Innholdsfortegnelse for 309 i The Week Junior

On 12 November, COP26, the United Nations climate change conference was due to finish after two weeks. At the time The Week Junior went to press, a number of agreements had been made. What is COP26? Held in Glasgow, Scotland, COP26 was a meeting of world leaders to discuss how they can combat climate change. Climate change is long-term changes in world weather patterns. Human activities such as burning fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas), farming and cutting down forests make climate change worse. Climate change is caused by rising temperatures, also known as global warming. This can lead to extreme weather, such as heatwaves and flooding. In particular, world leaders want to try and limit global warming to 1.5°C by the end of this century. What has been agreed?…

Preet Chandi, also known as Polar Preet, has been dragging a tyre around Derby, England. Speaking to The Guardian newspaper, Chandi explained that this is part of the training for her expedition to become the first woman of colour to complete a solo unsupported trek across Antarctica to the South Pole. Dragging a heavy tyre is her preparation for pulling a 95-kilogram sled that will carry all her supplies. Chandi hopes that her mission will change the idea of what’s expected of people of an Asian background. She said, “It doesn’t matter that you are not the image that society expects to see, you can do it regardless.”…

At this time of year it gets dark earlier, the temperature drops and people start to feel the cold. However, constantly turning up the heating to full blast to get warm is not great for the environment, and it can cost a lot of money in fuel bills. Instead, there are several practical and easy steps you can take to keep yourself and your house warmer. Firstly, if you are cold, you could put on warm clothes or extra layers, or you could wrap yourself up in a blanket and use a hot water bottle. To keep whole rooms warm, try to reduce cold air blowing in under doorways by using draught excluders, and draw curtains across the windows at night to keep the cold out and warm air in.…

ASK A ZOOKEEPER It really depends on the insect. Monarch butterflies travel long distances to spend the winter in warmer weather but some other butterflies – like the red admiral – will find warm places to rest, often in homes and garages. Crickets and grasshoppers lay eggs in the ground to hatch the next spring or summer. Honey bees huddle together in their hives and vibrate their wings and bodies to keep warm. Enjoy unlimited visits to ZSL London and Whipsnade Zoos, plus a host of other benefits with ZSL Membership. Find out more at zsl.org/membership/zsl-membership…

468BC The Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal in China was built in 468BC. It is the oldest and longest canal in the world, stretching 1,103 miles between north and south China. 32,000 The number of ships passing through the Kiel Canal in Germany each year, carrying 100 million tonnes of goods. It is the busiest canal in the world. 137 miles The length of the longest canal in the UK, the Grand Union Canal. It connects London to Birmingham. 400 metres In March this year, a ship called the Ever Given got stuck in the Suez Canal. It was 400 metres long – that’s bigger than the Empire State Building in New York, US (which is 381 metres from the street to the roof).…

Scientists have found that an enormous storm on Jupiter called the Great Red Spot is deeper than they first thought. Discovered in 1831, the spot is a storm that’s been raging on Jupiter for centuries and is wider than Earth. In 2019, NASA’s Juno spacecraft flew over the storm twice to try and find out how deep it goes. Juno has been flying round Jupiter since 2016, taking pictures of the planet to try and find out more about its atmosphere, which makes up nearly all of the giant planet’s interior. The results of Juno’s work suggests that the Great Red Spot could be up to 310 miles deep. This is about 40 times deeper than the Marianas Trench, which is the deepest point in the Earth’s oceans. NASA scientist…

Lucy Renshall Renshall was awarded gold for Great Britain in the judo Grand Slam competition in Azerbaijan. Britain’s Chelsie Giles won a silver medal at the same event. Max Verstappen The F1 driver won the Mexico Grand Prix to extend his lead at the top of the championship to 19 points ahead of Lewis Hamilton. Atlanta Braves They won baseball’s World Series title in the US after beating the Houston Astros by four games to two. It is their first championship since 1995 and their fourth World Series overall. Norwich City A 2-1 win against Brentford gave Norwich their first victory in the Premier League this season.…

