads, which was about fatherhood. She wanted to make another film on a subject many people would find relatable, and she told The Week Junior, “I learned that more people have pets than have kids.” Howard thinks pets “bring the best out of us as humans,” and she wanted to celebrate that relationship. The documentary includes interviews…

Jessie (Disney+, DisneyNOW, Hulu, or buy on other platforms) “This is a hilarious sitcom about a young woman named Jessie who moves from a military base in Texas to New York City to follow her dreams of becoming an actress. She unexpectedly lands a job as a nanny for a wealthy family with four children: Emma, their biological daughter; Ravi, who was adopted from India; Zuri, who was adopted from Uganda; and Luke, who was adopted from Detroit. The group has lots of funny adventures. There are four seasons of the series, and it has a very bittersweet ending. This is such a great show!” Estelle, 9, Oklahoma Do you have a film or TV show to recommend to other kids? Send your review to hello@theweekjunior.com.…

(HarperAlley) This graphic novel focuses on a coven (group of witches) featured in Soman Chainani’s popular series The School for Good and Evil. Hester, Anadil, and Dot are awarded Medals of Courage for stopping a war between the fairies and the trolls in the Endless Woods. Since the witches have a reputation for finding peaceful solutions, Mother Sorastra, leader of the Dark Lands, invites them to Red Isle to help solve a dispute with the Light Lands. The citizens of the Light Lands have begun mining for “raaka,” a natural resource they use to create inventions, from the river shared between the two lands. Pollution from their mining is killing fish and vegetation, and the Dark Lands want the Light Lands to stop. Hester, Anadil, and Dot arrive just after…

Front Desk By Kelly Yang (Arthur A. Levine Books) Mia and her parents live in a small room behind the office at the Calivista Motel. While they’re cleaning rooms, Mia manages the front desk and helps guests. Although her family is treated terribly by the motel’s owner, Mia remains optimistic that her family’s life will improve. Ages 8–12 The Hotel Balzaar By Kate DiCamillo, illustrated by Júlia Sardà (Candlewick) Marta and her mom live at Hotel Balzaar, where her mom works as a housekeeper. A mysterious guest with a parrot arrives at the hotel. He tells Marta stories that make her think about her father, who is missing. Could clues about her dad’s disappearance be in the tales? Ages 8–12 The Lumbering Giants of Windy Pines By Mo Netz (Clarion)…

FUN FACT The first dyes for eggs were made of natural sources like onion peel, flower petals, and berries. What you’ll need • Hard-boiled eggs (dyed according to food-coloring package instructions) or white plastic or wood eggs • Solid-colored cupcake liner (for the lion) • Scissors • Adhesive dots and/or white glue • Pipe cleaners (lion and pig) • Colored paper (like construction paper) • Black marker or paint pen • Mini pom-poms (bunny) • Two-hole button (pig) Instructions 1. Lion To make the mane, cut a hole in the center of the bottom of a cupcake liner. (If the inside is white, turn the liner inside out.) Cut the ruffled edge down a little to make it shorter. Attach the mane to the side of the egg with adhesive…

Crisscross Each of these words associated with a courtroom fits into this grid. Can you find where each one goes to complete the grid? 4 letters FILE 5 letters ALIBI GAVEL JUDGE LEGAL SWEAR VENUE 6 letters APPEAL RECESS 7 letters ALL RISE LAWSUIT SIDEBAR VERDICT WITNESS 9 letters DEFENDANT PLAINTIFF SEQUESTER TESTIMONY ALL THE SAME Each answer contains the letters L-E-T. Those letters have been placed for you. Can you figure out the words? ANSWERS CAN BE FOUND ON PAGE 29. Spot the difference These two vintage postcards showing a statue of Noah Webster in his Connecticut hometown appear to be the same, but take a closer look. There are actually five differences. Can you see them? Take five Five 5-letter flower names are hidden in this grid. For…

We have several avid fans of college basketball on The Week Junior team, so we’ve had some lively discussions about this year’s NCAA tournaments (p18). If you followed the men’s and women’s competition as it was happening over the past few weeks, you know that seven of the eight Final Four teams had been selected as #1 seeds before the games began—something that doesn’t happen very often. Congratulations to UConn for winning the women’s championship and Florida for taking the men’s title! In other sports news this week, the US will host the 2031 Women’s World Cup—a big honor for America (p3). And Major League Baseball fans are debating the use of a new bat that is shaped differently from the bats that have been used for the past 150 years…

