Table of contents for 531 in The Week Junior

In a new musical show, a boy teams up with Greek gods to save the day. What’s your favourite beast from Greek mythology and why? Have a look at just three of the oddest (and angriest) mythical monsters on page 22. An aurora is a natural light display caused by particles from the Sun in Earth’s atmosphere. What’s the most amazing thing you’ve spotted in the night sky? Discover the legends it inspired on page 14. Scientists hope to develop grapefruit that taste less bitter. Which fruit would be top of your list for a flavour boost? Find out how researchers are trying to breed sweeter grapefruit on page 17. The big debate Is it ok to send humans to space? Page 10.…

On 9 February, a court in Hong Kong sentenced a former newspaper owner, Jimmy Lai, to 20 years in prison. Hong Kong is part of China, and the sentence was handed out under China’s National Security Law. What is China’s relationship to Hong Kong? Hong Kong became a “special administrative region” of China in 1997. Before that it had been controlled by the UK (see panel). After this, Hong Kong mostly controlled its own affairs as part of a plan called “one country, two systems”. However, many people have accused China of taking greater control over Hong Kong, especially in the last 10 years. In 2020, China introduced the National Security Law in Hong Kong. This gave China’s government more powers to punish people who criticise it or protest against…

You can see Margaret Calvert’s work across the UK – on just about every road, in fact. In the 1950s and 1960s, Calvert and Jock Kinneir designed the signs for Britain’s roads – including the shape, design and typeface (text style). One has a cow in a red triangle to warn drivers there may be cattle on the road – and was based on a real cow called Patience. Calvert, whose work is the subject of a new book, also taught at the Royal College of Art in London for nearly 40 years. She told The Guardian newspaper that she has enjoyed drawing since the age of three or four and that design is about “improving things”.…

Coastal marten A team of researchers from Oregon State University, US, have been studying coastal martens in northern California. Scientists used to think they were extinct, until a small population was spotted in 1996. Now it’s thought they number around 500. • LIFESPAN: Up to 14 years. • HABITAT: Old, undisturbed forests. • SIZE: Up to 71 centimetres. • DIET: Mainly small mammals, as well as berries, birds, eggs, insects and reptiles. • FUN FACT: Martens are in the same family as weasels, polecats, ferrets and otters.…

Have you ever tried grapefruit? If you didn’t like the taste, you’re not alone – plenty of people are put off by the bitter flavour. Now, scientists are trying to develop grapefruit that have a less bitter taste, to encourage more people to eat it. To make grapefruit less bitter, scientists tried to reduce the levels of three chemicals in the fruit. These chemicals are called naringin, neohesperidin and poncirin. Previous studies have shown that naringin is mostly responsible for the bitterness of grapefruit but the other two chemicals also play a part. A team of scientists used a technology called CRISPR to “turn off” a specific gene in grapefruit plants that leads to the three chemicals being produced. Genes are short sections of DNA, a chemical that carries all…

The Six Nations is one of the biggest international rugby union tournaments and it is held every year. England, France, Ireland, Italy, Scotland and Wales all play one game against each other over a six-week period. On 5 February, the tournament started with France beating Ireland. There is also a women’s Six Nations which starts on 11 April. France were the champions in 2025 and their recent victory over Ireland showed how strong their team is again this year. They won 36-14 in wet conditions at the Stade de France, Paris, and scored five tries. French captain Antoine Dupont impressed and winger Louis Bielle-Biarrey scored two tries. England have not won the Six Nations title since 2020. Playing Wales at Allianz Stadium, London, they were comfortable winners by a score…

In the new musical Who Let The Gods Out?, based on a novel by Maz Evans, Elliot Hooper is juggling a few problems. His mum isn’t very well and his neighbour is trying to steal his home. As if that isn’t bad enough, he has accidentally released an evil “death daemon” into the world. With the help of a legendary family of ancient Greek gods, it’s up to Elliot to save the whole world. Evans has adapted her novel of the same name for the stage as well as writing the songs for the show with composer Luke Bateman. Bateman composed the tunes and Evans wrote the lyrics (words). She told The Week Junior that writing song lyrics that have to match up with a tune is a bit like…