In Eternals, Lauren Ridloff stars as Makkari, who is the MCU’s first deaf superhero. Ridloff was born deaf and worked as a teacher before becoming an actor. In the film, Makkari’s deafness is part of her powers. Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter magazine, Ridloff said, “I didn’t dream of becoming an actor because I didn’t see enough of myself on the screen. I didn’t get to dream that big, so now, with Eternals, I’m hoping that more people will be able to dream bigger. If I can do it, they can do it.” Although Ridloff is the first deaf superhero in the MCU, she won’t be the last. Ridloff told Reuters news agency, “There’s another deaf superhero coming into the MCU very soon, so this is definitely a game changer.”…

Home Sweet Home Alone Available now on Disney + This is a new version of the original Home Alone film, in which a boy is accidentally left on his own over Christmas and must defend his house from burglars. Max is the clever star of this show, who is left all by himself when his family goes to Japan for the holidays. Scotland’s Best Dog 8pm on 18 November, BBC Scotland This programme is searching to crown the best pet dog in Scotland, according to three criteria: recall, agility skills and bond with the owner. Dogs include a deaf Dalmatian, a rescue dog and a husky-Pomeranian cross. Animal Available now on Netflix This nature documentary series features some incredible footage of eight animal families, including wild dogs, kangaroos and lions.…

Which character in the book is most like you? I suppose there’s a bit of me in all my characters but, choosing from the six sisters in this book, I think I’m largely Willa, with a bit of Freya’s bossiness and a dollop of Grace’s dreaminess! Do you have any hobbies? I love making jewellery, singing and gardening. At the moment, though, the closest thing I have to a hobby (apart from reading) is walking in the countryside. What is your favourite film? I have recently discovered the wonderful world of Studio Ghibli – I love the magical nature of the animations, the sense of atmosphere and the beautiful detail in the landscapes. Two of my favourites are Howl’s Moving Castle and Porco Rosso. Is the marsh in the book…

Read the clues carefully and write the answers into the grid. Across 1 Aquatic bird (4) 3 Gems found in oysters (6) 8 Huge frozen mass (7) 9 Honey-making insect (3) 10 Prehistoric rock circle on Salisbury Plain (10) 13 Luxury car manufacturer (5-5) 17 Garden vegetable (3) 18 Smoke outlet seen on a rooftop (7) 19 Furniture compartment (6) 20 School fair (4) Down 1 Slow tap leak (4) 2 Box containing hidden treasure (5) 4 Breakfast food (3) 5 Red-breasted bird (5) 6 Country next to Norway (6) 7 Sport played at Wimbledon (6) 11 Tracksuit top (6) 12 Three-legged camera stand (6) 14 Woolly South American animal (5) 15 Small narrow boat (5) 16 Rubber wheelcovering (4) 18 Snooker stick (3)…

Name: Imaan and Aila “Over the summer we started making jewellery from beads, hearts and smiley faces. We discovered that the smiley face ones looked the best, so we made a range of lots of different colours on various coloured chains. We thought it would be a great idea to fundraise for the charity Save the Children, so we started selling our jewellery. We were first spotted at the Chiswick antique fair, where we raised our first £200. We were then approached by Mary’s Living a charity store that now stocks our gold and silver chain smiley necklaces. All profits from Mary’s Living go to the Save the Children charity. Our recent Halloween collection is being sold in our local toy shop, Snap Dragon. Local businesses in Chiswick have been…

Teacher’s name: Mrs Foxford School: Denbury Primary School, Devon “Mrs Foxford is a brilliant teacher because she spends so much time at school and home working on fun activities for us to do. She always answers our messages, and she comments on all of our work when we post it on our learning platform. She’s brilliant!”Harry If we pick your teacher as Teacher of the Week, we’ll send your school three free issues of The Week Junior. Send your nominations, along with a picture of your teacher and your school’s full name and address, to hello@theweekjunior.co.uk…