Thank you to everyone who has sent us photos of themselves with a book they’ve enjoyed reading, often based on The Week Junior’s recommendation. If there’s a title you want to share, have an adult email a photo to hello@theweekjunior.com, along with anything you’d like to say about why you liked the book.…

1 What creature was voted New Zealand’s Bug of the Year for 2025? a) Giant springtail b) Praying mantis c) Velvet worm 2 True or false? Tamron Hall was the first Black woman to co-host the Today show. 3 In the graphic novel Coven, the citizens of the Light Lands have been mining a natural resource called what? 4 Which team hit nine home runs in a game, drawing attention to torpedo bats in Major League Baseball? a) Atlanta Braves b) Baltimore Orioles c) New York Yankees 5 What is the name of the dinosaur fossil that was found in a cliff in Scotland in 1973? 6 Bryce Dallas Howard got the idea for the documentary Pets after directing which earlier film? a) Dads b) Moms c) Kids 7 True…

Two spring holidays focused on themes of hope, freedom, and new beginnings are set to start around the world. From April 12–19, Jewish people will observe Passover, and on April 20, Christians will celebrate Easter. Passover honors the Jewish people’s escape from slavery in ancient Egypt, as told by the Torah (Jewish religious text). It begins at sundown and lasts for eight days. Families go to temple and, on the first two nights, gather for a special meal called a seder to retell the story of Passover. A seder plate holds six symbolic foods, including bitter herbs to represent the bitterness of slavery, and matzo, a flatbread Jews ate when fleeing Egypt. In the Bible (Christian religious text), Easter is the day Jesus Christ came back to life. The days…

WOW! About 40 of California’s 770 wildlife species and 2,100 of its 6,300 plant species are found nowhere else in the world. An important milestone was reached in California’s effort to create the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing, which will make the area safer for animals to live. The $92 million project, which has been under construction since 2022, stretches across one of the nation’s largest and busiest highways. Why are crossings useful? Wildlife crossings are structures that allow animals to safely cross roads or other human-made barriers. Highway 101 in California runs through the Santa Monica Mountains and the Simi Hills. When it was built about 100 years ago, it trapped various species on one side or the other, significantly decreasing their habitat and limiting their population growth. Besides protecting…

Grindavik, Iceland Volcano erupts On April 1, a volcano near the town of Grindavik erupted for the 11th time since 2021. Several earthquakes also took place in the area on the same day. The eruption caused a huge crack to appear in the ground, growing to about three quarters of a mile long. Tourists and local residents had to be evacuated and the famous Blue Lagoon spa was closed, but the volcanic activity slowed down later in the day. St. Peter’s Square, Vatican City Pope speaks at service for the sick Pope Francis, the head of the worldwide Catholic church, has appeared in public for the first time since March, when he left the hospital after a five-week stay. On April 6, he spoke briefly at a special Mass (religious…

Most of this diamond-shaped island off Scotland’s west coast is a nature reserve. Within it, visitors can find towering peaks, extinct volcanoes, white sand beaches, and dramatic sea cliffs. The island has been designated a dark sky sanctuary because it has no light pollution from streetlights or other artificial lighting after sunset. This not only makes it an excellent place to see stars but also reduces distractions for wildlife, such as the Manx shearwater, a seabird that comes to lay its eggs every spring and summer. Other creatures on the island include highland cows and Rum ponies.…

BUSY AS A BEE In the US, honeybees pollinate about 130 different types of flowers, fruits, and vegetables. A team of scientists has designed a robotic insect that could one day pollinate plants on a massive scale. The technology could allow large crops of fruits and vegetables to be grown while also reducing the harm farming can cause to the environment. The idea of having bug-sized bots carry pollen from one plant to another is known as “mechanical pollination,” and it isn’t new. Many people have attempted to make an efficient pollinator bot. But robot bugs have never been as good at doing the job as real pollinators, like bees, are. Flying insects are midair acrobats that can speed, roll, swoop, and turn. But most earlier versions of insect bots…

WOW! A rookie card featuring WNBA star Caitlin Clark recently sold at auction for $366,000, making it the most expensive female sports card in history. On April 6 and 7, the women’s and men’s NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) basketball tournaments concluded after more than two weeks of exciting action. UConn (University of Connecticut) won the women’s title, and the University of Florida won the men’s title. In the women’s final, UConn, a second-seeded (ranked) team in the tournament, beat the University of South Carolina, a number one seed and last year’s champions, 82–59. It was UConn’s first NCAA championship victory since 2016 and their 12th national title. This year’s final was a rematch of the 2022 final, which South Carolina won. In February, the teams played in a regular-season…