GOAT In cinemas now Will is a small goat who dreams of playing roarball, a sport dominated by the world’s fiercest animals. When he gets his chance, it’s up to him to grab it with both hands – or hooves – and prove he can compete with the best ballers. Little Amélie In cinemas now The world is a mystery to Amélie until a chocolatey miracle sparks her curiosity. Set in Japan after the Second World War, this film is based on Amélie Nothomb’s novel The Character of Rain.…

What came first, the art or the story? This time the story came first. I wondered what would happen if the world had to go into lockdown on every full Moon in case people turned into werewolves. And then I imagined a group of children putting on Moon-proof cloaks and sneaking out to have fun in this deserted world. Describe this book in three words. Thrilling, emotional and (slightly) spooky. Which magical creature would you like to meet? Well, having spent the last year or two getting under the skin, so to speak, of werewolves, I’d have to say a werewolf. Ideally a friendly one. I think that, as a concept, they’re fascinating. Who’s your favourite character in the book? I think it’s Fourth (otherwise known as William Russell-Hood IV)…

Officially, Mario is a plumber but he’s rarely seen doing his actual job in games. You’re more likely to find him bouncing on platforms, racing karts and taking part in lots of different sports. Nintendo’s Switch console has already had new versions of the Mario Strikers football series and Mario Golf in recent years; now Mario is getting back on the court in Mario Tennis Fever for the Switch 2. As with those other games, there are some funny twists on the actual sport. Yes, it’s a tennis game where you hit forehands, backhands, volleys, lobs and smashes, but there are other things that you’d never see at the Wimbledon tennis tournament, such as “fever rackets”. These are tennis rackets that have special superpowers, which you can use once you’ve…

1 The opening ceremony for the Winter Olympic Games took place in which Italian city? □ a) Rome □ b) Bologna □ c) Milan 2 True or false? According to a new report, £2.8 billion was spent on UK film production last year. □ True □ False 3 Which musician became the first to sing entirely in Spanish during the Super Bowl half-time show? 4 When did humans last set foot on the Moon? □ a) 1952 □ b) 1972 □ c) 1992 5 True or false? Rebecca Cobb illustrated a book called There’s a Polar Bear on the Train. □ True □ False 6 Where do swifts live in winter, before they return to the UK to nest in April and May? 7 What is an aurora? □ a)…

The UK first took control of Hong Kong from China in 1842. Later, an agreement called the Treaty of Nanking was made, granting the UK control of parts of Hong Kong until 1997. In the 1980s, preparations began to hand it back. The governments of China and the UK signed an agreement that promised people in Hong Kong certain rights after it was handed back to China. These included freedom of speech, newspapers and TV that could criticise the authorities, and courts and judges that were free from government interference. However, many people have warned that these rights are being taken away by China.…

MODEL RAILWAY LOVERS On 7 and 8 February, train fans gathered in Doncaster, England, for the Festival of British Railway Modelling. More than 30 model railways were on display for visitors to enjoy. More than 60 traders, clubs and societies attended the event. CHILLY LAMBS Cannon Hall Farm near Barnsley, England, has received hundreds of handmade jumpers from knitters across the UK to keep newborn lambs warm. Lambs must stay warm during cold weather, so the farm put out a plea on social media for jumpers. Farmer Rob Nicholson said that the lambs can now “keep warm in style”. BIG CATS More than £13 million has been raised to help protect big cats after a drawing of a lion sold for a record amount at auction. The chalk drawing was…

The UK’s weather service, the Met Office, has launched a two-week weather forecast. Until now, the Met Office forecasts have been for seven days. Forecasters have decided that although it’s harder to be accurate over a longer time span, it’s still useful for the public to get an idea of what the weather might do. The Met Office said that recent research has shown that two-week forecasts could help people make better decisions about upcoming activities.…

