Table of contents for 456 in The Week Junior

On 1 and 2 September, hundreds of thousands of people in Israel took part in demonstrations and strikes (when people refuse to work as a protest). They were demanding that the country’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, should agree to a ceasefire (pause in fighting) to secure the release of hostages (prisoners) held in Gaza. What were people asking for? Lots of people in Israel want a ceasefire in Gaza, a strip of land that borders Israel and is home to Palestinian people. They believe this will mean Hamas (a terrorist group that governs Gaza, see panel) will return the Israeli hostages. The idea is to put pressure on Netanyahu so he does more to get the hostages released. Tensions rose on 31 August when Israel’s military found six hostages in…

On 14 September, Seb Key will take the first of many, many steps in an awe-inspiring challenge: running Iceland’s Ring Road, which loops round the country and is more than 800 miles long. He will be raising money for the charity he works for: Children With Cancer UK, which funds cancer research and gives support to families dealing with childhood cancer. Cancer is a broad term for several diseases caused by oddly behaving cells growing out of control. Key is no stranger to running long distances – he did seven marathons in seven days last year (a marathon is 26.2 miles). This time, he’ll be running two marathons (or even further) every day for two weeks. Key tells The Week Junior there will be other obstacles, too. “Part of the…

A recent report by The Rivers Trust (a charity that looks after the UK and Ireland’s rivers) found that many rivers were not in good health. However, you can help. On 6 September, The Rivers Trust launched its latest Big River Watch across the UK and Ireland. This citizen-science project (when the public helps with scientific research) will run until 12 September. The aim is for people to gather much-needed information on the condition of rivers. The more people who contribute the better, because it will give scientists a more reliable picture of the condition of rivers. To get involved, ask an adult to download the free Big River Watch app onto a smartphone and then head out together. You can go anywhere – your local river or somewhere new.…

From 29 August to 1 September, around 1,500 teenagers took part in the 2024 School Games National Finals. Athletes from the UK competed to win a medal as individuals or as part of a team. The games, which usually take place every two years, were largely held at Loughborough University, England. There were 11 sports in all, including athletics, cricket, cycling (track and road), hockey and netball. There were also para competitions in athletics and triathlon for athletes with a disability. Kishi Aremu won the girls’ 100 metres sprint race, and Ben Sykes took the boys’ title. Rafferty Mirfin was part of the winning boys’ 4 x 400 metres relay team and finished first in the boys’ 800 metres race. A team called England Orange won the girls’ 3x3 wheelchair…

I Am Rebel by Ross Montgomery (Walker Books) In this heartwarming tale, Rebel lives a happy life on the farm with his owner Tom – until one day, war arrives on their doorstep. Now Tom has decided to join the rebellion to defeat the king’s men. Rebel knows that war is dangerous and he will stop at nothing to save Tom and bring him back home. The Ultimate Kids’ Guide to Dogs by Graeme Hall. Illustrated by Alice Tait (Puffin Books) Dog expert Graeme Hall (also known as The Dogfather) answers all your questions about dogs in this brilliant illustrated guide. Learn how to identify different dog breeds, discover top tips for training your dog, and try some canine-themed quizzes and puzzles to test your doggy knowledge. How to Be…

Please email your book review to us at hello@theweekjunior.co.uk. If it is printed in the magazine you will receive a Roving Reporter badge. Please 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 futureplc.com/privacy-policy…

Quidditch is known to Harry Potter fans as the broomstick-based sport in the bestselling books and films about the boy wizard. Now it has been turned into a new game, Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions. Released for PlayStation, Xbox and Switch consoles as well as PCs, it lets you play in the different roles fans will know from the original stories. Beaters carry bats and have to protect their team from the iron balls (bludgers) that whizz around the field trying to knock people off their broomsticks. Chasers are the players who have to pass the “quaffle ball” around to get it into the opponents’ goal hoops, and Keepers have to stop them scoring. Finally, Seekers play the most important role of all: catching the “golden snitch” to win the match.…

Mushroom masterpiece maker When artist Amanda Cobbett is out on a walk and finds a fantastic-looking natural object, she is inspired to embroider (craft using needlework) a piece of art that looks just like it. Her latest project has been to create art inspired by fungi (plant-like forms such as mushrooms) that she has spotted in Scotland. These crafted creations, which can take more than two weeks to make, are now on display in an exhibition called Fungi Forms at Edinburgh’s Royal Botanic Garden. Cobbett describes her involvement in the exhibition as “a gift”. Giant pigeon to land in New York From October, a huge pigeon sculpture called Dinosaur will be installed in New York, US. Created by Colombian artist Iván Argote, it stands at five metres tall and is…

