and welcome to the week junior show i'm bex and i'm joined by writers joe and eve from the week junior the magazine making sense of the world for 8 to 14 year olds now in a week where the labour party conference took place in liverpool and the northeast of england celebrated 200 years of railways we're going to be discussing some of the other stories that feature in the latest issue of the magazine make sure you're listening closely because at the end of this episode we'll be asking a question about what you've heard and if you answer it correctly you could win a prize But before we begin, there is something I want to talk to you both about.
This week, we celebrated the world of children's books at the Week Junior Book Awards.
It was a fantastic night.
We'll tell you about it later.
But speaking of books, it got me thinking, if you could be a book character, who would you be?
Eve, go for it.
I was thinking I would love to be a member of the Brown family in the Paddington books, just because it would be so fun.
To have Paddington Bear as a member of the family.
He just gets up to so many hijinks.
I'd love to be involved in that.
Just to have a lovely bear wandering around the house would be quite a nice idea, right?
Exactly.
Although, you know, there's that bit where he sticks toothbrushes in his ears.
I was thinking about that.
Yeah, I'd have to put my toothbrush under lock and key.
But apart from that, I'd love to have Paddington Bear around.
That was also my only downside as well.
Jo, who would you go for?
I'd be Charlie from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
I think it'd be fun to meet Willy Wonka and explore inside his factory and see all the crazy ways in which he makes chocolate and sweets.
And then, at the end of the book, if you've read it which I won't ruin, I won't ruin there is a very nice surprise as well.
So it would be quite nice to be in Charlie's shoes for the duration of the book and afterwards.
I would have to agree.
I do love chocolate, so I'm with you on that.
I've gone on a similar theme.
I've also gone Roald Dahl this week.
I went for Matilda because as a kid, she was just my hero.
I love reading.
I don't think I'm as good as Matilda, but I don't think anyone is.
But mostly it's because she can move objects with her mind.
And sometimes I do still try to see if I can do that.
Every now and again, I'm like, maybe if I concentrate super hard, I'll be able to move stuff.
It never happens, but maybe one day.
Yeah.
One day it'll work.
I don't know.
Now, if listeners at home want to tell us what book character they'd like to be, you absolutely can.
Just send an email to hello at theweekjuniorcouk or leave a voice note at funkidslivecom.
Slash theweekjunior.
Grab a grown-up and look for that big red button, then record your voice.
Now, if your voice note is played next week, you could win a Week Junior Roving Reporter badge.
So last week we asked what everybody would like as their language they'd want to learn.
First up, we've got a message here.
Hi, my name is Sahar and I think an interesting language to learn would be Chinese, as I think they will be the wealthiest country in the future and I will have a better job if I know the language of Chinese.
Also, I'm probably cheating saying this, but I have a second language I would like to learn, which is Punjabi, because Punjabi is a language that my family speaks.
And I just don't get to speak it too often.
So I would like to speak with them more often by learning Punjabi.
And I love your podcast.
So, yeah.
Bye, Dewey Jr.
And we love you.
Thank you so much, Seha.
I've got to say, future-proofing the career there, that is a good shout, getting the Chinese in.
And also, what a lovely thing to learn Punjabi as well.
They are two...
I'd imagine quite tricky languages to learn.
We've got another message here from Caitlin as well.
Hi, Zoe Junior.
I'm Caitlin and I would like to speak Spanish because I want to be better than my teacher.
Bye.
I love that competitive spirit.
Be better than your teacher.
Yeah, a great reason to learn a language.
Absolutely.
I'm sure they'd be thrilled if they could teach you enough that you could beat them in a Spanish off.
And finally, one more message here from Ottilie.
Hi, The Week Junior.
My name is Ottilie and I'm from Cornwall.
At school, I'm learning Finnish.
I'd really like to go to Finland, so I'd like to know more.
Thanks, The Week Junior.
A school is teaching Finnish?
I didn't think that was possible.
Yeah, didn't know that was a language on the curriculum, but that sounds so cool.