1 How long was COP26? ⬜ a) One week ⬜ b) Two weeks ⬜ c) Three weeks 2 True or false? Hogwarts is in Wales. ⬜ True ⬜ False 3 Which video game is getting shut down in China? 4 Which Toy Story character is getting his own spin-off film? ⬜ a) Buzz Lightyear ⬜ b) Woody ⬜ c) Mr Potato Head 5 True or false? David Loftus is a food photographer. ⬜ True ⬜ False 6 What kind of female bird can reproduce without a male partner? 7 Where is the oldest canal in the world? ⬜ a) China ⬜ b) Germany ⬜ c) The UK 8 True or false? The Great Red Spot on Jupiter is wider than Earth. ⬜ True ⬜ False 9 On a wall mural…

The UK Government has announced plans for a new award for tackling climate change, inspired by the Duke of Edinburgh Award (DofE). The Climate Leaders Award will help young people develop their skills for helping the planet. By taking on projects in their local communities, they could win an award at an annual awards ceremony. There will be three levels of award: gold, silver and bronze. Students can start at bronze and work their way up. The new award was announced by education secretary Nadhim Zahawi at COP26.…

SAVING LIVES Eight teenagers who helped save the lives of two swimmers have been praised at a lifeboat station in Hastings, England. They saw the exhausted swimmers were in danger, so threw them a life ring, pulled them to the rocks and waited for a lifeboat. A HEROIC DOG A statue of a dog and a soldier who served in the British Army during the Second World War (1939–1945) has been erected in the town of Strathaven in Scotland. Jimmy Muldoon was saved from drowning by the German shepherd, called Khan. Muldoon’s son Jim said, “There’s no doubt he saved my father’s life, because he couldn’t swim.” A MAGNIFICENT POPPY DISPLAY A woman in Dorset, England, has covered her house in 1,000 poppies to mark Remembrance Day and raise funds…

“Where are the great new characters and stories going to come from if we keep dipping into past triumphs for every film?” asked film critic and author Helen O’Hara in a recent article in The Guardian newspaper. O’Hara was talking about Disney and Pixar’s new film Lightyear. She argues that although the film may be good fun to watch, it is just a variation on a character we already know. However, some fans want to learn more about the characters they love. Actor Timothée Chalamet has been spotted filming scenes for a new film called Wonka, about the early life of Willy Wonka from Roald Dahl’s story Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It will be the third film based on the story. What do you think? Are you hungry for…

Honey bees keep a distance from each other to slow down the spread of dangerous pests in their hives, according to new research. Scientists found that the bees use their own form of “social distancing” to protect the most important parts of the hive – just as people kept a greater distance from each other to slow the spread of Covid-19. The researchers looked at bee colonies on the Italian island of Sardinia. They wanted to see how the insects behaved in hives that were infected with a tiny mite called Varroa destructor, compared with hives that had been treated to remove the infection. Varroa is a parasite (a living thing that lives on or in another creature) that attaches itself to bees. The scientists used cameras to record the…

They were originally built as the motorways of their time, but the UK’s canals have now become some of the country’s most beautiful and enjoyable locations. The Canal and River Trust, a charity that looks after 2,000 miles of canals and rivers in England and Wales, recently commissioned a study into what makes these waterways so appealing. What is a canal? A canal is a human-made channel of water. They were often created to allow boats to sail between different bodies of water. They have also been built as shortcuts between cities or continents. For example, the Suez Canal was built in Egypt in the 1860s to connect Europe and Asia. It cut 4,500 miles off the voyage from the UK to India. Ships previously had to sail all the…