Coach’s Name: Brad Taylor Team: OMGS softball “We call my coach Coach Mustang or Coach Moustache. His daughter is my best friend on my team. He is kind and funny but takes the sport seriously. He makes practices fun by being really playful. He teaches us great batting mechanics, like keeping your head down or ‘squishing the bug’ (twisting your foot). He always listens to the girls’ opinions and how we feel. He is the best coach I have ever had—and I’ve been playing sports for five-plus years!” Lucia, 11, Utah 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.…

Glen Powell While filming the 2024 blockbuster Twisters, actor Glen Powell adopted a rescue pup named Brisket (right). The dog became the set mascot, and the star even brought him to the film’s premiere. Megan Thee Stallion Award-winning rapper and songwriter Megan Thee Stallion has several dogs. One of them, 4oe (“Four”), a French bulldog (right), is often at her side when she does interviews. He also has his own Instagram account. Millie Bobby Brown Stranger Things star Millie Bobby Brown has 10 dogs (including Winnie, right) and four cats, plus a horse, ponies, cows, and goats on her Georgia farm. She is a co-founder of Joey’s Friends, an animal rescue organization.…

Doctor Who (Disney+) The long-running sci-fi series is back with a new season, the second with the current version of The Doctor, a time-traveling alien. Expect stops in 1952, 2007, and a song contest 3,000 years in the future. This season also includes the show’s first-ever animated adventure. Jurassic World: Chaos Theory (Netflix) In Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous, a group of teens were stuck on a dinosaur-filled island. In this sequel series, the characters are grown up. During the new third season, they are involved in a plane crash and uncover a secret operation that could unleash dinosaur chaos on Earth. Katavi: Africa’s Fallen Paradise Sanctuary (PBS) (PBS.org) Katavi National Park in southern Tanzania is home to hippos, crocodiles, and lions. This episode of Nature captures what happened when a…

The Watsons Go to Birmingham—1963 By Christopher Paul Curtis “This book is about a 10-year-old boy named Kenny Watson from Michigan. He and his family go on a road trip to Alabama to drop off his brother, Byron, who is going to spend the summer with their grandma. This book talks about Black people not being treated fairly and the importance of family. I wanted to keep reading it.”Stella, 10, Massachusetts Do you have a book to recommend? Send your review to hello@theweekjunior.com.…

DID YOU KNOW? Monopoly is the best-selling patented board game of all time. Playing a board game with family members or friends is a great way to enjoy time together and sharpen your problem-solving skills. Before you roll the dice, check out these ideas for having the most fun with board games. Choose a game Many people enjoy traditional board games, like Clue, Life, and Monopoly, which have been around for generations. You may also like modern classics, like Catan and Ticket to Ride, or newer board games such as Cascadia or Hues and Clues. Choose from the games you or your friends already have at home, or check with your local library to find out whether you can borrow a board game. If your family or friends are undecided…

It’s easy to get sneakers dirty while walking to and from school and playing outside. You can follow a few steps to make them look like new again. First, spot-clean any scuffs and marks with an all purpose cleaner. For any tough stains that remain, scrub them with an old toothbrush and a cleaning paste made with one teaspoon each of baking soda, vinegar, and water. Rinse the toothbrush thoroughly with water and scrub the area again, then let sneakers dry overnight. Finally, store your sneakers in a spot where they won’t get wet or exposed to sunlight. To keep them smelling fresh, put used dryer sheets in your shoes before bed.…

Game day’s tasty new lineup As baseball season begins, stadiums across the US have introduced a whole roster of wacky foods and drinks. The Seattle Mariners are offering the spicy What Up Corn Dog with a bright green crunchy coating, while the Chicago White Sox cool things down with a Celebration Cake Milkshake. Houston Astros fans can enjoy the Daddy Mac Dog, a footlong hot dog topped with fried pickles, brisket, and mac and cheese, and supporters of the New York Yankees can eat tiramisu out of a novelty helmet. Batter up! Dozing bears meet their match You may have heard of the March Madness basketball tournament, but what about March Napness? An organization called Four Paws is running a competition to champion the bears that sleep the longest during…

The American Library Association (ALA) is the oldest and largest library association in the world. Founded in 1876, the ALA works to expand library services across the US. The organization focuses on making it possible for everyone in a community to have access to library resources, giving people opportunities to learn and grow. Find out more at ala.org. 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 include your first name, age, and state with your submission. By emailing your submission to us, you give The Week Junior consent to publish it in the magazine and online. Please get your parent/guardian’s permission before sending anything to…