Is this a message from the uk?
I mean, that's incredible.
I need to find where they're.
Yeah, i'd be really interested to know where they're teaching finnish in the uk.
That's incredible In Cornwall.
In Cornwall.
Yeah, that sounds quite fascinating.
Okay, well, you know what?
Three incredible messages there.
Thank you to Sia, to Caitlin, to Ottley.
We love hearing your voices on the podcast.
And if you want to tell us what book character you'd like to be this week, you absolutely can.
Just send us a voice note to funkidslive.com slash theweekjunior.
Now let's turn our attention to the latest magazine.
I want to know what's been in the headlines this week.
Eve, what do you have for me?
So my story is about an international agreement to protect the high seas, which is set to become law next year.
So the high seas is parts of the ocean that lie beyond any country's boundaries and they don't belong to any one country.
And this agreement is called the High Seas Treaty, and people have been working on it for nearly 20 years, which is such a long time.
But this is because the high seas cover two thirds of the world oceans, but only 1% is protected.
And marine life in those areas is vulnerable to activities like illegal fishing.
And so the agreement means that marine protected areas will be created to help species such as sharks, whales and sea turtles.
And on the 19th of September, Morocco became the 60th country to sign up to the treaty.
And at least 60 countries were needed for it to take effect from January next year.
And now 74 countries have signed up. signed up to it, including the European Union.
And it just feels like a really positive story that will hopefully see lots of ocean animals protected in future.
That's a lot of countries to collaborate together, right?
That's amazing.
Yeah, it's incredible.
It's just so nice to see countries working together to protect the planet.
Absolutely.
Good news indeed.
Joe, what's another story you've seen in the news this week?
It's a story about the winners of the National Cat Awards, who were recently revealed at a ceremony held in London.
The awards are run by the charity Cats Protection.
And there are lots of different categories, but the title of a national cat of the year went to a ginger cat called Fizz, who's frequently spotted out and about in Powys Wales, and even has his own social media following.
Other winners included a 22-year-old rescue cat called Carrot and a feline called Boyd, who alerts his owner before she experiences dizzy spells caused by a health condition.
Wow.
I like the idea of a cat called Fizz and Carrot.
They're great names for cats.
Yeah.
I kind of love pet names that are a bit more out there, a bit different, you know just, or maybe like I quite like pet names with like people names like a cat called Dave or something kind of a big fan, you know, just random kind of human names.
My friend's dog is called Douglas, which is always funny to shout out loud.
Great.
Well, congratulations to every nominee in the cat awards.
I love that.
And moving on, it's time for my favourite part of the show.
This is Real or Rubbish.
I get told a story.
I have to guess if it's true or false.
And this week, Joe is telling me that story.
So go for it, Joe.
So this week's Real or Rubbish is about ducks living a life of luxury on a lake in northern Taiwan.
A local artist was asked to design a stately home to make extreme weather conditions, including the harsh typhoon seasons, more comfortable for them.
After several years of careful planning, a special duck mansion was built, but it's no ordinary mansion.
I mean, it's no ordinary mansion because ducks are living in it, but for other reasons as well.
This one comes with specially designed duck toilets and human servants to bring the ducks tasty treats.
But is this real or a lie?
What will you decide?
Thank you.
Thank you.
That one wasn't even in the magazine.
I just made it up myself.
I'm quite proud.
I'm so impressed.
I'm so thrilled that you I know how much you hate me shoehorning puns in, so I'm thrilled that you've done it yourself.
So you said it's got duck toilets.
Surely the world is a duck toilet.
Like, ducks can go to the loo anywhere.
Yeah, but if they're inside the mansion to be protected from the elements, I suppose if there's a typhoon raging outside, they can't just go for a little swim on the lake or a little.
Uh what, what do ducks do?
Waddle, waddle around the edge of the lake and, you know, do their business.
They've got to be protected inside the mansion, so they've got to go somewhere otherwise, i mean, it'd get filthy, wouldn't it?