Sending humans into space is a tricky business. They need air to breathe, food to eat and protection from harmful energy called radiation. There are plenty more obstacles besides these, and if anything goes wrong, astronauts are a long way from home. However, despite these challenges, rockets have launched hundreds of human beings into space since Yuri Gagarin became the first to make the journey in 1961. The Artemis 2 mission, which has captured the world’s attention, is seen by many as an important step towards sending humans to Mars. However, given the difficulties involved, is it really worth it, especially as uncrewed missions have already been there? What’s your view – is it ok to send humans to space? Yes – humans offer something special Sending uncrewed missions into…

Spot common frogs hopping to ponds to spawn The common frog hibernates (becomes inactive to save energy) over winter, but as temperatures rise they wake. Depending on what the weather is like, frogs start breeding between January and March. They emerge from muddy ponds or log piles and hop towards ponds and lakes to find a mate, and the males croak to attract females’ attention. Between eight and 13 centimetres long, common frogs have smooth skin in blotched colours – green, brown, reddish or yellow. They have a dark “mask” around the eyes and long, striped back legs. Females lay frogspawn, which can contain up to 2,000 tiny black eggs in clear jelly-like clusters. Tadpoles emerge around three weeks later and become froglets in about 16 weeks. Common frogs drink…

Florida’s iguanas Chilly conditions in Florida, US, have recently caused iguanas to drop from trees because they’re so cold. Iguanas are reptiles, which means that their internal body temperature is affected by the weather. When they get too cold, their bodies’ internal processes slow down, so they can’t move and can fall off branches. Iguanas are not native to Florida and they damage the local environment, so local officials have put a lot of them to sleep.…

Exciting new research suggests that a portrait painter in the 16th century tried to use art to show that Anne Boleyn was not a witch. Anne Boleyn was the second wife of King Henry VIII and the mother of Queen Elizabeth I, who went on to rule England from 1558 to 1603. A picture of Anne that was probably painted when Elizabeth was Queen is different to other portraits of Anne. The painting is kept at Hever Castle in Kent, England, where Anne grew up. It shows her holding a rose, with her hands clearly visible. However, that was not the original plan for the painting, according to the sketches underneath it. Researchers at the Hamilton Kerr Institute in Cambridge, England, used an infrared camera (see panel) to look underneath…

Scientists think they’ve found the earliest evidence of wooden tools that were used by humans. The two items were found in a mine (a pit in the ground from which natural materials are dug out) in southern Greece. They are thought to be around 430,000 years old – 40,000 years older than any other known wooden tools. One of the pieces of wood is 81 centimetres long and was made from an alder tree. It has carving and chopping marks, which suggest it was made by humans. One end is rounded and could have been a handle, and the other end is flattened. The scientists think it was used for digging or for removing tree bark. The other piece, which also has carving and chopping marks, is just 5.7 centimetres…

Katie Boulter British tennis player Boulter beat Tamara Korpatsch, from Germany, in the final of the Ostrava Open tournament, Czech Republic. Seattle Seahawks In the NFL (National Football League) the Seattle Seahawks defeated the New England Patriots 29-13 to win the Super Bowl for the second time. Linn Svahn, Jonna Sundling and Maja Dahlqvist The Swedes won gold, silver and bronze in the women’s cross-country skiing sprint classic at the Winter Olympics. Matt Richardson Richardson won two gold medals for Great Britain at the European Track Cycling Championships in Konya, Turkey.…

So You Think You’ve Got it Bad? A Kid’s Life in a Medieval Castle by Chae Strathie. Illustrated by Marisa Morea (Nosy Crow) If you’ve ever wanted to live in a medieval castle, this book might make you think again. Find out what you’d eat and what you’d wear, and what it’s like to be under siege (when a castle is surrounded by enemies). Castles (DK) Travel across the world and through time to visit some of the world’s best and most unusual castles – from the extravagant châteaux of France to the towering fortresses of Japan. This illustrated fact book explores topics such as how castles changed through history, the different people who lived in them and the dramatic battles fought to conquer them. Where’s Dragon in His Castle?…

