Hello and welcome to The Week Junior Show.
I'm Bex and I'm joined by writers Jo and Eve from The Week Junior, the magazine making sense of the world for 8 to 14 year olds.
In a week where people marked Remembrance Day and Wales welcomed a new Archbishop, we're going to be talking about some of the other stories that inspired and entertained the Week Junior team.
Now 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's something I want to talk to you about.
This week's cover story is Toy Story, celebrating 30 years since the first film came out in 1995.
And it got me thinking, what was your favourite toy to play with growing up?
Eve, tell me, what did you love playing with?
I had very fond memories of playing with Beyblades with my brother, which I don't know if they still exist or not, but they're like spinning tops and you have tournaments where you let them rip and then you have to see which one knocks the other one out first.
And we had a little plastic Beyblade arena and Me and my brother would just be playing it for ages and we had a flashing one that sang It's a Small World, which was very fun, very entertaining to play with.
And did you ever break each other's Beyblades?
Was that a possibility?
I don't think so, no.
I think we were both quite precious about looking after them, making sure that even if one of us won, we still had to keep the Beyblades safe.
And secure for the next tournament, I imagine.
Jo, how about you?
What was your favourite toy?
Well, I used to have this foam rocket that was really fun.
You'd slot it onto the end of a tube and then sort of pull the tube back and then push it forward and it would force air into the rocket, which would make it shoot off the end of the tube.
It was, yeah, it's a bit niche.
Bay Blade is also a really good one.
But yeah, this foam rocket, I have a specific memory of it.
It was really, really fun firing it again and again.
Was this an outdoor toy, Joe, or were you doing it in your bedroom?
I think I was doing it all around the house.
Yeah, it probably was a bit hazardous.
Not just for my poor parents, but also for anything sitting on.
You know mantelpieces or you know photos.
Yeah, it was only foam though.
So it's not, you know, it wasn't too bad.
And there weren't kind of, you know, holes in the walls by the time I was done with it.
So, you know.
Go out and get yourself a foam rocket, Bex, if you haven't already got one.
I don't think I'd be trusted with one, though.
I'd be an absolute menace if I had one.
My favourite, I think, were two toys that really stick out for me were teddy bears.
I had a lot of teddy bears.
That was my big thing.
I made teddy bear worlds in my bedroom.
And also I had a little mini sweet shop and a pizza hut so I could sell sweets.
There was little Cadbury fudge bars that I could sell and little pizza hut pizzas as well that I would make and give out to people.
So yeah, I think basically I just loved food and selling it, I suppose, in my toys.
That was that's kind of what I aim for.
Um, but if listeners at home want to tell us what their favorite toy to play with is, you absolutely can.
We'd love to hear from you.
Just email hello at theweekjuniorcouk or leave a voice note.
And So last week we asked what everybody would like to open a museum about if they could.
And here's what Adam said.
Hi The Week Junior.
My name is Adam and I think if I would make a museum, it would be about like collector's cards and like all the like let's say, the first collector card there is and stuff like that.
OK, thank you very much to Adam.
Collectors cards.
That is a great one, because surely there'd just be so many things to collect, because that's the whole point.
They're collectors cards.
There'd be loads of different ones you could display in the museum.
Thank you.
We also had one here from Elsa.
Hi, Week Junior Show.
My name's Elsa and I was listening to your podcast and I think I'd love to make the world's longest museum, because my museum would be all about sausage dogs and why they're so long.
And also, I wanted to tell you some exciting news.
Mini drumroll, please.
I got elected my school's head girl.
Thank you, Week Junior.
Bye.
Love your show.
Oh, hang on.
Yeah, we've got to.
Well done, Elsa.
Elsa, oh my days.
Elsa, where to even begin?
That was a glorious message.
First of all, of course, congratulations.
Secondly, the longest museum.
I love the idea that, because it's about sausage dogs, it has to be be long.
That was a great shout as well.
