Table of contents for 375 in The Week Junior

Aid from countries around the world has been arriving in Turkey and Syria to help survivors of two big earthquakes and local rescue teams. What happened? On the morning of 6 February, a 7.8 magnitude earthquake destroyed buildings and roads in south-east Turkey and northern Syria. The “magnitude” of an earthquake refers to how strong it is. Earthquakes with a magnitude between 7 and 7.9 on the Richter scale (used to measure the size of an earthquake) are defined as major earthquakes that cause serious damage. At the time The Week Junior went to press, at least 41,000 people were known to have died. A further 17 million people have been affected in some way, with many in urgent need of food, medical help and shelter. What’s happening in Turkey?…

Being accepted onto Channel 4’s Junior Bake Off programme was “a wow moment” for 12-year-old Amelia but she never imagined she would win. Amelia impressed the judges with her lemon meringues, mini sticky toffee puddings and showstopper cake. Despite tricky moments, like when her cake fell on the floor in the first episode, Amelia kept whisking, whipping and baking to win the title. “I would really recommend any junior bakers out there to apply,” she says. As well as baking, Amelia spends 20 hours a week training in gymnastics. She hopes to open her own cake and pastry shop one day.…

Codebreakers working on letters sent by Mary, Queen of Scots have cracked her symbols and deciphered (worked out) their meaning. Experts say this is the most important discovery about the 16th century queen for 100 years. Mary, Queen of Scots, also known as Mary Stuart, was kept prisoner in England by her cousin Queen Elizabeth I in 1568. At that time, the Roman Catholics and the Protestants (two branches of Christianity) were fighting and Mary was Catholic; Elizabeth was Protestant. Mary was a prisoner for 19 years before she was accused of taking part in a plot to kill the Queen and was executed (killed as a punishment for a crime) in 1587. While she was in prison, Mary wrote to her supporters in code and had the letters smuggled…

Have you heard about American football? It’s one of the biggest sports in the US. Last week the Super Bowl took place, which is the final game of the National Football League (NFL) season. Flag football is a fast and simple version of American football, and a great way to get a taste of the sport. Since 2021 a group called NFL Foundation UK has helped more than 2,500 young people play the game in London through its NFL Flag scheme. Now it is helping people in Birmingham and Manchester get involved as well. Unlike in the NFL, there are no tackles or contact in flag football. Two teams of five to 10 players each have two flags, which look like ribbons, attached to their waist. The aim is for…

Big occasions and achievements are marked with fuss and fanfare but smaller moments are worth celebrating too. Why it’s good to mark moments There are occasions that everyone celebrates, like birthdays and exam results, so it makes sense that you want to celebrate an achievement or milestone, particularly if you worked hard to get there. Celebrating is an acknowledgement of a moment that feels good, that you’re proud of, or where you overcame a challenge. By celebrating you make it more memorable. This gives you happy memories to look back on and remind you of how capable you are. Francesca Geens, creator of The HappySelf Journal, believes it’s important to recognise the hard work and effort you put into something. “Enjoy the process and feel proud,” she says. “Celebrating helps…

My Dad the Bounty Hunter Available now on Netflix Lisa and Sean’s dad spends a lot of time away from home for his mysterious job. When they try to surprise him at work, they end up getting involved in an intergalactic bounty hunter mission in outer space, where their father must take his duties to new extremes. Marcel the Shell with Shoes On In cinemas on 17 February When filmmaker Dean moves into a new home, he finds that it’s already occupied by a two-centimetre-tall shell named Marcel, his grandmother Connie and their pet lint, Alan. Dean starts to film them, shooting them to internet stardom. Using his celebrity status, Marcel is determined to find his long-lost family. Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania In cinemas on 17 February Scott Lang…

by Thomas Leeds (Hachette Children’s) A boy with a mysterious golden torch wakes to find himself in an enchanted Elf world without any memories. The only clue to his identity is the compass in his pocket engraved with a name, “Jayben”. He sets out on a journey to discover what’s happened and learns that many moons ago, a giant’s dark spell made the elves forget everything that came before. Now, they hang their precious memories in jars on trees to keep them safe but an evil villain called Null is burning down the forests. He is set on finding the golden torch to use it to gain terrible new powers. Can Jayben find his magical abilities and save the world? This imaginative story was inspired by author Thomas Leeds’s own…