That's true yeah yeah, sure.
Um, and you said they have human servants as well.
What are these human servants doing?
They're bringing them food and treats and nice things.
The ducks have got to eat.
Again, if they're not out and about on the lake, then they can't do that little thing where they dive down for fish.
They can't hunt or feed.
Or I suppose again, if there's awful conditions outside, they've not got humans coming and giving them food, as humans tend to do.
And you say it's a mansion.
What makes it a mansion?
Is it just because it's massive?
It's really, really, really, really, really, really big.
Yeah.
That's my definition of a mansion.
Wow, that was a lot of reallys.
You must mean business.
Yeah, yeah.
I mean, I also think dogs have 3.5 metre tails, so my perception of size is slightly skewed.
Joe's actually a very tiny... Yeah, I'm actually a very tiny human.
He's only 10 centimetres tall.
If you meet me in real life, yeah.
So where did you say this duck mansion is?
It's in northern Taiwan okay, so i can't say i can't hop on a train and go and see it, if it's real, of course no no, you could get a flight yeah um, but it's not the kind of thing you could just see tomorrow.
No no, unfortunately not.
I'll have to have a think about that duck mansion.
I like the idea of it.
I do love the idea of um of that, but it also sounds a bit quackers to me.
So uh, thank you um, We'll think about that later, but before then it's time to talk about our book of the week.
This week, it's The Poisoned King by Catherine Rundell.
It's the sequel to the best-selling book Impossible Creatures and it's a fantasy adventure following the latest journey of Christopher Forrester on a bit of a rescue mission.
Now, if you want to win a copy of The Poisoned King, stay with us until the end of the show and you can find out how, by entering our prize, draw to win a copy.
Now speaking of books, it was, of course, as we mentioned earlier, The Poisoned King the Week Junior Book Awards this week.
It was a big one, mostly because me and Eve and Joe got to actually hang out in person, which is very exciting.
But also because I was hosting it.
I got to put on my big pink suit and I got to present the awards to all of the winners.
And it was quite incredible.
The atmosphere was amazing.
And there were so many different categories.
I think 14 different categories from audiobook, graphic novel, younger fiction, breakthroughs.
It was quite something to meet all of the authors in one room and the atmosphere was lovely.
Joe, you'd been a judge at the awards.
How was it for you?
Yeah, it was great.
It was a really nice evening.
And, you know, even I interviewed some of the winners as they came off.
And I really enjoyed chatting to Claire Harlow, who wrote a book called Tired Magic, which was the winner of the breakthrough category, which is the one that I judged.
And it was a book that I absolutely loved. reading it and it was really nice to have a chat with her and sort of see the face behind the words so to speak um yeah so i mean besides just asking her a few questions in the interview i just had a brief kind of discussion chat with her when she came out uh it's quite funny really because obviously the uh all the winners don't know they've won before so it's a genuine surprise and there's me and evil waiting they all come out looking rather breathless and genuinely shocked and some are a bit kind of uh short of words but it's really nice to kind of see those um genuine reactions you know they're genuinely just overwhelmed and overjoyed and it was yeah it was a great evening and shout out to the pink suit becks i think uh yeah a lot of us were kind of in all of the pink suit yeah thank you so much um fun fact about the breakthrough category i think a lot of the nominees actually went out before the awards for a little lunch together um and they'd never met before but uh one of them told me they'd decided to go and hang out and just kind of like celebrate with each other, which I just thought was a lovely thing to do.
All of them, they messaged each other online and they were like, let's meet up, let's hang out.
Which is lovely.
Eve, how about you?
What was it like for you?
Because you were interviewing people as they came off stage after winning?
Yeah, the interviews were so much fun.
I've done it for the last two years as well.
And it's just always so nice to see them like the moment they win.
And yeah, Yeah, they were all genuinely so surprised.
And it's just so nice to kind of speak to people who are so passionate about children's books.
And the last two awards were voted for by Readers of the Week Junior as well, which was it was so nice to speak to them.