Senator Cory Booker, a Democrat from New Jersey, has broken the record for the longest speech delivered on the Senate floor. Starting on March 31, he spoke continuously, without breaks, for 25 hours and 5 minutes to express his opposition to President Donald Trump’s actions since taking office. The previous record was set in 1957 by Strom Thurmond, a Republican senator from South Carolina, who was opposing the passage of the Civil Rights Act.…

What you need to know • About 66% of households in the US have a pet, including 65.1 million with a dog, 46.5 million with a cat, and 11.1 million with a fish. • Surveys have found that most pet owners think of their pets as members of the family. • Some companies offer employees paid time off to care for a new pet. • Last fall, the New York City Council proposed a bill to let people use their paid sick leave to care for a sick pet. It has not become a law yet. FUN FACT Nearly 72% of all households in Wyoming have a pet, the most of any state in the US. When people have a baby, they paid time off work, called family leave, to…

DID YOU KNOW? There are 5,487 species of mammals on Earth, and about 40% of them are rodents. When it comes to conservation, size matters. A 25-year study revealed that most conservation funding has gone toward protecting larger mammals, while smaller endangered species have received little help. A team from the University of Hong Kong looked at 14,566 conservation projects run by governments and non-governmental organizations between 1992 and 2016. They found that out of about $1.96 billion given to these projects worldwide, nearly 83% went to helping vertebrates (animals with a backbone). Plants and invertebrates (animals without a backbone) each received about 7%. Fungi and algae got less than 1%. Large, exciting mammals like elephants and rhinos received much more support than smaller ones like kangaroos, rodents, and bats.…

“How do monkeys swing from branch to branch so well?”Advay, 9, North Carolina Kim Skelton Primate care expert, Brookfield Zoo Chicago Monkeys are amazing climbers because their long fingers, hands, and arms help them grab branches. Some have a big toe that works like a thumb. Others, such as spider monkeys, use their hands like hooks to swing. Their strong muscles and flexible joints make them agile in the treetops! Do you have a question for an animal expert? Send it to hello@theweekjunior.com. Find out more about Brookfield Zoo Chicago at brookfieldzoo.org.…

Gamers who like to engage in board sports have a new way to play. The BoarDrop is a system that lets players stand on an actual board and move as they would in real life. Players can add a snowboarding, skateboarding, or balance kit to the system’s Core Board. BoarDrop detects a player’s movements and wirelessly shares them with a gaming system. Riders spin, twist, lean, and jump along with the terrain they see on a screen, and the system vibrates to let them know if they successfully performed a move.…

DID YOU KNOW? In the Yoruba language, iyanu means “miracle” or “wonder.” A new animated series featuring a brave girl in a magical land recently made its premiere on Cartoon Network and Max. Iyanu is based on the graphic novel Iyanu: Child of Wonder by Roye Okupe, an award-winning filmmaker who created and oversees the show. Okupe was born in Lagos, Nigeria, and is part of the Yoruba people, one of Nigeria’s largest ethnic groups. Iyanu was inspired by their culture and mythology. It is set in the West African kingdom of Yorubaland, centuries after an ancient curse turned wildlife into deadly beasts. When orphan Iyanu realizes she has special powers, she sets out to discover their source. Along the way, she must defeat the darkness and restore balance to…

WOW! The world record for the longest time a bubble held its shape is 465 days. Bubble Ghost Remake is a new action-adventure game. It was recently released for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, and PC. As the name suggests, the game is a new version of Bubble Ghost, a simple platform game that came out for the computer in 1987 and the Nintendo GameBoy in 1990. Fans enjoyed the challenging—but not complicated—action that involved controlling a ghost who had to blow a bubble through a haunted mansion. If the bubble hit something and popped, you’d have to start over. The remake takes the same basic concept and turns it into a more modern game with a story, new challenges, and new characters. This time, the ghost is famous inventor…

How would you describe this story? I call it a rip-roaring monster-mayhem murder mystery that’s also about nature and how we choose to live as humans. With three witches who are best friends as the main characters, it’s also about trust and friendship. What do you hope readers take away from it? Friendships are powerful. They can change things inside you and in the world. What books did you enjoy growing up? I loved mysteries! I was into the Encyclopedia Brown books and reread them at least a thousand times. Then I progressed to reading all the Nancy Drew books. How do you spend your free time? Playing tennis. It’s my greatest passion after writing. Favorite all-time witch? Maleficent—her glamour, her voice—there’s no one like her.…