What you need (Makes 12) 100g plain flour• Pinch of salt• 2 eggs• 300ml milk• 1 tablespoon of oil (vegetable or sunflower oil), plus some for the pan• A sieve• A large bowl• A whisk• A frying pan• A ladle• A spatula Get your frying pans ready and prepare for pancakes: on 21 February, it’s Pancake Day. Traditionally called Shrove Tuesday, this is the day before the start of Lent. This is an important time for Christians and marks the start of the weeks leading up to Easter. In the Bible, it was a time when Jesus went into the desert to fast (not eat). For Lent today, people give up treats, such as cake or chocolate. The tradition of making pancakes is a way to use up rich food…

The news from Turkey and Syria (page 2) has shocked people across the world, but it has also brought out the best in humanity. Local people quickly organised and worked together to help each other while communities across the world raised money to buy medical supplies, food and blankets. From huge achievements when we work together to celebrating our own small achievements in life, our Wellbeing feature on page 19 is about using the little wins to build self-esteem. It definitely works. Our debate this week, on page 8, is about whether people should leave cities and move out to the countryside. Many people make the move because they want to get closer to nature, so the Government’s plan to give everyone access to green space nearby (page 10) feels…

AN ELDERLY MOUSE An endangered Pacific pocket mouse in California, US, has been named the world’s oldest mouse in human care by Guinness World Records. Born in 2013 at a zoo, Pat is now nine years and 219 days old. He is nearly two years older than the previous record holder, Fritzy. AN ANCIENT MONUMENT OPENING An ancient monument has opened to visitors in the city of Luxor, in Egypt. The tomb of Meru dates back 4,000 years and has been carefully restored over many years by specialists from Egypt, Italy and Poland. The tomb is the oldest place people can visit in Luxor’s West Bank, an area famous for ancient Egyptian ruins. MAKING ART FROM WASTE Eugene Konboye, an artist in Nigeria, has been helping the environment by making…

Cities are made up of buildings and roads and buses, packed with people rushing to school or work. On the same morning, country villages might see a handful of cars on narrow country lanes, and are quiet and peaceful after dark. Most people in the world live and work in cities. The Japanese government hopes to make it more appealing for people to move away from cities to the countryside. In Japan, rural communities are at risk of disappearing without new people and young families moving in. Is it a good idea to encourage people to move out of cities? Or is that unfair on countryside communities, which suddenly have to deal with lot of new people moving in, buying or renting houses so local people can’t afford to stay?…

Every morning, 14 million people in the UK munch through a bowl of cereal before work or school. That’s nearly half a million tonnes of cereal every year. This year, Kellogg’s, the company that makes Corn Flakes, Coco Pops and Rice Krispies, is celebrating 100 years of being in the UK. Weetabix is the UK’s most popular cereal, with Kellogg’s Corn Flakes coming in second – but what did we eat for brekkie before cereal? How our ancestors started their day The Romans didn’t agree with morning munchies at all. They thought eating more than one meal a day was not only bad for the stomach but greedy too. In the Middle Ages, British eating habits were shaped by Christian rules, and eating meat was only allowed on certain days.…

In 1990, an artist named Jim Sanborn installed a sculpture called Kryptos outside the headquarters of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in the US, a government organisation that collects secret information about other countries. On this 3.7-metre-tall sculpture, which is shaped like a scroll, nearly 2,000 seemingly random letters have been engraved. Within these letters are four messages in code that form a riddle but only three of them have been cracked. Keen codebreakers have tried for years to solve the fourth message but are still stumped. Sanborn has given out a few clues since the sculpture was installed but after more than 30 years, it still hasn’t been fully solved.…

