Hey listeners of The Week Junior Show!
We'd love your help with the final episode of our Podcast of the Year, which will be a wrap-up of our favourite stories we've reported on in 2025.
We would love our listeners to send in a voice note telling us what their favourite stories were this year that you've either read in the magazine or heard on the podcast.
If you want to get involved, please send us a voice note at hello at theweekjuniorcouk or record a voice note at funkidslivecom.
Forward slash theweekjunior.
Just grab a grown-up and record your voice.
And don't forget, if your voice note is featured, you could win a Roving Reporter badge.
Hello and welcome to The Week Junior Show.
I'm Bex and I'm joined by writers Jo and Kay from The Week Junior, the magazine making sense of the world for 8 to 14 year olds.
In a week where Ukraine's president visited Downing Street and the Sports Personality of the Year nominees were announced, we're going to be talking about some of the other stories that inspired and entertained The Week Junior team.
So 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.
Now, in this week's issue, there's an interview with author Greg Jenner, who I love, by the way.
He's brilliant.
I met him at the Week Junior Book Awards.
Now in this interview, he mentioned he would love to go back in time to spend a day with painter and inventor Leonardo da Vinci.
So it got me thinking, which person from the past would you like to spend a day with?
Kay, how about you?
I would love to spend a day with Beatrix Potter, because I love the idea of just being surrounded by loads of animals and And I love her books, and my dad used to read them to me growing up.
And so, yeah, I'd love to meet her.
I feel like she'd be very good at explaining to you how to draw all the creatures as well.
And I think you in particular would be very good at drawing them.
Oh, thanks very much.
That's what I feel like.
Jo, how about you?
Who would you meet?
I'd quite like to go back and meet Muhammad Ali.
Now, a lot of people consider him to be the greatest boxer of all time.
But for me it's more about some of the other things he did in his life standing up for what he believed in, with things like his refusal to fight in the Vietnam War, which led to him being stripped of his heavyweight title.
And also, if you've ever seen old interviews with him, he was just a huge character.
He had a big personality.
And I think it would be really fun and really interesting to spend a day with him.
Good one.
Now, I love my royal history.
So I'm going to go back in time to visit Elizabeth I, because I've been reading a little bit about her recently and she is fascinating.
She kind of like defied the odds to become queen, which I didn't really realise.
So yeah, I'm going to go Elizabeth I for that one.
But we, of course, would love to know what our listeners think of this.
So if there's a person from the past that you would love to spend the day with, you can send us an email.
Go to hello at theweekjunior.co.uk or leave us a voice note at funkidslive.com slash theweekjunior.
Just grab a grown-up, look for that big red button and record your voice.
And if your voice note is played next week, you could win a Week Junior Roving Reporter badge.
Now, last week, we asked our listeners what book they'd like to see adapted on screen.
So we've got one here from Moria.
I choose Wizards of Once by Krista Carrow.
It has brilliant characters and a really excited world that would look amazing on screen.
Oh, my goodness.
A great shout.
Cressida Cowell's Wizards of Once is a brilliant book.
I have read it.
And of course, she also wrote How to Train Your Dragon.
So she knows how to write stuff that goes on screen.
That's a really, really good one.
Next up, we've got Evie.
Hi, my name is Evie and I am eight years old.
I would want Hattie Suffer to be a TV series or a movie because it's a really good book.
Thank you very much to Evie.
Evie, I've got some good news for you.
I think it may actually already be a TV show on iPlayer at the moment.
So, Evie, your wish has come true and you didn't even realise.
How cool is that?
We've also had a message here from Bella.
Hi, The Week Junior.
My name is Bella and I'm 11 years old.
If I could see any book I want on screen, it will have to be The Week Junior Show magazine.
The Week Junior is already on paper and on podcast.
It would be so cool if we could see it live on screen.
Thanks, The Week Junior.
Bye.
I love your show.
Oh, my goodness.
Bella, commissioned.
Absolutely.
Jo, would you fancy that?
Yeah, definitely.
I'd be up for it.
I've always fancied myself as a bit of an actor.
I'd like to be on screen.
Give it a go.
I'll round the troops up at the Week Junior and see if we can make it happen.
Yeah, we get a lovely little studio and everything.