Researchers say they’ve identified a new species of human relative, which they have called Homo bodoensis. The species lived in Africa around 500,000 years ago, and the scientists behind the discovery think it was the direct ancestor of modern humans. Homo bodoensis (meaning “human from Bodo”) was identified in a new study of African remains from hominid (human-related) species, including a skull found at Bodo D’ar in Ethiopia in 1976. It lived in the Middle Pleistocene period of prehistory – a time called the “muddle in the middle” by some researchers because of confusion about how the modern human species Homo sapiens, evolved. When modern humans appeared in Africa about 300,000 years ago, several other now-extinct hominids shared their world. Most famous of these were the Neanderthals – cousine of…

GRANTHAM CLIMATE ART PRIZE MURALS…

Have you ever been picked on and then had someone give you a hug or ask if you’re ok? How did you feel? Showing your support to people who are in a difficult situation such as being bullied, is an important life skill. It is also an act of kindness that will help others and can break the cycle of unfair treatment. Anti-Bullying Week run from 15 to 19 November. It’s an event that raises awareness of bullying and the best ways to respond to it. What can I do to help? “It doesn’t matter what colour hair you have; what trainers you’re wearing; how you talk – no one deserves to be bullied,” says Martha Evans of the Anti-Bullying Alliance charity. Being an ally is one way you can…

Kicking Off by Eve Ainsworth (UCLan Publishing) Britain is at war and a shy teenager called Hettie starts work at a factory to help the war effort. There, she meets women who are about to make sporting history. Will she be brave enough to join them? Based on the true story of Lancashire’s Dick, Kerr Ladies Football Club, this is an inspiring read. The Dream Team: Jaz Santos vs The World by Priscilla Mante (Puffin) Jaz Santos is having problems at school and at home but she can always take refuge in playing football. Now she’s formed the Bramrock Stars – a new football team! This group of very different characters have to learn to work together and prove to everyone that girls can play football too. Girls FC: Can…

Name: Anjali Pages & Co: Tilly And The Bookwanderers by Anna James “This is my favourite book! It is about an 11-year-old girl who travels into different books. It is filled with magic and mystery.” YOUR TURN Email your book review to hello@theweekjunior.co.uk. If your review is printed in the magazine you’ll receive a Roving Reporter badge. Tell us what you liked about the book and why you’d recommend it to others, and don’t forget to include your name and address.* *If you are the competition winner, we will only use the details you provide to contact you and arrange delivery of your competition prize. Further details about how we manage the data you provide can be found at www.dennis.co.uk/privacy-policy…

Factory’s wall of 1,000 buttons Have you ever decided to press all the buttons in a lift before getting out? A factory tour in Tokyo, Japan, is encouraging visitors to do just that. The Shimada Electric Manufacturing Company specialises in making buttons for lifts. Its factory tour ends with a wall of more than 1,000 buttons, which people can press on their way out. The company tweeted, “We love how when kids see the 1,000 buttons at the end of the factory tour, you can tell they’ve decided ‘I’m going to push all of them.’” A big smiley face made from trees People driving between the US towns of Willamina and Grand Ronde, in the state of Oregon, are being cheered up by a big smiley face composed of trees…

Inspired Tales writing competition This fantastic competition from Yoto, the audio player for kids, is designed to get you exploring and using your own creativity to come up with an original story. Inspired Tales is open to anyone under 15, with two age categories – under nine and nine to 14. Your story entry can be sent in as a text document or as an audio recording. The competition is supported by the National Literacy Trust, as well as author Sophie Dahl (Roald Dahl’s granddaughter), who will be one of the competition judges. Be sure to send your entry in before the 31 December deadline. Head to tinyurl.com/InspiredTales to find out more. GET INVOLVED Email yournews, views and pictures to hello@theweekjunior.co.uk…

Follow The Week Junior on PopJam @TheWeekJunior. You can download the PopJam app from the App Store or Google Play. Last week we asked you if drones should replace fireworks. You “Yes! It will look cool and won’t hurt animals’ ears!” “No. You don’t get the same atmosphere and Bonfire Night wouldn’t be the same.“ “Yes! They are better for the environment and do not scare animals.” “No way! Getting rid of the noise and explosions is breaking tradition.” Tell us what you think of this week’s issue and we’ll print some of the best comments here.…