Um, you know what Elsa, thank you for that that's.
That's a really, really good idea.
And also, maybe you could uh, make a little mini museum in your school.
Now you're a head girl, you can pretty much do whatever you want, I imagine.
Um, we also had a message here from Zach.
Hi, I'm Zach and I want to open a hardware and tools museum because I love woodwork Bye.
Hardware and tools.
Now, in my head, all I can imagine is a hammer, but I feel like there's probably more to it.
I mean, Zach would know, obviously, because Zach's got this sorted.
All right.
Well hopefully Zach, if you're in the business of building anything as well, I think this is going to be an excellent museum for you.
And finally, we want to hear from Annabelle.
Hi, Ann.
I'm Annabelle and I would like to open a museum about the history of beauty products, going back to ancient Greek times, by the week Junior.
Oh, that's a good one because that is history there.
Like to ancient Greek times to now, that's a lot of stuff to include.
I think that might be quite a big museum actually, Annabelle.
So we'll make sure we get a good plot for you when we find an appropriate um.
We've had some great ones there, oh my goodness.
Adam elsa, zach and annabelle thank you so much for all of your messages.
We love hearing your voices, and this week, if you want to tell us about your favorite toy, all you've got to do is send a voice note to funkidslivecom slash, the week junior.
Now let's turn our attention to the latest magazine to talk about what's been in the headlines this week.
Uh joe, what story do you have for me?
So I've actually got two stories for you Bex, and they're both related to the environment.
The first is about the winners of the Earthshot Prize being announced at a ceremony in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Now the prize was set up by Prince William in 2020 to celebrate people who are working to solve environmental challenges.
The winning projects, of which there were five, split across different categories, each received one million pounds.
Now Colombia's capital city Bogota, when the clean air category for work, such as building the largest cycle path in Latin America and introducing a fleet of more than one thousand four hundred electric buses, arrived.
A project called Friendship in Bangladesh, which helps prepare communities for flooding and provide services such as education and healthcare, won the Fix Our Climate category.
The ceremony, the final ceremony, featured performances from musicians like Kylie Minogue and Shawn Mendes.
Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, was also there, although not presumably giving a musical performance.
Prince William said the work of the Earthshot winners was proof that progress is possible.
And now just quickly moving to another part of Brazil, this time the city of Belem.
The world's biggest climate change summit began there on the 10th of November.
It's called COP30 and it's a chance for world leaders to come together to discuss how to tackle climate change.
Nearly 200 countries have sent representatives this year, and they'll discuss things like energy and protecting rainforests.
The event ends on the 21st of November.
Awesome.
Really inspiring stories there that people are coming together to help planet Earth.
Thank you very much, Joe.
That was really, really interesting.
And just good to know about what is happening in the world.
Eve, what's another story you've seen in the news this week?
I've got a similarly inspiring story.
It's a story I saw in the headlines about British red kite chicks that are helping to revive the population of red kites in Spain.
So red kites are on the brink of extinction in Spain because of predators and human interference, such as illegal poisoning.
So British-born red kite chicks have been taken to southwest Spain as part of a four-year project to help them.
But what's amazing about this story is the fact that nearly 40 years ago, red kites were extinct in England and Scotland.
So in the late 1980s and early 1990s red kite chicks from Spain and Sweden were released in England to help bring them back.
And the species is now thriving across the UK with more than 6000 mating pairs.
And now the UK is kind of giving back to Spain to help their red kite populations, which I just think is amazing.
Oh, that is, I love that story.
Thank you very much.
Two really good news stories this week.
Thanks, guys.
Now it's time for my favourite bit of the show.
This is Real or Rubbish, where I have to guess if a story is true or false, fact or fake news.
Eve, it's your turn to trick me this week, so go on, tell me a story.
We're going with the real nature theme this week, I think.
But this week's Real or Rubbish is about plans in Austria to give pylons a nature-themed makeover.