Name: Mark Alan, King of the Universe by Tom McLaughlin “Funny, humorous, amazing! This book will make you laugh out loud until you squirt milk out of your nose!” YOUR TURN Please email your book review to hello@theweekjunior.co.uk. If it is printed in the magazine you will receive a Roving Reporter badge. Describe your chosen book in three words, tell us what you liked about it and why you would recommend it to others. 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.futureplc.com/privacy-policy…

What you need Serves 6 • 6 apples, peeled and cut into chunks• 4tbsp maple syrup• 250g blueberries• 80g butter• 100g plain flour• 50g oats• 4tbsp light brown sugar• 50g nuts• 1tsp ground cinnamon• 6tbsp seeds• Knife for chopping• Apple peeler• Baking tray• Mixing bowl• Wooden spoon• Ovenproof dish Cold and rainy weather means it’s nice to eat warm and comforting food. Apples and blueberries give this recipe a naturally sweet flavour, and adding nuts and seeds to the crumble topping gives it a nice crunch. If you don’t like blueberries, you can use frozen blackberries or raspberries but thaw them out first. Use whatever nuts and seeds you enjoy – walnuts or hazelnuts, pumpkin or sesame seeds. Chop or crush bigger nuts. Serve your crumble warm from the oven…

Wordsearch Can you find all of the words listed here? They are hidden horizontally, vertically or diagonally and may read forwards or backwards. BINARY BLUETOOTH CODE COMPUTING DATA DESKTOP DOWNLOAD FIREWALL HARDWARE KEYBOARD LAPTOP MONITOR MOUSE NETWORK PASSWORD PROGRAM REBOOT SOFTWARE SYSTEM USER Sudoku Place the numbers from 1 to 6 exactly once in each row, column and 2x3 bold-lined box, to complete the grid. Split words Join up the pairs or groups of letters to find words related to rain. Number fit All of these numbers fit in the grid. Can you work out where they go? We’ve placed one to start you off. 3 numbers 871 911 4 numbers 6042 9726 5 numbers 26846 40271 6 numbers 168308 326876 448867 7 numbers 3270526 6710812 8785224 8 numbers 30215252…

Teacher’s name: Mr Collis School: Appleton C of E Primary School, Oxfordshire, England “Mr Collis is kind, thoughtful and considerate of the people around him. He has eyes in the back of his head as he seems to see everyone that needs help in the blink of an eye. He understands our feelings and tries his best to sort all confrontations out. This is why he deserves to be the Teacher of the Week!” Aled 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 JOKE OF THE WEEK “What did the burglar name his son? Nick.” Victor…

Our Animals and Environment section (pages 12–13) this week is packed with positive stories but my favourite is our cover story. The National Trust and its partners are building an island in the Blackwater Estuary in Essex, England, using recycled boats. The area is full of rare and precious habitats that attract birds from all over the world. Not only do they protect birds and many other plants and creatures, these habitats help to prevent flooding by absorbing vast amounts of water, and they soak up carbon that warms the planet. There’s also a great story about helping swifts in Scotland by using “swift bricks” in buildings to encourage the little birds to nest. I’d love to have swifts nesting in my house! They swoop around in the morning and…

On 6 February, the European Union (EU) announced that social media platform TikTok must change its “addictive design” or risk a fine (money paid as punishment). The EU is a group of 27 countries that work and trade together. The UK is not part of the EU. The European Commission, the part of the EU that makes and enforces laws, began its investigation into TikTok in 2024. It found that the “addictive design” of TikTok broke the rules of the Digital Services Act. This act introduced changes to make being online safer for people living in the EU. The commission said that the way TikTok encourages people to keep scrolling and “rewards” users with new content could be harmful for children and adults. It has recommended that TikTok should make…

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has been under pressure to resign because of his decision to appoint politician Peter Mandelson to work in his Government, even though Starmer knew Mandelson had connections with a convicted criminal. Who is Peter Mandelson? Peter Mandelson has been an important figure in the Labour Party since the 1980s. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) for Hartlepool, England, from 1992 to 2004. He also had several senior jobs in the Government from 1997 to 2010. In 2024, Starmer appointed Mandelson as the UK’s ambassador to the US. An ambassador is a senior official representing their country in another country. It was known that Mandelson had connections to a convicted criminal. Mandelson was fired as ambassador in September 2025, after more information came out about…