Name: Isabelle “When I noticed my teacher’s nomination in The Week Junior and the article on how to create news reports, I decided to initiate (start) a newspaper at my school. Of course, I couldn’t do this all by myself. Thanks to my teachers, friends and the newspaper team members, our final product appeared in July. They worked like Trojans, and their efforts clearly paid off. I must give a special thanks to my headmaster, who uploaded it onto the school website. Furthermore, a massive THANK YOU to my mum, who helped me prepare for interviews, made the online version and even edited some of the articles! The articles written in The Week Junior inspired many of the ones we wrote. Hence, a huge thanks to The Week Junior! I…

On 7 October last year, Hamas attacked Israel, kidnapped 250 people and took them back to Gaza as hostages (prisoners). Hamas also killed 1,200 people. Since then, Israel’s military has been attacking Gaza, where more than 40,000 people have been killed. Israel says it aims to defeat Hamas and bring back the hostages. In November 2023, a six-day ceasefire led to the release of 105 hostages from Gaza in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners held in Israel. Around 100 hostages are still being held by Hamas.…

NORBOT THE GNOME The BBC has released a clip from Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, a new film due to be aired on Christmas Day. The clip stars Norbot, a robot gnome and Wallace’s latest invention. The film will also feature Feathers McGraw, a villain from a previous film. A MUCH HAPPIER LIONESS A young lioness who arrived from Ukraine has taken her first steps outside. Yuna lives at the Big Cat Sanctuary in Kent, England. She’s suffering from shock because a missile exploded near her indoor home in Ukraine, which is at war. Yuna loves being outdoors and seemed amazed to feel rain for the first time. REMEMBERING A DOCTOR On 5 September, a blue plaque was put on a house in London to remember the UK’s first…

On 28 August, Rose Ayling-Ellis became the first deaf person to host a live sports TV show, during the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games. Since winning Strictly Come Dancing in 2021, Ayling-Ellis says she has been on a mission to break down barriers. She wants to “prove to people that being deaf is not a loss and it’s not a failure”. In one Strictly performance, she recreated the deaf experience by dancing in silence. Ayling-Ellis is determined to show viewers what she is capable of, and hopes everyone “understands more about disability and that this is all just normal” through watching the Paralympics.…

At San Antonio Zoo in Texas, US, 71 Texas horned lizards have recently hatched. The tiny, spiky creatures have been playing in sand and munching on insects. The plan is to eventually release them into the wild. • LIFESPAN: Around five years.• HABITAT: Open landscapes with sandy soil, grass and small plants in parts of Mexico and the US.• SIZE: 64–100 millimetres (females are bigger than males).• DIET: Mainly ants but sometimes they eat other insects.• FUN FACT: To avoid predators, the lizards can shoot smelly blood from their eyes up to 1.5 metres.…

Chocolate is made from cocoa beans, which are part of the cocoa fruit. Have you ever wondered what happens to the rest of the fruit, which grows up to 35 centimetres long, after the beans are removed? Unfortunately, it is usually dumped and left to rot. The seeds only make up around 30% of the fruit, so that adds up to a lot of waste. When unused cocoa fruit is left to decompose (break down) near cocoa trees, the rotting fruit attracts insects that can harm the plants. The old fruit can also be home to micro-organisms (tiny living things) that cause disease in cocoa crops. To tackle this, scientist Kim Mishra and his team came up with a new way to make chocolate using the whole fruit. The group…

Elliot Giles The British athlete set a world record for running a mile on a road course, winning a race in Germany in three minutes, 51.3 seconds. Farhan Ahmed The 16-year-old cricketer took 10 wickets for his team, Nottinghamshire, as they drew with Surrey in the County Championship. Great Britain & Ireland Curtis Cup team They beat the US to win the Curtis Cup, which is a team event for female amateur golfers. Liverpool Football Club On 1 September, Liverpool beat their big rivals Manchester United 3-0 in the Premier League. Colombian forward Luis Diaz scored Liverpool’s first two goals.…