Science and technology in Finland have created a tiny robot that can fly using the power of light and wind. Known as FAIRY, the robot weighs 1.2 milligrams. The design was inspired by dandelion seeds, which have a lightweight structure and easily float in the air. FAIRY has thin bristles attached to two wings that can be controlled using a beam of light to help it fly. Scientists believe that the robot could be used in future to act as a pollinator, like a bee, to help plant species thrive. Enjoy these stories? Find more in this month’s The Week Junior Science+Nature magazine sciencenature.theweekjunior.co.uk…

Kansas City Chiefs In the NFL Super Bowl in the US, Kansas City Chiefs beat Philadelphia Eagles 38-35 in an exciting final. Aston Villa Women They beat Brighton & Hove Albion Women 6-2 in the Women’s Super League (WSL) football competition. Jordan Nobbs scored three of Aston Villa’s goals. Manchester Thunder As the new Netball Super League season started, champions Manchester Thunder beat Celtic Dragons 68-42. Loughborough, Surrey, Severn Stars and London Pulse also won. Katie Archibald The British cyclist won three gold medals at the European Track Championships in Switzerland.…

If you’ve grown up loving the Harry Potter books and films, now you can explore their most famous location for yourself in a game. Magical school Hogwarts is the star of Hogwarts Legacy, which came out for Xbox and PlayStation consoles, as well as PCs, this month. It will also be available on Nintendo Switch from July. It has been lovingly recreated so that you – as a new fifth-year witch or wizard – can spend a happy hour just wandering around exploring the scenery and surroundings, with moving paintings and disappearing staircases included. Studying at Hogwarts is part of the game, as you go to classes and talk to other pupils, while learning spells and completing mini-quests to build your experience level. However, there’s also a bigger adventure that…

Bravest thing you’ve done? I once won a BBC competition to go to the Fringe Festival in Edinburgh to talk about my life with a brain injury. Three weeks later, I was called on stage in front of hundreds of people and TV cameras to talk about something very personal. I was terrified but I was so determined. It took more courage than I ever knew I had but I did it because I knew it wasn’t impossible. The best thing about writing? I love the pure freedom of it. When I write I can create a whole world full of silly characters and wild creatures and weird foods that nobody has ever tasted – it’s the closest thing to actual magic. What inspired the book? After I survived a…

Crossword Read the clues carefully and write the answers into the grid. Across 1 Specific month and year (4) 3 Holiday camp accommodation (6) 8 Old-fashioned light (7) 9 Tin for food or drink (3) 10 Dental cream in a tube (10) 13 Citrus fruit (10) 17 Automobile (3) 18 Shop’s wire basket on wheels (7) 19 Tub for strawberries (6) 20 Cooing bird (4) Down 1 Toy baby (4) 2 Ballroom dance (5) 4 Female chicken (3) 5 Shoe fasteners (5) 6 Petrol-carrying vehicle (6) 7 Couch, sofa (6) 11 Brightly coloured talking bird (6) 12 Breakfast food holder (3-3) 14 Cook’s clothes protector (5) 15 Snow house (5) 16 Bicycle-wheel covering (4) 18 Item of neckwear (3) Word jumble Rearrange the scrambled letters to form four words you’d…

When Cecily Withall started working at Kew Gardens near London, she was worried she’d be too scared to climb trees. Luckily, she enjoyed it. Withall is an arborist at Kew, which means she looks after lots of different types of trees. To do this, she climbs up two orthree trees a day to look for dead or diseased parts that need to be removed. Kew Gardens has existed for more than 260 years, but Withall is only its second woman arborist. Withall didn’t want to do any particular subjects after she left school but she had grown up in the countryside in Scotland and loved being outside so she did a course in horticulture (the study of plants). “I was just in love with all of it,” she said, “but…