So, yeah, just a lovely night all round.
It was.
I got to speak to some very exciting people.
There was Craig, who is the editor of the Guinness World Records book.
He was great.
And we've recognised each other because we've met many times and he was like, good to see you again.
And I was like, thanks, Craig.
There was him.
There was Greg Jenner.
I know Elle McNichol was there.
Ramsey was there.
It was a really exciting day and lots of people.
It means a lot, the Week Junior Book Awards.
So I think as a world of children's literature, it was just very exciting to be part of it.
Right, Eve?
Yeah, definitely.
And we've got a story on our UK news page about all of the winners and it's on our front cover as well.
So we've gone very big on it in the Week Junior this week.
There's also, if you're wondering, there is a picture of me in the pink suit in the magazine.
I saw that.
I was like, oh, there I am.
So everyone wants to see.
Big time.
Absolutely in the middle.
There we go.
If this is our kind of most bought copy, Bex, you'll know why.
We'll have you to thank.
Maybe give me some royalties or something.
I don't know.
But yeah.
Pigsy, go look at it.
I'll hold you to that, Joe.
Excellent.
Thank you very much.
Now, it's time for this week's big debate.
And the question is, should teachers work from home?
Now, Eve and Joe will go head to head on this.
They'll take a side each on this argument.
But before we hear from them, here's some information that you need to know.
The leader of the National Education Union, which works to protect teachers' rights, says every teacher who works full time should be able to work from home one day a week.
Daniel Kebede says that giving teachers a day from home would encourage more people to join the profession and more existing teachers to stay in the job.
A survey this year found that over 50 of teachers work evenings and weekends to get all of their work done.
And in the UK, around 29 million people already work from home at some point during the week.
So should teachers work from home?
Eve is team yes, Jo is team no.
Each one has 60 seconds to make their case.
Eve is going to go first.
I'm going to get my little timer up here, Eve.
So whenever you're ready, take it away.
Okay.
So teaching involves so much more than just being in a classroom teaching the kids.
Teachers actually spend a lot of time when they're not teaching marking work, writing reports and planning lessons.
And if they had a set day at home, then they wouldn't have to do extra hours to get all of that done.
Because I can imagine it's very hard to be writing reports planning lessons while there's lots of kids running around, other members of staff around as well.
It's easier to concentrate on these tasks while working from home, and then there won't be any interruptions or loud noises and they can just kind of lock in and focus on the work they need to do.
And also teachers, deserve to have a good work-life balance, and working from home one day a week would offer more flexibility to spend time with families or attend events with their own children, as other parents who work from home are able to.
So I think it might be a good idea to introduce a work from home day for teachers.
Oh, a lovely debate.
And also, of course, well-timed under a minute.
Excellent.
Thank you very much, Eve.
But now it's time for Joe to say why he disagrees.
So Joe, go for it whenever you're ready.
So there's currently a shortage of teachers in England.
So the ones who are in school are very busy.
And having some teachers work from home could put more pressure on them, the ones who are in school.
You know, those classes have to be taught somehow.
And students' education could be affected too, because some students find it unsettling when their usual teacher isn't in class.
And this could affect their performance at school.
This could affect just their ability to learn in general.
If they're not comfortable, if they're not happy,
And also, not every teacher is going to want to work from home.
Teachers often say being in classrooms with pupils is the best part of the job.
So it might affect their enjoyment of it if they're doing less actual teaching, less of the stuff they enjoy and more planning and preparation at home.
Another under a minute argument.
Lovely stuff.
Thank you very much, guys.
This is a tricky one because, like yes, I do believe that everybody probably wants to work from home one day a week.
I get that entirely for teachers, but I just can't get my head around the idea of a teacher working from home when all the school kids are at school every day.
Like the idea of like teaching somebody or I guess not teaching somebody when you're at home.
And everybody else is in the classroom.
So I don't know how I feel about this.
But luckily, it's not my opinion that counts.
It's what our readers and our listeners think.