Pickle Storm is no ordinary nine-year-old. Her family are from Kleftania, a fantasy world with magic and dragons. Her mum is a fierce warrior, her dad is an eccentric wizard, and their family pet Swumpy is a warthoffle, who looks like a furry half-rabbit, half-pig creature. When Pickle’s family have to flee Kleftania, they seek safety in the ordinary British town of Middlington, where everything is different to what they know. Pickle tries everything she can to fit in, but it’s proving to be difficult because she keeps doing magic by accident. Kassidi Roberts, who plays Pickle, told The Week Junior that she loved the character’s “wild side” and “all of her funny sayings”. Kassidi explained, “What I enjoy most about playing Pickle is getting the chance to play all…

(Walker Books) Patrick Ness is an award-winning author who has twice won the famous Carnegie Medal. His newest book tells the adventures of Zeke, a young lizard, who is trying to survive life at school. Zeke and his friends Daniel and Alicia have all been made “hall monitors” by Principal Wombat, which has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that they are monitor lizards. The trio of reptiles must try to impose order on arrogant lions, excitable seals and relaxed pandas. Worst of all, there is Pelicarnassus, a giant pelican and the son of a major supervillain. Can Zeke and his friends protect the school in the face of bullies, lasers, robots and all kinds of outlandish events? With lots of funny illustrations by Tim Miller, this is a…

Chris Haughton is best known for his award-winning picture books, such as A Bit Lost and Oh No, George!, which are illustrated in his bright, bold style. His new children’s book, The History of Information, is a project he has been developing for 17 years. It’s an illustrated guide exploring the ways humans share and store information, how methods have changed over time and how this has shaped our world today. In 2006, Haughton listened to a lecture from the University of California, which sparked a clear idea for the book. “I wanted to make a timeline from the very start to the very finish,” he tells The Week Junior. The book is divided into 10 chapters and Haughton’s artwork style changes in line with each historical period, which helps…

Are you in the mood for baking a tasty teatime treat? These muffins are perfect for a weekend project. They contain hearty oats, which will keep hunger at bay, and have an extra zip of tangy berries. If there are any left over, you can pop one in a lunchbox or keep in a sealed tub to refuel after school. Even better, they use fruit in season (that naturally grows at this time of year). This recipe makes 10 lightly spiced muffins and will take 35 minutes to make. You can use fresh or frozen raspberries. What you need • 2 apples, grated • 200g self-raising flour • 50g porridge oats • 3 tbsp soft brown sugar • ½ tsp cinnamon • ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda • 2 medium…

This week, our cover celebrates the bravery and dedication of air ambulance crews. Air Ambulance Week is coming up and we wanted to highlight the work of Air Ambulances UK, the charities that support air ambulances across the United Kingdom. You can read about their work on page 12. Talking of bravery and dedication, we have been cheering on ParalympicsGB as the team won medal after medal, gold after gold in Paris (page 5). On page 10, we report on the Big River Watch, which runs from 6–12 September. It’s such a simple idea: you settle down beside a river and watch the water and wildlife for 15 minutes. You then send the information through an app to help scientists work out how to protect our rivers. Why not make…

The International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness is running a competition for World Sight Day (10 October), inviting children aged 12 and under to design what the “glasses of the future” will look like. Think: creative, inspiring and experimental. You could win up to £600 for your school and see your design brought to life, Then, take a picture of your entry and upload it to iapb.world/glassesofthefuture Entries close on 20 October and winners will be announced on World Children’s Day (20 November). Good luck!…

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 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 magazine and digital editions, and mention on our podcast. We reserve the right to edit contributions for length, accuracy and suitability. Ensure you have your parent/guardian’s permission before sending anything to us.…

Teacher’s name: Mr Hemsley School: St Mary’s Catholic Primary School, Chesterfield, England “Mr Hemsley is the best teacher. I can always rely on him and ask him everything. When I went on a trip with my class and then we got stuck in traffic for over two and a half hours, he helped me to stay calm and that’s why I think he’s amazing.” Jan 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…

We love hearing from you! It’s easy – just write a comment when you vote in our online Big Debate poll, or even record a voice note for The Week Junior Show. Last week we asked you whether schools should ditch uniforms… “Yes, school uniforms don’t let children express themselves.” “No, they represent the school and unite the students.” “Yes. It is an uncomfortable thing to wear and it gets you distracted sometimes.” “No, because children might get bullied for what they wear.” Tell us what you think of this week’s issue and we’ll print some of the best comments here.…

The Government has promised to make Britain’s energy “clean” by 2030. “Clean” energy comes from sources that don’t produce pollution or greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change. The Government is planning to launch a company called Great British Energy, which will focus on energy produced in the UK, so we don’t have to rely on other countries for our power. The project includes building new nuclear power stations to produce more nuclear energy. They say this will ensure the UK has a more secure supply of energy and will provide thousands of jobs. However, some people say nuclear power costs too much and they question the safety of building more nuclear power stations. What do you think? Is more nuclear power a good idea? Yes – it’s a very…