So anyone who doesn't know what pylons are, they're big metal structures that hold up cables carrying electricity from power stations to towns and cities.
And they're generally not the most attractive things, but we do need them.
But this makeover project in Austria will create power giants, which will be sculptures of different animals, including stags and storks.
And these will carry electricity.
And each of Austria's nine states will have animal pylons that represent the local area.
So Bex, do you think this story is true or is it a shocking lie?
I thought you were going to say, is it a pile of rubbish?
Oh, that's good.
Okay.
So first of all, I didn't even know Austria had nine states.
So that is immediately news to me.
Good.
We're off to the races.
So will every pylon be changed or is it just certain, like, is it one per state?
I think I was under the impression that it was every pylon would be changed.
Every pylon?
And they're going to have animals kind of as part of them?
Yeah.
So instead of it, because they're sort of like big towers, aren't they?
So instead of that, it would just be sort of like the shape of a stag.
And I guess the wires would sort of drape over it.
So the shape of a stag in one state and then what was the other one?
A stork in another state.
At the top of the pylon, you're saying we've got these animals.
No, the whole pylon will be the sculpture of the animal.
The whole pylon?
Yeah.
But that would take quite a lot to change.
I mean, wouldn't electricity be down?
Because you would have to take off a pylon from the grid and then replace it with a stag pylon?
Well, I'm no engineer, but I'm imagining what you could maybe do is build the pylon, build the new pylon, the stag pylon, and then you keep the other pylon up and then you sort of sidle it over, put it up next to it, attach the wires and then just pull down the other one.
That's what I would do.
I love a sentence that starts with I'm no engineer.
But So you're telling me they're replacing all pylons in Austria with animal sculptures that will also conduct electricity.
Yeah okay okay, and any other animals that i need to know about.
Here i've got stags and stalks, anything else uh, i don't know if they've announced the other, the other ideas yet uh, but the idea is that each state will have an animal that represents that local area.
Okay,
So if there was one in London, maybe we could have like pigeon pylons in London.
I'd be thrilled.
Excellent.
The mechanics of this are going to throw me a little bit.
The idea that replacing all pylons, I mean, with, let's face it, quite whimsical creatures.
I mean, I do love a bit of whimsy, but I'm not too sure whether it's practical.
So while I consider my options with that one, thank you very much, Eve.
Let's move on to our book of the week.
This week, it's Wild Journey by A.M.
Dasu.
And here she is to tell us a little bit about it.
Hi, I'm A.M.
Dasu, and I'm delighted to be telling you about my new book, Wild Journey, which is illustrated by Jo Lillington.
In this story collection, you will find five stories set across the world, in five different settings, with five wildly different characters.
And you will go from Egypt to Morocco, the Sahara desert to the Asturias forest in Spain, to a farm in France and to England, and you'll meet all sorts of children from all sorts of backgrounds, with all sorts of different family setups, and in this collection you will explore what home means to different beings and see how brave and resilient we are as humans.
When I was younger, my favourite book of all time was Spot the Dog.
It was a lift-the-flat picture book and I read it till I was way too old.
And it's the only book I remember clearly when someone asks me what my favourite book was.
So if you want to win a copy of Wild Journey, stay with us until the end of the show and you can find out how to enter our prize draw to win a copy.
Now we're joined by editor Vanessa with a message for listeners and readers.
Hello, Vanessa.
How are you doing?
Hello, Bex.
How are you doing?
I'm very good, thank you.
I'm intrigued about what message you have here.
My message?
It does sound important, doesn't it?
Well, how much do you think you're thinking about Christmas?
If your head was a pie chart.
Right, yeah.
I am thinking about Christmas, but I think part of the things I'm thinking about Christmas are how annoyed I am to be thinking about Christmas before the 1st of December, when I believe that you can think about Christmas properly.
OK, well, yes.
OK, fair enough.
Well, I want our listeners and readers to push that up to about 75 percent, because we're doing our Christmas survey.