So we'd love to hear your verdict on this week's big debate.
You can get involved by voting online at theweekjunior.co.uk slash polls.
You can also email your thoughts to us at hello at theweekjuniorcouk or send us a voice note at funkidslivecom.
Slash theweekjunior.
Just scroll down till you see that big red button.
Grab a grown up and record your voice.
Now, last week's big debate was about whether children should help around the home with chores.
So let's find out what our listeners and readers voted.
74% said yes, children should help around the home by doing some of the chores.
Quite a high percentage.
All right, Eve, any opinions on this one that were sent in?
Yeah, one person said it's too stressful to have school clubs, homework and then do chores.
There's no time to relax.
Someone else said it's selfish not to help.
You can use your free time to have fun, but it's not nice for your parents to do everything when they also work like you.
So two very good points.
Two good points, two very different points of view as well.
We do love hearing your opinion.
So like I said, go to theweekjunior.co.uk slash polls to vote.
Now, every week, readers of The Week Junior send lots of messages into the inbox and they tell us what they've been up to this week.
Editorial assistant Elena has been having a look at some of the messages and has a few to share.
Hi, everyone.
Well, a couple of weeks ago Bex, you asked Eve and Kay and our listeners about the things that they enjoy collecting.
And it's been so amazing to see the responses we got to that.
We got a few voice notes in last week's podcast, sorry.
But we also got a message from Stella in our inbox who showed us her collection of cat soft toys.
And she's got so many.
She said she's been collecting for 10 years now, which must basically mean her entire life.
And I wanted to know, Eve, what is your favorite cat in Stella's collection?
Well, my eye has actually been drawn to on the right.
There's a small little pink one and it kind of looks like a cat toy that I have which is also pink and it's called Millie.
And I think one of my parents won it for me from a claw machine at the seaside.
That's impossible though.
It reminds me of that. well it was a crazy holiday I got three toys from the claw machine I got I got a cat Millie and then I got a dog called Sammy and then I got an orangutan who I never named which is weird but anyway it was like it was a crazy it was possible my parents I always wanted to to play and my parents always told me no it's not possible to win the there are the signs so that you don't so that proves them wrong and I'm going to let them know yeah there was they obviously they had a magic touch I got a bit confused when I saw Stella's message because next to the one you said there's a very cute lion that I really like but then I was like oh that's not a cat but I forgot that lions are big cats all cats are welcome in Stella's collection all cats are welcome in Stella's collection she also says that she's got more where those come from so who knows how big Stella's collection is um Reader Cashville also messaged us to say, I am playing chess in the chess fest at Trafalgar Square, London.
I love playing chess.
And he sends a picture of him and a friend absorbed by a chess match in a tent full of people also playing chess.
And I just chose Cashville's message because I have been playing loads of chess with my friends and I also love chess.
And I just wanted to include it somehow in the podcast because I'm so happy readers and listeners also agree.
Enjoy it.
Does either of you play chess, by the way, Eve, Joe?
I can play it.
I think I sort of know the rules and I played it with my dad maybe when I was younger.
I'm not very good at it.
I think it takes maybe more patience than I have.
But one thing I really love about this is just how engrossed they look in the game of chess.
And I think to have that much patience and to be able to really engage in a game like chess at such a young age, I think is really impressive, because as an adult I just don't think.
I think, like I said, I'd struggle to have the patience.
It can be such an intense game, a game that requires so much focus.
So yeah, I mean, I probably wouldn't be up for playing a game of chess against Cashfield, because I suspect I would.
I would be on the end of a beating.
But yeah, well done.
Yeah, I think that's the best thing about chess when you suddenly become so in it that the rest of the world disappears and you're like whoa, what is this?
I'm just battling someone else.
So I take it I won't be going to chess fest with you next year, Joe?
No.
No, no, no, sadly not.
Yeah, yeah, I might.
Oh, God, I've got to awkwardly turn down your invitation live on radio.
Maybe live.
No, no.
Are we live?