Calling all budding artists! We’d like you to design your very own festive front cover for The Week Junior’s annual cover competition. The winning entry will be the star of the show, appearing as the front cover of The Week Junior’s Christmas issue. The theme for this year’s competition is HAPPY HOLIDAYS. Interpret this in whatever way you like, but we would love to see a fun, bright, beautiful cover that is a celebration of whatever the festive season means to you. Entries will be judged by our resident art expert Olaf Falafel and by illustrators Selom Sunu and Penny Neville-Lee. Falafel’s top tip is to use magazines, comics or adverts for inspiration. “Be a sponge!” he says. “Soak up everything you see.” Selom Sunu suggests doing “tiny scribbly versions…

The first thing David Loftus ever learned to cook was a well-known pasta dish. His mother was a full-time doctor and Loftus said she taught him how to make “the perfect spaghetti bolognese”. Speaking to The Week Junior, he explained, “If she couldn’t get home by a certain time, she would call and say, ‘Poppet, could you just make spaghetti bolognese?’” Now, Loftus is a world-famous food photographer. His pictures have featured in cookery books by famous chefs, such as Jamie Oliver. He is also one of the judges of the Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year Awards, which has special categories for young people. Spaghetti bolognese might be Loftus’s favourite meal to cook but it’s not the best to photograph. He says it’s hard to make any food…

The largest animals on Earth eat three times more food than scientists previously thought – and they poo a lot more, too – according to a new study. The surprising findings could provide a better understanding of how to protect oceans, because poo from gigantic baleen whales is a vital source of nutrients for other sea life. Baleen whales are a group of 14 species (including blue, grey and humpback whales) that have bristly filters in their mouths instead of teeth. Despite their huge size, they eat tiny sea creatures. Their favourite is a shrimp-like creature called krill. Working out how much a whale eats is tricky because they swim hundreds of metres below the surface. Matthew Savoca of Stanford University in the US, who led the study, told National…

Scientists have found that female California condors can sometimes reproduce without a male partner. Discovering how they manage this rare trick could lead to new ways of helping these critically endangered birds. Upto60yearsin the wild. Alongthewestcoastof North America, in landscapes ranging from beaches and meadows to mountains and forests. Theirwingspancanreachup to three metres. Theyscavengeondeadanimals – especially deer. Thesemajesticbirdscansoar at up to 4,500 metres – about half the cruising height of a jet aircraft.…

Amsterdam The capital city of the Netherlands has a network of canals known as the Grachtengordel. The canals were built in the 17th century, along with many of the surrounding buildings. The city has more than 165 canals and 1,200 bridges. Panama Canal Completed in 1914, the Panama Canal stretches 40 miles between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. It allows ships to travel between the two without having to sail all the way around the southern tip of South America – cutting the journey by 8,000 miles. Venice The Italian city of Venice is famous for having canals instead of roads. Motor boats, water buses and sleek black gondolas (a traditional flat-bottomed boat) glide along the water. Grand houses line the canals and there are around 400 bridges.…

A study suggests that a group of 50 small, human-like footprints, found on the Greek island of Crete in 2002, could be more than six million years old. A team from Germany’s University of Tübingen say this would make them almost 2.5 million years older than footprints from Laetoli in Tanzania, which most experts regard as the first signs of upright walking by human relatives. The Tübingen team say the prints could have been made by an early human ancestor called Graecopithecus but others think they were made by an extinct European ape.…

At the 2008 summer Olympic Games in Beijing, China, Montell Douglas competed as a runner in the 100-metre sprint and 100-metre relay races. Her dream now is to be the first British female to take part in both a summer and winter Games. Beijing is hosting the 2022 Winter Olympics next February, too. Douglas switched from running to the speedy winter sport of bobsleigh in 2016. She went to the Winter Olympics in 2018 as a reserve but now wants to go a stage further and compete. “Beijing will be the only city to have held a summer and winter Olympics and being there is part of my goal,” Douglas told The Week Juniot. “The bobsleigh team is selected in January, so the next eight weeks are important as we race…