We're trying to find out what our readers and listeners like to do over the festive season.
And it's going to close quite soon.
So time is a bit tight.
We've got about... Yeah, go online.
I'll give you the URL in a minute.
You go online and you get a parent or guardian's permission, of course, to take part.
And... you answer, it's about sort of 11, 12 questions.
And they're really fun.
It's just about, you know, do you put up decorations?
Do you help with the cooking?
And things like that.
So yeah, we'd love to hear from you.
And we will be publishing the results in our Christmas issue.
But the survey closes at 11.59pm on the 23rd of November.
So can I give you all the code to get involved?
It is tinyurl.com forward slash TWJ hyphen festive survey 25, all one word.
Vanessa, I have to ask, are you thinking about Christmas?
Well, yes, and I'll tell you why.
Because our Christmas cover competition.
I've been looking at the entries to our Christmas cover competition and we've had loads in.
So, yeah, I'm feeling really Christmassy.
OK.
And so tell us again the website that we can go to to fill in this questionnaire and get involved with our Christmas quiz.
Sure thing.
It's tinyurl.com forward slash TWJ hyphen festive survey 25.
All one word.
Lovely stuff.
Thank you very much, Vanessa.
I'm sure everybody will want to get involved.
And also good luck to everybody who's entered the cover competition as well, because I know that is going to be a tough one.
Now it's time for our big debate.
And the question this week is, is it OK to use Americanisms?
So Eve and Joe will go head to head to take a side each on this argument.
But before we hear from them, here's some information you need to know.
An Americanism is an English language word that is used mainly by Americans or is thought to have originated in the US.
Americanisms might describe something in a different way to British English.
So examples of Americanisms are candy instead of sweets, trash instead of rubbish, and chips instead of crisps.
A recent survey of more than 10000 teachers carried out by TeacherTap for the Times newspaper found that more than half of primary school teachers hear pupils say trash and garbage instead of rubbish.
65% of them heard them say candy instead of sweets.
The survey found that Americanisms are particularly popular among primary school children.
So is it okay to use Americanisms?
Joe is team yes.
Eve is team no.
Each of them have 60 seconds to make their case.
And then I'll decide who I agree with more.
So it's Joe who's going to go first today.
So Joe, whenever you are ready, take it away.
Yeah, so words and phrases evolve over time.
They always have done and they always will.
So it's unreasonable and a bit pointless to interfere and try and stop this from happening.
And in fact, some words that we now call Americanisms were actually used in Britain centuries ago.
So, for example, people used to say fall before it became autumn and sidewalk before it became pavement, borrowing from the French.
And come on.
It's not like Americanisms are difficult to understand, because lots of them are very well known already.
So if people use them, you know what they're talking about.
If I say candy to you, Bex, you know what I'm on about.
And ultimately, it's not right to police language.
As long as what you're saying isn't offensive or hurtful, then no one should be telling you what words you can and can't say.
I was sceptical of this argument, Jo, but that was a very, very good debate.
It's up to Eve to pull me back the other way.
So, Eve, whenever you're ready, go for it.
Well, I just think that words are part of a country's history and culture and I really think they need to be preserved.
Just because some words from the past aren't used as often in the UK, it would still be a shame for those words to die out.
And using different words makes a place unique and special.
And we should be proud of our differences and the fact that you know we say lift instead of elevator, or crisps instead of chips.
And I just think, wouldn't the world be really boring if everyone started to use the same words and everyone started to all use those Americanisms?
It's just really important to celebrate words and keep tradition alive.
Imagine how sad it would be if, in 100 years, someone read an old copy of The Week Junior and they didn't know what sweets meant because everyone had started to say candy.
Or I'm just having a vision of in 100 years I'm talking to my great grandkids and I say pass me that bowl of sweets.
And they say, what do you mean?
That's candy.
I just think that would be sad.
Interesting.