I'd be well up for that.
Bella, we're going to make it happen.
Thank you for that.
Now if you would love to get involved this week.
We want to hear what person from the past you would love to spend a day with.
You can send us a voice note at to funkidslive.com slash theweekjunior.
And we can't wait to hear what you've got to say.
Now I think we should turn our attention to the latest magazine to talk about what's been in the news this week.
Joe, what story have you got?
So it's about the government's Youth Matters report, which we covered on our UK news pages.
It was announced on Wednesday and it's a plan to increase young people's access to youth centres and youth workers in England over the next 10 years.
The government said it would spend £500 million to make the measures in the plan a reality.
These measures include the government rebuilding or refurbishing up to 250 youth centres and providing equipment for activities to about 2500 youth organisations.
Most of the money, £350 million of it, will be spent on this.
The plans include providing support with life skills and wellbeing to young people in schools and opening young futures hubs, which will be centres that bring together different services for young people, such as mental health support and careers advice.
The Youth Matters report says the first eight of these will be opened by March next year in locations such as Manchester, Leeds and London.
Now, on the same day that the Youth Matters report was revealed, the government's State of the Nation survey was published.
For the survey.
Researchers talked to more than 14000 young people in England to find out what life is like for them.
The results of the survey said that young people want more safe spaces where they can meet in person, more access to mental health support and more guidance with education and careers, among other things.
The Youth Matters report was produced in direct response to the State of the Nation survey.
I was lucky enough to interview the Culture Secretary, Lisa Nandy, while putting together this article.
She told me that everyone, young and old, has a role to play in helping to support young people in this country and said if young people succeed, the country will succeed.
Now, there has been some caution expressed over the Youth Matters report.
For example, the charity UK Youth told BBC News that the measures were an important first step, but stressed that true recovery of youth services after a period of decline would require long term commitment.
And just as a final note, the Youth Matters report addresses youth services in England.
The governments in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales are responsible for their own youth policies and a Scottish plan is being developed.
This is big news, Joe, and also a big deal to get to chat to Lisa Nandy as well.
So it must have been an exciting story for you to cover for the week, Junior.
Yeah, it was.
It was really great.
And I couldn't really believe it when they said we're going to put forward Lisa Nandy and get you to have a chat with her.
So it was almost a little bit surreal to just have a phone call and you pick it up and it's just casually the culture secretary on the other end of the line.
Slightly weird, but a great experience.
Yeah, I bet.
That's awesome.
Thank you.
Now, Kay, what's another story that you've seen in the news this week?
So my favourite story is about guide dog puppies going to the Royal Opera House in London, where the Nutcracker Ballet is currently on.
And one of the guide dog puppies is actually called Clara, which is the same name of the main character in The Nutcracker.
And the whole visit was about making ballet accessible for everyone.
And actually this guide dog puppy got to go on stage and engage with the dancers as they performed.
It's just really nice.
Oh, that's such a beautiful Christmassy story.
Thank you very much, Kay.
What a lovely one.
Now it's time for my favourite part of the show.
Real or rubbish, this is when I hear a story.
I have to guess if it's fact or fake news.
And I believe, Kay, it is your turn this week.
What are the chances of a footballer having to not take part in a game because they accidentally left their passport in their trousers when they put them into the washing machine?
So actually this happened with a footballer called Andres Cubas who plays for Paraguay.
He left his passport in the pocket of his trousers and then he couldn't go and play in a football game.
So...
Because obviously he had to go abroad.
So what do you think?
Would a player from a national team really get left behind because of a laundry mishap?
Or is this story all washed up?
Okay, so let me get this straight.
He had left his passport in his trousers.
The trousers went into the wash.
He, I assume, went off to the airport and then realised his passport was somewhere in a laundry basket.
Yeah, just still in the trouser pocket.
Now, this surprises me, because I'm the kind of person who, if I'm going to the airport, I am checking for my passport every five minutes.
I'm like tapping where it is and making sure I know it.
I'm looking at it again just in case I move around and I still see it's there.
So the idea of somebody traveling and not having it on them blows my mind personally.
Also, did it make it into the wash?
Do we know?
Because if so, would it not be ruined?
Yeah, it did.