The Government has revealed a plan to protect and restore England’s wildlife. It focuses on at-risk species by making waterways (canals, rivers and streams) cleaner and expanding green spaces. The new Environmental Improvement Plan sets goals to create or restore more than 5,000 square kilometres of wildlife habitats across England and restore 400 miles of rivers. It will create or expand 25 national nature reserves. New woodland will also be planted alongside rivers. At the moment, access to green spaces is not equal across the UK. Around 4% of people live more than 10 minutes away from their nearest park. The Environmental Improvement Plan aims to make sure households in England are within a 15-minute walk to a green space. As well as helping more people to get close to…

Scientists in Brazil’s Atlantic forests have been vaccinating golden lion tamarin monkeys against a disease called yellow fever. Since 2021, teams have vaccinated 300 of the endangered animals so they can fight the disease and continue to live in the wild. • LIFESPAN: 10–15 years. • HABITAT: The coastal rainforest of Brazil. • SIZE: They are about 20 centimetres tall and they weigh less than a kilogram. • DIET: Eggs, insects and plants. • FUN FACT: As well as their impressive golden manes, golden lion tamarins have nails instead of claws on their big toes.…

Apple Jacks Nickelodeon Slime For everyone who thinks that the only thing wrong with milk is that it isn’t green – here’s Apple Jacks Nickelodeon Slime. The corn hoops are “green apple flavoured” and the little green flecks baked into the hoops are what colour the milk. This slime-tastic flavour is only available in the US. Supergirl Strong Berry and Flash Cinnamon Bolts For special edition cereal boxes released in 2022, Supergirl was the star of Cap’n Crunch Strong Berry with its brightly coloured strawberry-flavoured oat and corn cereal. Superhero The Flash was the face of cinnamon-flavoured lightning bolts. Real Banana Corn Flakes If slicing up a banana into your cereal is just too much effort first thing in the morning, Kellogg’s Banana Corn Flakes come to the rescue. The…

The face of a woman who lived more than 2,000 years ago has been reconstructed using computer technology. The model of the Nabataean woman’s face was unveiled this month in Saudi Arabia. The Nabataeans were a civilisation from ancient Arabia who are a bit of a mystery to historians because they didn’t leave behind written texts or records. All the information that we know about them comes from items that they used, such as pottery and tools or engravings made on ancient tombs. The woman whose face has been reconstructed was found in a tomb in 2015. Inscriptions (carved writing) on the tomb revealed that her name was Hinat. The project to show what she looked like started in the UK in 2019. By scanning bone fragments collected from the…

OCEAN ART 2022…

NFL star Efe Obada tells The Week Junior about flag football. “NFL Flag has been a huge success in the UK and taking it to Manchester and Birmingham is great. It’s good fun and very inclusive. Sport is an amazing thing – it teaches you about yourself, gives you a sense of community and can help you make friends. The more opportunities we create, and the more we can get young people into sport, the better.”…

After being closed for a year and a half, Manchester Museum is reopening to the public on 18 February. A £15 million project to expand and improve the museum means there are now more exhibition spaces and galleries to wander around. The new-look museum will open with Golden Mummies of Egypt, an exhibition featuring eight mummies and lots of other objects from ancient Egypt. The show will use research from the University of Manchester to show how people lived in ancient Egypt and to unwrap the secrets behind the mummification process. Visitors can also meet Stan the Tyrannosaurus rex and April the Tenontosaurus at the new dinosaur display, or visit the vivarium, which houses a collection of live amphibians and reptiles – including critically endangered species. Comics will feature in…

Inside Out (2015) As if being 11 isn’t hard enough, Riley’s life is disrupted when her father starts a new job and the family must move across the country. Like all humans, Riley is guided by her emotions – but in Inside Out we actually meet them. Anger, Disgust, Fear, Joy and Sadness live in Headquarters, the control centre inside Riley’s mind. They are responsible for her actions and making her memories, including the core ones, which power Riley’s islands of personality. As Riley struggles to adjust to a new life in San Francisco, Headquarters is thrown into chaos. Joy tries to keep things positive but the emotions argue about how best to help Riley navigate a new life. As memories change and islands crumble the emotions have to find…