Two excellent arguments, guys, because I understand what Joe says.
You know, you don't want to place language.
You don't want to stop people from saying things that aren't, you know, that mean the right thing.
But equally, I do think Eve is right about protecting the culture.
And, you know, some really great English words that might get lost along the way.
But it's not my opinion that matters.
It's our readers and listeners.
So we want to hear what you think about this week's big debate.
You can get involved by voting online at theweekjunior.co.uk.
You could also email your thoughts to us at hello at theweekjunior.co.uk. or send us a voice note.
Just go to funkidslivecom, slash theweekjunior, scroll down till you see that big red button, grab a grown-up and then record your voice.
Your message could be in next week's episode.
Now, in last week's Big Debate, we asked you if tourist taxes are a good idea.
So let's find out what the Week Junior listeners and readers voted.
Joe?
It was really close this week, but 51 of voters said tourist taxes are a good idea because they make money for the local community.
So close.
OK.
And Eve, any opinions that got sent in?
Yes, we got loads.
But one person said holidays are fun times.
They shouldn't be spoiled by taxes.
We have enough to pay for anyway.
But someone else said all the local people who do the work to keep the place clean and tidy deserve more money and support.
So clearly people were very divided on this one.
Yeah, lots of opinions on this.
And we love to hear them as well.
Thank you.
So yeah, like I said, if you want to go and tell us about this week's big debate on Americanisms, just go to theweekjuniorcouk slash polls.
Now, every week, readers of The Week Junior also send in lots of messages to the inbox to tell us what they've been up to recently.
And editorial assistant Elena is here to share some of her favourites.
Hey, Elena.
Hi, Bex.
Hi, everyone.
This week, RM Books has been flooded with pictures of terrariums.
A terrarium is a tiny ecosystem in a jar, which was a how-to activity in last week's issue.
And readers and listeners.
I think they've been really quick to make their own, because RM Books is full of them and it's only been a few days since the issue was out.
And I especially like this message from Ewan and Molly, who said we loved making our own terrarium pots from issue 517.
We used some old pasta pots and decorated them with Lego figures, one Star Wars themed and one Harry Potter themed.
And their terrariums just look amazing with their themed figures.
And I think it's just really cool how you and Molly include the things that they enjoy in them.
And I really like the idea of these Lego figures.
I mean, there's a stormtrooper.
I can see them.
They're just living in his own mini ecosystem.
I think it's really fun.
And it led me to think, if you made your own terrariums, what would you include in them?
For instance...
I would have to go, I feel like I mentioned on this podcast before that I love Animal Crossing.
And I think because the terrarium is all nature themed.
Yeah, I'd go for Animal Crossing.
I think you can get a little like Lego figures of the Animal Crossing characters.
So I think that would be really fun to put inside.
Oh my God, that's such a good idea.
And you can make all of the houses and the city hall.
Exactly.
Well, it would have to be a pretty big terrarium to get all of that in.
So maybe I'll start that project this weekend.
Oh, my God, that's such a good one.
Yeah, that's amazing.
I'm going to copy Eve's idea and go to do it right now.
Yeah, moving on.
Phoebe sent us a poem that she wrote and I thought was lovely.
It goes, Hi, old brown owl, why the scowl?
Is the moon too bright or are your feathers too light?
I just thought that was so sweet.
It's like short, but goes straight to the point.
And I've really enjoyed it.
I really like the contrast between the dark and light elements and the rhyming verses.
And Phoebe, you did really well.
Jo, what did you think of Phoebe's poem?
I think it's lovely.
I think it's really atmospheric.
It reminds me of have any of you read that William Blake poem Tiger Tiger Burning Bright like really famous poem?
I have not.
Yeah.
Yeah, tiger, tiger burning by in the forest of the night.
That takes me back to my childhood.
But yeah, it kind of gives me that kind of vibe.
Like the atmosphere is really, like it really creates a nice kind of nighttime atmosphere.