It went into the washing machine and it was so badly damaged that he couldn't use it to travel.
So yeah, it's just...
A nightmare for the passport and the football game.
And all of the footballers that were relying on him to play, I guess.
I mean, it does mean the passport will be squeaky clean.
And it also probably means that somebody who was maybe hoping to get called up but wasn't on the main team was probably thrilled.
They were like, brilliant, okay.
Well, he's off cleaning his passport.
I can get on for him.
So I'm intrigued about this, because surely I mean again, surely on the way to the airport you would check.
I feel like footballers have assistants or people to make sure everything's okay.
Or their coaches or their teammates would be like, mate, have you got your passport?
So this surprises me a lot.
So he's not been able to do a few trips by the sounds of things.
Yeah, has just had to stay at home with his very clean passport.
Yeah, doing some keepy-uppies, probably.
I don't know about this.
This seems like such a silly mishap that I can't imagine it could happen.
But maybe it is so silly that it could happen.
I'm not too sure.
I've got to say, though, I'd be absolutely gutted.
Wouldn't you be devastated if you were A meant to go abroad and B meant to play for your country?
And then
Well, you couldn't because your passport was in the wash.
It's a bit like the dog ate my homework on the list of like terrible excuses.
So, Kay, thank you so much for that.
I will think about that reel or rubbish.
I just don't know what to do with that.
And while I do, it's time for our book of the week.
This week it's Avalanche by Simon Fox, which is an explosive thing.
Thriller about tom whose skiing holiday goes wrong when a villainous gang turns up to search for a powerful technology created by the chalet owner.
So when the gang causes an avalanche, tom's got to work out how to save the day.
And we've got a message here from the author, simon foxx.
Hi there, listeners of the Week Junior show.
My name's Simon Fox.
I'm the author of Avalanche, which has been selected as Book of the Week in the current issue of the magazine.
And I'm here to answer a very important question.
What was my favourite children's book growing up?
Well...
It was Treasure Island because it's exciting, it's full of pirates and it's brilliant.
Now, if you'd like to win a copy of Avalanche, stay with us until the end of the show to find out how you can enter our prize draw to win a copy.
All right, then it's time for this week's big debate.
And the question this week is, should all zoos be closed?
So Joe and Kay are going to go head to head on this one to take a side each.
But before we hear from them, here's some information you might need to know.
The word zoo is short for zoological park, and a zoo is a place where wild animals are kept in captivity.
So, although people have kept wild animals for thousands of years, the first modern public zoo was opened in Paris, in France, in 1793.
Early zoos like this kept animals in very small enclosures and they were mostly for people's entertainment.
But today, as you may know, zoos are very different.
The enclosures are much bigger and lots of zoos are involved in conservation, where they breed endangered species to release into the wild.
So should all zoos be closed?
Joe is team yes, Kay is team no.
Each of them have 60 seconds to make their case, and then I'll make my mind up with who I agree with more.
So Joe is going to go first.
Joe, I'm going to get the clock up here.
Bear with me here.
So Joe, whenever you're ready, take it away.
So look, enclosures and zoos are bigger than they used to be, but the animals are still limited when it comes to how much they move around.
This is a particular problem for very large animals like elephants.
Now in the wild, they could wander freely wherever they wanted to go.
And obviously, this just isn't possible in zoos.
So is that really fair?
Earlier this year, the Born Free Foundation, which works to protect animals in captivity, released a report in which it said species such as chimpanzees and orangutans can suffer from heart disease when kept in captivity.
And finally, living in zoos can affect animals' mental health.
So it's not OK to keep them there.
Yes, people enjoy going to see them.
But the main issue here is the welfare of the animals, not the viewing public.
And for the reasons I've outlined, all zoos should be closed.
OK.
Very definite ending there, Jo.
Thank you for the reasons you've outlined.
All right.
Lovely stuff.
So, Kay, it's your turn to disagree whenever you're ready.
Take it away.
I love going to zoos and zoos.
I think going to zoos is where you really learn about different animals and what they eat and how they move, and you get to see them in real life.
So it's really important educationally for children.
And also zoos do really good conservation work.
A lot of animals that you'd see in some zoos are extinct in the wild.
For example, at London Zoo, There are 12 species that are extinct in the world.