Research has shown that more species of bird gobble up elderberries than any other fruit native to the UK. Elder trees grow across the country and can reach 15 metres high. Elders also grow as shrubs and hedges. The leaves of elders grow in clusters of five to seven oval leaflets, with a finely toothed edge. These have a bad smell when crushed. By this time of year, the lacy white flowers that bloomed in summer have been pollinated by insects and turned into shiny purple-black berries. These sour snacks are loved by birds ranging from wood pigeons to thrushes. Elders were once thought to have magical powers. Planting one by a house was believed to keep the devil away – but burning one made the devil appear.…

Air ambulances are a crucial part of the UK’s emergency services, attending more than 126 missions a day. Air Ambulance Week, which runs from 9 to 15 September, is an annual event run by Air Ambulances UK to raise awareness and money for their lifesaving work. What is an air ambulance? An air ambulance is a helicopter that can fly somewhere to provide medical attention in an emergency. They have equipment and medicines on board that a road ambulance doesn’t carry. They are called out for very serious injuries and life-threatening illnesses or situations, and are often able to get to areas faster than a standard ambulance. The average time it takes for an air ambulance to reach an emergency is just 16 minutes. Every year, air ambulance charities attend…

Did you know you can turn your feelings into something you can see, hear or touch? Exploring your emotions through art helps you feel calm and connected with others. What is art? Art is like a language that humans use to express feelings. You can make art in all kinds of ways: drawings, squiggles and random shapes, dance, films, music, paintings, photographs, poetry or sculpture. Artist and author Xavier Leopold leads a children’s workshop called Art for the Heart. He tells The Week Junior we all have a different way of using creativity to express ourselves. Turning emotions into art is a kind of magic, he says, because you’re turning something you can’t touch into something real. How can it help you? The mental health charity Place2Be says art is…

What animal would you like to be? A rhinoceros. They make appearances in many of my books, one way or another. What was your favourite subject in school? English, because it gave me a chance to write. I was also really good at maths, so those classes were actually fun for me. I treated it like puzzles. Where did the idea for this book come from? A terrible, terrible pun. There’s a whole class of lizards called monitor lizards. American schools have students who are hall monitors. You see where I’m going with that? What did you want to be growing up? A writer, but I never thought I could be. I tried anyway. I always tell people who dream of being writers: real writers don’t write, they write anyway.…

“You’ve no right to walk into people’s castles and take their guitars.” Celebrated author Diana Wynne Jones would have turned 90 years old last month. In one of her most famous novels, Howl’s Moving Castle, the main character, Sophie Hatter, is turned into an old woman by the evil Witch of the Waste. To untangle the spell, Sophie must work with Howl, a dark wizard who lives in a mechanical moving castle. In 2004, Studio Ghibli turned the novel into a very successful and popular animated film.…

Crossword Read the clues carefully and write the answers into the grid. Across 1 Close with a key (4) 3 Bead counting frame (6) 8 Mythical girl with long hair and a fish tail (7) 9 Milked farm animal (3) 10 ___ wiper, car’s anti-rain device (10) 13 Device for waking you up (5,5) 17 Container for shopping (3) 18 Keyboard performer (7) 19 Large seas (6) 20 Sharp device on a cowboy’s boot (4) Down 1 Bedside light (4) 2 Royal canine (5) 4 Unopened flower (3) 5 Go by bike (5) 6 Using a needle and thread (6) 7 Unplanned, in any order (6) 11 Item worn by a dog (6) 12 Giant panda’s food (6) 14 Bicker, quarrel (5) 15 Dry and brittle (5) 16 Distant twinkler…

1 Which European country has announced a trial ban on pupils carrying phones in schools? □ a) France □ b) Spain □ c) Germany 2 True or false? Peafowl birds have been given the Freedom of the City in Inverness, Scotland. □ True □ False 3 Which artist won the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest? 4 How many nuclear power stations are there in the UK? □ a) None □ b) One □ c) Eight 5 True or false? Rose Ayling-Ellis competed in the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games. □ True □ False 6 How many Texas horned lizards recently hatched at San Antonio Zoo in Texas, US? 7 Where do air ambulance charities get most of their funding from? □ a) The Government □ b) Charity donations □ c) The National…