Illustrator Rebecca Cobb told The Week Junior that she has always loved drawing. “My mum’s very good at drawing,” she says, “so she did a lot of drawing with me. I remember wanting to be as good at drawing as her.” In the end, Cobb’s practice paid off and, as an adult, she went on to win awards. Last year, There’s A Tiger on The Train – written by Mariesa Dulak and illustrated by Cobb – won Children’s Picture Book of the Year at The Week Junior Book Awards. Cobb knew she wanted to become an illustrator when she learned about a course at an art college in Falmouth, England. Until then, she’d always known she wanted to draw, but didn’t know how to make that a job. The first…

The National Trust, a UK conservation charity, has sunk three large boats into the Blackwater Estuary in Essex, England, to create an artificial island. Birds can roost there, and the structure will protect the area’s saltmarshes (see panel). An estuary is a place where a river widens and flows into the sea, and the Blackwater Estuary is home to some of the UK’s most threatened sea birds. It’s hoped that the artificial island will be a safe place for these birds, including avocets, dunlins, curlews, lapwings, oystercatchers and ringed plovers. The National Trust and its partners are creating the island at the edge of the saltmarsh, where the ocean meets the land during high and low tide. The old boats are barges that once carried all sorts of heavy cargo,…

At the end of January, the Scottish parliament voted in favour of passing a law that means all new buildings must feature “swift bricks”. These are hollow (empty) bricks with a small hole, so that swifts can nest inside them. During winter, swifts live in Africa where it’s warmer. In April and May, they fly back to the UK to nest. Swifts once liked to nest in trees and cliffs, but these days they prefer nesting in the roofs of old buildings, such as churches or houses. Unfortunately, lots of modern buildings don’t have the gaps the birds use to get under the roof. This means it’s harder for them to find somewhere to nest and raise their chicks. As a result, the population in the UK has fallen by…

This February, dark skies festivals are taking place at national parks across the UK. The events are a chance for people to observe and discuss the night sky, including stars, planets and a dazzling display of dancing lights called an aurora. What is an aurora? An aurora is a natural light display caused by particles from the Sun interacting with Earth’s atmosphere. It appears as colourful lights that can be seen on clear and dark nights. Auroras happen in both the northern and southern hemispheres (north or south of the equator – an imaginary line that runs around the middle of the planet). They get their name from Aurora, the ancient Roman goddess of the dawn. In the north it is called the aurora borealis, or northern lights; in the…

Mini robot flies like a bee Researchers at MIT (the Massachusetts Institute of Technology) in the US, have developed a miniature flying robot that weighs less than a gram and can fly as fast as a bumblebee. The robot can fit through tight spaces and could one day be used to helpfind people who are trapped and in need of rescue. The robot can flap its wings 330 times per second and do somersaults in the air. MIT scientists say it will probably be five to 10 years before the little robots can be used in real-life rescue missions. Enjoy these stories? Find more in this month’s The Week Junior Science+Nature magazine sciencenature.theweekjunior.co.uk…

Being able to use your initiative is an important skill to have because it can benefit you in lots of ways when you grow up – but what does it mean and where do you start? What does using your initiative mean? Using your initiative means helping out or solving a problem without being told or asked to do it. It’s about taking action when you see something that needs to be done or to change a situation. This could be getting started with your work at school before the teacher tells you to, or noticing that your friend is struggling with schoolwork and offering to work together to help. When you take the initiative, it helps you in lots of ways. “When children take initiative, they practise making decisions…