Also recently in Wales, at Folly Farm Adventure Park and Zoo, they welcomed the birth of a black rhino, which are critically endangered in the world.
So yeah, I would just say that you can see so many amazing animals in zoos.
And often they do live quite a long time in zoos, whereas they may be wooden in the wild.
And they're really well looked after most of the time.
That little most of the time took a little extra second there, but I'll give it to you, Kay.
So this is an interesting one because two very, very good debates there.
It's a really tough one this week.
I...
I haven't been to a zoo for a very long time, but I do know they are good at conservation.
So it's a really, really tricky one.
I want to know, of course, what you're thinking if you're listening right now.
So you can get involved by voting online at theweekjunior.co.uk.
You can also email your thoughts to us at hello at theweekjunior.co.uk or send us a voice note.
Just go to funkidslive.com slash theweekjunior.
Now, in last week's Big Debate, we asked you if school spelling tests should be scrapped.
Let's find out what the Week Junior listeners and readers voted.
57 said no spelling tests shouldn't be scrapped because it's important to learn how to spell correctly.
Higher than I thought.
Okay.
Jo, any opinions sent in?
Yeah, we have had a few sent in.
One said no, because if we scrap spelling tests in the future we might not know how to spell certain words, eg onomatopoeia.
And another said, if you have dyslexia, it's hard and stressful.
The teacher sometimes puts pressure on you.
I love that somebody did correctly spell onomatopoeia almost as a point of principle there.
That was excellent.
So thank you very much for getting in touch with last week's big debate.
And for this week's zoological debate, yes, like I said, go to theweekjunior.co.uk slash polls.
Now, every week, readers of The Week Junior send in loads of messages to the inbox to tell us what they've been up to.
And this week, editorial assistant Elena is here to share some of her favourites.
Hey, Elena.
Hi, Bex, and hi, everyone.
As always, there has been a lot in our inbox and readers have clearly started to get into the Christmas spirit.
I like these two separate messages from Teo and Prisha, who had the same idea to make a Christmas tree out of The Week Junior issues and laid them out on the floor in a tree shape.
Joe, what do you think about these?
Yeah, they're amazing.
They're slightly different shapes, aren't they?
One of them's got kind of a branch.
What do you call that?
A trunk, a trunk.
I can't believe I forgot what a tree looks like then.
A trunk.
But yeah, I'm slightly intrigued that these are two separate messages that have come in.
It makes me wonder how many you know if these are the two that just happen to send us pictures.
Maybe there's week junior readers across the country making Christmas trees out of magazines, which would be absolutely amazing.
Yeah, and this is my third Christmas at the Week Junior and I don't recall seeing any messages about Christmas trees and they just both send them at the same time.
It's really cool, and they actually make really colourful Christmas trees.
They look amazing.
And in Prisha's picture, I can see some old issues.
I can spot our Wild Robert cover and last year's Week Junior Book Awards winners.
So shout out to Prisha and thank you for being a longtime reader.
I also love this message from Millie, who said my friends and I held a charity book sale in our local park in Gosforth, Newcastle.
We decided to donate all the money raised to children in need and, despite the rainy weather, we raised an amazing £11150.
Kate, how amazing is this?
I love this.
And when I was younger, I actually used to organize my own boot sales and put all my stuff that I didn't want anymore out on the wall and people would walk past and some people were really generous and they would give me like 10 pounds for something that I didn't ever use anymore or really want and yeah, just great to make some money and it's also really nice to hear that they've donated this money to charity.
Yeah, exactly.
If you've got stuff that you're not going to use, why throw it away when you can donate it or do a sale?
Sometimes, with books specifically, you really like a book that you own and you want to hold on to it.
But the truth, at least for me, is that A lot of the time we've got books hanging around that we're probably never going to read again.
So why not give them on to someone else?
So this is a great initiative, Millie.
And that's it for this week.
Thank you, Millie, Teo and Prisha.
And just a weekly reminder that if you send us a voice note and we play it on the podcast, you will get a Roving Reporter badge.
Thank you again and see you all next week.
Brilliant.
Thank you very much, Elena.
Also just want to say hello to the Gosforth gang.