Montgomery Bonbon: Murder at the Museum by Alasdair Beckett-King. Illustrated by Claire Powell (Walker Books) This is the first book in a funny new detective series. Montgomery Bonbon is a smart gentleman detective with a mystery to solve. Behind the hat and moustache is 10-year-old Bonnie Montgomery. Will anyone notice? Alice Eclair Spy Extraordinaire: A Spoonful of Spying by Sarah Todd Taylor (Nosy Crow) Alice Eclair is a baker by day and a spy by night. In her latest adventure, she’s in Paris for the World Fair, where all eyes are on the aeroplane exhibition. With enemy spies all around, Alice will need every trick in her recipe book to stop France’s greatest invention from falling into the wrong hands. Ollie Spark and the Exploding Popcorn Mystery by Gillian Cross…

Name: Millie Scarlet and Ivy: The Curse in the Candlelight By Sophie Cleverly “Amazing, captivating, spine-tingling. Sisters try to uncover the identity of a new girl who says she is a witch.” 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.futureplc.com/privacy-policy…

Pizza smashes a world record A YouTuber in Los Angeles, US, has broken the world record for the largest ever pizza after making a mammoth margherita with pepperoni that was almost 1,300 square metres. Eric Decker’s creation was topped with more than 3,900 kilograms of cheese and was cut into 68,000 slices. Eric, known online as Airrack, said he’d wanted to make the pizza because he was still upset that nobody had turned up to his birthday at a pizza restaurant when he was eight. The thousands of pieces that were left over were given to local charities. Runaway cat rescued from station A cat who spent two weeks in the London Underground has been found dusty but safe. Mr Jingles was reported missing several weeks ago but station staff…

The Amazing Authors competition, run with The Reading Agency and BBC Arts, is a new contest for young writers. Write a short story or poem of no more than 400 words and send it in by 8 March. The winning story will be turned into a CBeebies Bedtime Story and read by singer and author Tom Fletcher. It will be published and brought to life in animation form by Aardman. You’ll also get to meet Tom Fletcher and go behind the scenes at HarperCollins and Aardman. Two runners-up and the creators of the 30 top stories will also win prizes. To find out more, and how to enter, go to tinyurl.com/TWJ-AmazingAuthors GET INVOLVED Email your news, views and pictures to hello@theweekjunior.co.uk…

“During lockdown I read and played everything Tube-related and by the end, I could draw the London Underground map from memory. I was so excited to read the London Underground article.” Woody “Here’s a picture of me curling. I had so much fun trying it when my parents surprised me with a curling session after I read about it in The Week Junior.”Jemma “I made the hot chocolate. It was delicious and exactly what I needed to warm up after playing football on Sunday.” Isaac…

Teacher’s name: Miss Macnaughton School: ESMS Junior School, Edinburgh, Scotland “I think my teacher Miss Macnaughton should be Teacher of the Week because she looks out for us, makes us laugh and she makes sure we try our best and she says that even if we make mistakes, it’s fine because it’s what makes us better.”Ellie 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 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…

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 shouting at youth sports is acceptable… “It takes away the fun of the game and may upset the players.” “It is ok if it is positive but if it is negative then they shouldn’t say it.” “No, because it stresses the children out and makes them feel uncomfortable.” Tell us what you think of this week’s issue and we’ll print some of the best comments here.…

1 Other than skateboarding, which sport would Sky Brown also like to compete in at the 2024 Olympics? □ a) Rock climbing □b) Surfing □c) Archery 2 True or false? President Zelensky visited the UK before visiting France. □ True □ False 3 Which country has banned shark tourism to protect the species? 4 How many inhabitants officially make up a megacity? □ a) More than one million □ b) More than 10 million □ c) More than 100 million 5 True or false? Junior Bake Off winner Amelia also loves gymnastics. □ True □ False 6 Monk parakeets are part of which bird family? 7 What is the UK’s favourite cereal? □ a) Corn Flakes □ b) Coco Pops □ c) Weetabix 8 True or false? It is said…