It's lovely.
So yeah, thanks for sending that in.
And all of that in just four verses.
Yeah, it's super cool.
Anyway, that is it for this week.
Thank you, Ewan, Molly and Phoebe.
I'll be back next week with more of our readers and listeners messages.
And remember, if you send us a voice note and it's played on the podcast, we will send you a roving reported batch.
Thank you again and see you next week.
Thanks, Elena.
Now it's time to turn our attention back to the magazine and this week's team's favourite stories.
So, Jo, who's been your hero of the week?
My hero of the week is Essen Adwan, who we have an interview with on our People One page.
Now Essen makes videos for YouTube in which he interviews interesting people and documents his own adventures.
He started his YouTube channel as a way to combine three things he really enjoyed performing, helping people and building things.
He said, by interviewing people all around the world, I can see so many different cultures, so many different careers.
He now plans to launch an online education app.
So go listen, keep doing what you're doing.
Brilliant stuff.
Yeah, a real good hero.
Thank you.
Eve, what fact have you found out this week?
So I learned about this while writing our Animal of the Week, which is the frilly-mouthed jellyfish.
And I learned that jellyfish are made up of 95 water and they don't have brains, hearts or lungs, which I just think is so cool.
I had no idea about that.
Jellyfish, freak me out.
95 water, 5.
Absolute fear from me.
Thank you very much, Eve.
This week I was reading the magazine and I don't usually mention this, but you guys have a this week in history section kind of near the beginning of the pages.
And this week in history was Mickey Mouse's official debut in a really short film called Steamboat Willie.
The reason I love this is because this week weirdly, I've been reading a lot about the history of Disney and how important Steamboat Willie is.
And if you want to find out more, if you're a Disney fan, you want to see where it all started.
Go and check out that page this week in the magazine.
Now, we've got to reveal this week's real rubbish story and the moment of truth has arrived.
Eve, can you remind me what the story was, please?
Yes.
So this is about Austria's plan to update their pylons that carry electricity throughout the country so that, instead of looking like towers, they are animal sculptures instead.
This to me feels like a good idea, but too much hard work.
You said to me they're doing it for every pylon, right?
I think so, yes.
Yeah.
I like the idea of it.
And what a lovely thing to go through the countryside and see lovely metal sculptures of animals.
But I just don't think they're going to get around to it.
I just think they're not going to do it.
So I'm going to say the story this week is rubbish.
Okay.
Drumroll, please.
It's real.
No way.
Yeah.
So two test models have already been created to test how safe and stable these models would be.
But Austrian Power Grid, which is in charge of the country's power supply, hopes that the structures will be symbols of nature.
Friendly building projects.
Wow.
Okay, well, good for Austria.
That's a great idea.
I'd love to see these metal sculptures through the field.
I'll take that loss.
Now 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.
This week, it's Wild Journey by A.M.
Dasu.
And all you've got to do is answer a question about something that's been said in this episode.
So if you think you know the answer, grab a grown up and head to theweekjuniorcouk slash.
Listen up to fill in our online entry form and enter the prize draw before the closing date of the 20th of November at midday.
And of course, congratulations to Ada, who won a copy of Art School in a Book two weeks ago.
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.
Find out more at theweekjunior.co.uk slash terms.
So are you ready?
Listen up.
In which year was the first Toy Story film released?
If you know the answer to the question, go to theweekjuniorcouk forward slash.
Listen up to enter our giveaway.
Thank you very much, Joe.
That brings us to the end of this week's show.
Thank you to Joe, Eve, Elena and Vanessa.
We'll be back next week to discuss more of the fascinating stories that are happening in the world.
And don't forget to send in voice notes for a chance to have your voice on this very podcast and also to win a Roving Reporter badge.
Plus, we'd love you to rate, review and subscribe, or follow us wherever it is you get your podcasts from.
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 £5 by heading to theweekjuniorcouk forward slash podcast offer.