I used to live in Gosforth so I probably have walked through that park that Millie was selling those books in.
Now next up, let's turn our attention back to the magazine this week and to the team's favourite stories.
Kay, who's been your hero of the week?
So last Saturday I was watching Strictly Come Dancing and I wasn't really focusing on what was happening.
But then suddenly Tom Fletcher was on stage and then he was joined by Paddington.
They sang this really beautiful song together.
And all week, I've just been thinking about them and their performance.
And yeah, so they're my heroes.
I have seen this musical live already.
So I've seen Paddington on stage sing that song.
It's fair to say I cried a lot.
Joyous tears, obviously, but it's an incredible show.
And yeah, the music was quite something special.
So yeah, that was really fun to see on TV.
Jo, what's been your favourite fact from this week's issue?
My favourite fact this week is from our animals pages on a story about raccoons.
That's also our cover story.
The story is about the animals' appearance changing as they adapt to city life.
But the fact I've chosen, which I love, is that raccoons are also known as trash pandas because they steal out of bins.
Trash Panda.
What a great and also quite offensive nickname for them.
But hey, look, if that's what they're doing, they deserve it, clearly.
The story I've seen this week that I think a lot of your readers and our listeners will be happy about is Dogman the Musical.
Now, Dogman is a massive book series, also a film as well.
And it's going to be made into a big musical in the Southbank Centre in July and August next year.
So if you're a fan of Dogman, look out for that.
It's going to be on the stage and I think lots of people are going to be very, very excited.
Now it's time for the moment of truth.
Kay, we've got to talk about this week's Real or Rubbish.
Can you remind me of the story, please?
So this is the story about Andres Cubas, a footballer for Paraguay who was getting ready for a game.
And I guess he must have put his passport in his trouser pocket, thinking that's a safe place.
I won't forget it.
But then he put his trousers into the washing machine and he couldn't go to the football game because he damaged his passport.
But yeah, the passport was very clean.
Right, well, I might have to pass on this story because I genuinely do not know.
Annoyingly, I thought to myself if only I knew football better, I could say yes, that man is a real footballer.
But I have no idea.
You could be telling me any name and I have no idea whether this man actually exists or not.
My knowledge of Paraguay's football team is very little.
I say little, it's non-existent.
And also, I was wondering about...
Surely if you're part of a national football team, people can pull some strings to get you traveling.
You know, yeah, he's washed his passport, but he's a national hero.
He's a national treasure.
Get him on the plane.
I don't know whether it works like that.
I'm not sure.
So I am really torn on this one this week.
But I am going to say, I'm going to say the story is real, purely for the fact that I, you know, these things happen.
But it wouldn't happen to me because I would refuse to keep my passport out of my sight.
But I'm going to say the story is real this week.
Okay.
It is real!
How is it?
Oh no!
He just washed it and couldn't go.
Yay.
He left it in his trouser pockets and luckily he has now been able to get a new passport.
I bet his fans were livid.
Can you imagine travelling to a match to see your favourite football player and they'd be like no sorry, he washed his passport, couldn't make it.
Right, well, I'm thrilled I got that right, but very sad for him.
Anyway, it's finally time for Listen Up.
This is the bit of the show that gives you the chance to win a copy of our book of the week Avalanche, by Simon Fox.
So all you've got to do is answer a question about something that's been said in this episode.
And if you think you know the answer...
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 18th of December at midday.
We also have to say congratulations to Arian, who won a copy of The Wizard's Guide to Magical Experiments two weeks ago.
Now the Week Junior team will randomly select a winner from all of the entries with the correct answer.
And 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 main character in The Nutcracker?
If you know the answer to the question, go to theweekjuniorcouk forward slash listener to enter our giveaway.
Thank you very much, Joe.
That brings us to the end of this week's show.
Thank you to Joe, Kay and Elena.
Next week, we'll be back to discuss more of the fascinating stories happening in the world.
And if you like The Week Junior show, you'll love The Week Junior magazine.
Head to theweekjunior.co.uk to find out more.
Bye.
Thanks for listening to this podcast, which is made by the same people that make the week junior magazine.
You can get six free issues of the week junior or three issues of the week junior science and nature for five pounds by heading to theweekjuniorcouk forward slash podcast offer.