A new trailer for The Super Mario Galaxy Movie has been released that gives fans a first look at Yoshi, the dinosaur-like creature from the Super Mario video games. The trailer opens with Mario and Luigi riding motorbikes through the desert. They enter the Inverted Pyramid – an upside-down pyramid that features in the Super Mario Odyssey game – before coming across Yoshi. The Super Mario Galaxy Movie is a sequel to The Super Mario Bros. Movie, released in 2023. Fans have been looking forward to seeing Yoshi ever since that film, because a scene after the end credits showed a green Yoshi egg beginning to hatch. There hasn’t been much revealed about the story of the film but the trailers show there are plenty of returning characters from the first…

by Rob Biddulph (Macmillan Children’s Books) Werewolves are creatures of legend – people who transform into wolves under the light of a full Moon. They are found in stories going all the way back to ancient Greece and Rome, as well as in modern-day horror stories and films. This new adventure story from author and illustrator Rob Biddulph puts a fresh spin on tales of ferocious werewolves. It’s set in the town of Moonhaven, a place where werewolves are real and everyone stays inside on nights when the Moon is full. Everyone, that is, except for twins Jax and Jovi and their friends, who like to sneak out and roam around the deserted town without anyone knowing. One night, everything changes when they hear a spine-tingling howl. Can the friends…

To tie in with World Book Day on 5 March, a new instalment of the Pia’s Pet Club series has just been released. The books, written by Serena Patel, are about a girl who loves pets but isn’t allowed one of her own. Here, the books’ illustrator Emma McCann gives her four top tips for drawing pets, just in time for National Love Your Pet Day on 20 February. 1 Realism isn’t essential McCann says that you don’t need to make your drawing super realistic. You can look at photos of pets for inspiration but it’s important to remember that your own drawing is not a photo and does not have to look like one. 2 Use simple shapes You can break your drawing down into shapes such as ovals,…

Super soaker wins contest Did you know that capybaras love to relax in a warm bath? Last month, five zoos in Japan held a contest to see which of their capybaras spent the longest time in the tub. The winner was called Prune, who spent one hour, 45 minutes and 18 seconds soaking in the bath at Nagasaki Bio Park in Saikai. The capybaras in second and third place stayed in their baths for about an hour and a half. However, not all of them were in the mood to relax. Sheeta at Ishikawa Zoo only stayed in the water for 17 seconds. Oxford’s wig takeover Home to the oldest university in the English-speaking world, Oxford, England, is filled with history, and now there’s another sight to see – statues…

Name: Krishnaa “I am writing to you about what my local library is facing right now.Our local library opening times are likely to be reduced. Our library has been petitioning and has been completely against this. Ottery St Mary Library, in Devon, England, is run by staff – and volunteers who are giving up their free time. Reading helps children’s imagination and I feel that cutting down library times will not help. People must have their say about what matters to them. Libraries don’t just have books but they bring people together as a community. If library times are cut down, people who cannot travel will miss out and others will maybe have to travel far to get a nice book or enjoy a community space.”…

The Orwell Youth Prize is open to storytellers, poets, aspiring journalists and researchers – or any pupil aged from 11 to 18 who has something to say. Inspired by the famous author George Orwell (1903–1950), the competition invites you to enter with a piece of writing on this year’s theme of Truth. Although the deadline is 29 April, every entry submitted before 25 February will receive some helpful feedback. Judges include writer and online journalist Sophia Smith Galer, journalist James Bloodworth and children’s author Nandana Dev Sen. For more details, ask an adult to visit tinyurl.com/TWJ-orwell WIN A BADGE! Email your news, views and pictures to hello@theweekjunior.co.uk Please include your full name and address so that we can send you a Roving Reporter badge if your contribution makes it onto…

“I was doing a new year clear-out but I could not bear to get rid of five years’ worth of The Week Juniors! Me and my cat Shadow decided to get creative instead.”Martha “Our Mamó (grandmother, in Irish) taught my sister Esme and me to crochet over the Christmas holidays.”Faye “We made the paper birds from issue 528. They are very colourful and we had great fun making them.”Amaya and Kieran “Amur leopards are my favourite animal and have been since I found out that there are only about 100 left in the wild. I loved the poster of one in issue 528 and wanted to draw it immediately.”Alex Plastic FREE We’re proud to be plastic-free The Week Junior is delivered without a wrapper. This decision was made in response…