We're not live.
But yeah, no, maybe not.
We'll do something else, Elena.
I'll need to look for someone else.
This is terrible.
Yeah, maybe Eve.
Eve might be up for it.
I don't know.
I know the rules.
I don't know how to win.
So you don't want me.
Okay, no one wants to come with me.
Well, that's it for this week, guys.
Thank you so much, Stella and Cashbill for showing us what you've been up to.
Listeners, please send us a picture or a voice note of what you've been up to.
If your voice note is featured in the podcast, we will send you a robing reporter badge for you to enjoy.
So do that if you want to.
Thank you again and see you all next week.
Thank you very much, Elena.
I'm currently learning chess, so I won't be at Chess Fest, but maybe, maybe next year or the year after I'll be good enough to go.
Now it's time to turn our attention back to the magazine.
So, Eve, what's the most unusual story you've seen in the magazine this week?
So my story is on the science and technology page and it's about the Ig Nobel Awards, which are inspired by the famous Nobel Prize.
And the Nobel Prize rewards people who have achieved, improve the world through science, writing or peacemaking.
But the Ig Nobel Awards have a twist because they focus on research that makes people laugh.
And we've got a list of few of the awards in the story, but one that I particularly liked was the winner of the biology prize, which went to scientists for painting zebra stripes on cows.
They wanted to see if the stripes made the animals less likely to be bitten by insects, because insects can hurt cows when they bite them and make them eat less and produce less milk.
But scientists have predicted for a long time that zebras aren't as bothered by insects because of their stripes.
So they put it to the test on the cows.
They were right.
The cows with black and white painted stripes attracted fewer biting flies than those with no stripes.
So I just what an amazing experiment.
And I love how much they thought out of the box.
It's just so cool.
But something else I love is that a tradition of the Ig Nobel Awards is for the audience to throw paper airplanes at the winners, which I think is very fun.
I am going to be telling that cow zebra story to everybody.
That's a great story to know about.
Yeah, it's so good, isn't it?
Thank you very much, Eve.
Joe, who's been your hero of the week in this week's issue?
So I might cheat a little bit for this one and pick a lot of heroes.
And that would be the whole England women's rugby team.
They're nicknamed the Red Roses. and they won the World Cup last weekend.
They defeated Canada 33-13 in the final to win the competition for the second time.
The match was played in front of 81885 people at Twickenham Stadium in London, which was a record crowd for a women's rugby match.
And what's more, it was the 33rd match in a row that England have won.
In fact, their last defeat came all the way back in the final of the last World Cup.
So I expect we're nearly a week on now, but I expect they're still celebrating, and a massive congratulations to them.
Yeah, big congratulations.
My friends were actually in the stadium when it happened and the atmosphere was electric.
They've shown me videos.
It looks incredible.
Now, I saw in the magazine this week, my favourite thing was Frida Kahlo's old family home.
Frida Kahlo, if you don't know, was an incredible artist from Mexico.
Now her home has been opened up to be a brand new museum, including the only known mural that she created.
And I've got to say I was just amused at the idea of If I was to get like famous the idea of my family home being opened as a museum to me.
What would it look like?
Would people be walking around the house here, like looking in my bedroom, being like oh, that's the poster she had up?
Oh, is that what happened there?
Oh, okay, fine.
Your pink suit would be on display.
I was going to say, yeah, I was just thinking that, yeah.
With, like, the date of the book awards in, like, a little...
I would be thrilled by that.
But I just love the idea of Frida Kahlo having her own museum and her own house.
And who knows what hidden treasures you could find inside it.
That's what made me smile this week.
Now it's time for the moment of truth.
Joe, we've got to talk about Real or Rubbish.
Can you remind me about it, please?
Yeah, this week's Real or Rubbish was about ducks living in a mansion in northern Taiwan to protect them from the elements.
And not just any type of mansion.
It's a mansion that comes with specially designed duck toilets and human servants who bring the ducks treats and food and help look after them.