In July 1976, Marvel Comics introduced the world to the Eternals. Created by writer Jack Kirby, the Eternals are a group of immortal beings who have been living secretly on Earth for thousands of years. During that time, they have looked after the human race and protected the world from the monstrous Deviants. Along with Stan Lee, Kirby created some of Marvel’s most famous characters, including Iron Man and the Hulk. Now, the Eternals are coming to the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) in a new film directed by Chloé Zhao. Earlier this year, in April, Zhao became just the second woman – and the first woman of colour – to win the Best Director prize at the Oscars. The Oscars are the film industry’s most famous awards. Although the Eternals…

The Cutting Edge (1992) DVD Here’s a film that on the surface is about an ice-skating competition but actually it’s a story inspired by the works of the famous playwright William Shakespeare. It was described at the time of its release as Shakespeare’s play The Taming of the Shrew but on ice, and it tells the story of a skater and a former player who don’t really get on. In a pretty predictable way, they have to put aside their differences to come together and try to win an Olympic gold medal in figure skating. There’s a bit of romance too, but what makes the film really work is the skating sequences. Sequels followed, released in 2006, 2008 and 2010, but this original film from 1992 is still the best.…

by Lucy Strange (Chicken House) Willa and her five sisters are motherless girls, leading a tough life working on their family’s farm. The live in fear of their cruel father and a superstition that fills his mind, “the Curse of Six Daughters”. Their beloved grandmother tries to protect them but their future looks bleak. When the mysterious Full Moon Fayre arrives at Hollow-in-the-Marsh, Willa’s older sister Grace disappears. She is escaping the miserable marriage her father has arranged for her but trouble strikes and Willa must set out in search of her sister. Soon she is following the trail through the dangerous Lost Marsh, where it is said that a will-o’-the-wisp lures lost souls into the dark waters… Inspired by old folk tales, this spooky and beautifully written story makes…

Olaf Falafel is a children’s author, illustrator, dad and a comedian. During the various lockdowns he ran an online Art Club (tinyurl.com/TWJ-olafart). This year, he will be a judge for The Week Junior’s cover competition, helping choose a reader’s creation for the front of the Christmas issue (find out more on page 31). Here are his tips on getting creative. Over to you, Olaf… “I’ve recently finished the drawings for a new book called Unleash Your Creative Monster. I don’t just illustrate children’s books, though; I also create murals on walls, designs for T-shirts and images for advertising campaigns. I love illustrating because it is so varied. Here are my top eight tips or being a superstar illustrator. You ever know, it might help you win he competition. And remember…

I don’t know about you, but it feels as though this year has flown by. I can’t believe it’s already nearly the middle of November, which means that Christmas is now well and truly on the horizon. If you simply can’t wait that long, then we have a competition which is sure to get you in the festive mood, even if strictly speaking, it’s still just a little too early for Christmas films, songs and mince pies. Turn to page 31 to get all the details of this year’s Christmas cover competition. We want YOU to design our festive front cover to see the year out in style, and we can’t wait to team up with our celebrity judges to look through all your wonderful creations – it really is…

If you’ve enjoyed this issue of The Week Junior, why not listen to our podcast, The Week Junior Show. This week, Bex from Fun Kids radio and members of The Week Junior team discuss fictional places, diversity in children’s books and gigantic whales. Have a listen at tinyurl.com/TWJshow, or wherever you get your podcasts. Please include your full name and address so that we can send you a Roving Reporter badge if your contribution makes it onto the page. We will only use the details you provide to arrange delivery of badges, and we will not share them with anyone else. By submitting your reports and pictures, you give consent to The Week Junior to print them in the magazine and digital editions. We reserve the right to edit contributions…