But yeah, is this real, Bex, or a lie?
Are these ducks special?
Are they just ducks?
That's a very good question.
The honest answer is I don't know.
I don't know the answer to that.
I mean, I would tend to think that it's less that the individual ducks are special and more that there's a lot of them.
So you're going to get a lot inside this house all at once.
So it's not like a handful of very important ducks.
It's like the mansion is necessary.
The mansion is necessary because there is a lot of ducks that need protecting all at once.
And they're sort of herded into this house. herded into this house and, yeah.
Can you kind of imagine applying for the job of one of those servants?
Just sort of seeing that come up online.
Official duck handler.
Like, yeah.
I love the idea of this.
I just feel like surely, if there's a typhoon, a better thing to do would be to get them into like a more sturdy building than a duck mansion.
You know, you'd think maybe come inside into this big special gated area, not a special mansion on the river.
But maybe it's built out of strong stuff.
I don't know.
This is my problem.
And I also, I don't know where, like, is it in a zoo?
Is it in a nature reserve?
Or is it just a person who loves ducks?
I'm not sure.
My understanding is it's kind of on the lake or on the edge of the lake.
So I don't think it's a zoo or I don't think it's sort of something that's been built by the authorities or like a conservation project charity necessarily um, maybe just some kind of uh, slightly zany, rich person who really really really loves ducks i mean, who doesn't?
Um, i also, as i said that i realized that you don't really get many ducks in a zoo.
It's not like a common thing to get in a zoo.
No, you don't.
Yeah, i suppose you don't really go to a zoo to kind of like when i go to a zoo, it's like lions and giraffes, it's like ducks are kind of quite.
Yeah, Just see ducks at the local pond.
You don't really need to go to a zoo to see them.
I don't know what to do with this one.
It is quite tricky.
I like the idea of a duck mansion.
And I've seen duck houses before on ponds and lakes.
Some people have them, like a little place where the ducks can pop their head in.
I am going to say I'm going to say it's rubbish, just because I don't think a mansion is sturdy enough during strong weather to contain ducks there.
So that's what I'm going to say.
I'm going to say the story this week is rubbish.
Oh, I started the drum roll before you said drum roll.
There we go.
I was too eager.
Sorry.
Bex, it is indeed rubbish.
Is it?
It is rubbish, yeah.
I mean, there's elements of the story that are true.
I feel like we can make these quite tricky for you sometimes.
Try to catch you out, because there's parts that are true.
So there are floating homes.
Floating homes have been built for the ducks, but there's no duck toilets and there's no specially designed duck toilets.
I suppose the lake in general is a toilet.
And there are no servants bringing these ducks treats and pampering them.
So the ducks are protected, but they're perhaps not living as luxurious a life, as I made out when I was describing the story to you.
So well done.
There you go.
Thank you very much.
They did seem to have a lovely life, these fictional ducks.
Finally, it's time for Listen Up the bit of the show that gives you the chance to win a copy of our Book of the Week, which this week is The Poisoned King, by Catherine Rundell.
All you've got to do is answer a question about something that's been said in this very episode.
And if you think you know the answer and you absolutely do, because you've been listening to this episode grab a grown-up and head to theweekjuniorcouk to fill in our online entry form and enter the prize draw before the closing date of the 9th of October at noon.
We also have to say congratulations to Riker, who won a copy of Science Detective Agency two weeks ago.
So the Week Junior team will randomly select a winner from all of the entries with the correct answer.
If you're under 16, you must have a parent or guardian's permission to enter, and terms and conditions apply.
You can find out more at theweekjunior.co.uk slash terms.
So are you ready?
Listen up.
What is the name of the cat who won the National Cat of the Year Award?
If you know the answer, go to the.
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Listen up to enter the giveaway.
Lovely stuff.
Thank you very much, Eve.
That brings us to the end of this week's show.
Thank you, of course, to Joe, Eve and Elena.
Next week, we'll be back to discuss more of the fascinating stories that are happening in the world.
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Bye.
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