The Denver Post1

CK Reporter of the WeekKira Zizzo, Highlands Ranch

‘Peanuts’ provides non-stop laughs

“The Peanuts Movie” is about Charlie Brown, a little round-headed kid who can never do anything right.

If you didn’t know this about him, then you probably know next to nothing about the “Peanuts” comic strip. Go look it up!

However, one day his luck seems to change. A new kid (the Little Red-Haired Girl) moves in across the street, and this seems like the perfect chance to start over, and make a good fi rst impression.

Charlie Brown then promptly knocks over an entire fence, to his dismay.

He does not quit, though. Throughout the movie, he constantly tries

to impress his crush, the Little Red-Haired Girl, and constantly ends up embarrassing himself in one way or another.

The whole Peanuts gang is still there. Lucy can be found giving psychiatric help

and being crazy about Schroeder, Linus al-ways carries his blanket everywhere, and Pigpen is still in his personal dirt cloud, so the characters haven’t changed much.

Snoopy, as always, chases the Red Baron from atop his doghouse.

This time, he imagines himself falling in love with a beautiful pilot named Fifi , and both of them run into trouble.

The Red Baron ends up capturing Fifi , and Snoopy has to save her.

The scenes in Snoopy’s imagination are interspersed throughout the entire movie, and they’re more or less a microcosm of the plot of the rest of the movie.

The animation was unbelievably detailed in some parts.

The scenery in Snoopy’s imagination while he’s battling The Red Baron is particularly vivid, more so than the rest of the movie.

I also enjoyed the detail of the trees and shrubs. Wind blowing, smoke billowing, and propellers spinning, all looked incredible, but still captured the style and charm of Schulz’s original cartoons.

This 96-minute fi lm is chock-full of comedy. I couldn’t stop laughing right from the begin-ning, because it was joke after joke.

I highly recommend this movie for adults and children of all ages who need a good laugh.

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By Leslie Wilburn,14, a CK Reporter from Denver

Too hard for youngsters, too boring for older kids“The Towering Castle” from Melissa &

Doug is an attractive jigsaw puzzle with great detail and 200 pieces.

A crumbling bridge over a murky pond leads to an expansive field with wildflowers to the side. The castle stands tall in the last light of day, as the snips of sunlight come through the clouds.

Just looking at it gives a sense of atmo-sphere that leaves you in awe.

One of the main selling points of the puzzle is that each piece is shaped differently.

However, this does mean that some of the pieces are overly large and oddly shaped.

Most of the pieces have only slight differ-ences; this isn’t a reason to buy this puzzle.

Since some of the pieces can be just slightly different, this can give the puzzle unneed-ed difficulty, and the age recommendation should be older than the listed one of eight.

The entire puzzle is made up of a symmetri-cal castle, a field, and a bridge.

But since the castle is symmetrical, the pic-tures on the pieces are basically the same.

Overall “The Towering Castle” by Melis-

sa & Doug is a detailed puzzle that tries to be different by having an odd way to be put together.

That can either be seen as a good thing or a bad thing.

The bad thing is that this is recommended for eight year olds, who will be surprised that their new puzzle is harder than expected.

The good thing is that some people want a challenge.

But honestly, if you are an older kid and want a challenge, you won’t be looking for a 200-piece puzzle recommended for young kids.

By Carson Butler,12, a CK Reporter from Littleton

The Denver Post

The Kick Flipper is such a fun toy! It’s like a skateboard without

wheels. The best part about it is being able

to have the feeling of skateboarding indoors, on the carpet.

It is not a toy that rolls on the floor as a skateboard would. The Kick Flipper is made of a sturdy plastic with a smooth surface to easily glide on the carpet as you attempt different tricks.

The edges of the Kick Flipper are flipped up to resemble a skateboard.

All you need is a smooth non-scratch-able surface to begin trying skateboard-like tricks.

This toy will help all kids who want to become good at skateboard-ing and even snowboarding.

The Kick Flipper helps with foot coordination and balance. I would highly recommend visiting www.kickflippers.com to learn

tips and tricks for this toy before buying it. The website has trick cards you can print with visual diagrams to

teach yourself the coolest new tricks. Once you safely master them indoors on the carpet, maybe you

will be brave enough to try them outdoors on a skateboard or in the snow.

The new Kick Flipper toy is recommended for kids ages 5 and up.

The packaging says that it holds up to 200 lbs, but I think the board seemed very small.

To be honest, the size of the board seemed like it was made for much younger kids, and I felt like it might break with my whopping 70 pounds on it.

My dad, who is close to 200 lbs, did try it on the carpet, however, and the Kick Flipper is still in one piece.

Meanwhile, my younger sisters ages 5 and 7 had a great time trying it out on the carpet, the grass, and even a rug in

their bedroom. While I think the Kick Flipper is great for younger kids probably

ages 5-8, it did make me feel like a professional skateboarder in my own living room.

I stood there watching the two companions, Duke and Maverick, playing in the waves at the Denver Zoo.

They weren’t good conversationalists. They talked a lot but I couldn’t understand them.

But after all, they are both sea lions.Fifteen-month-old Duke and Maverick were

each found stranded on the beach a couple of days apart from each other in southern California.

The Pacific Marine Mammal Center took them in with open arms. The two sea lions, unharmed, were released into the wild.

However, both sea lions soon were found stranded again just a couple months later.

The sea lions were stranded because the temperature of the ocean water is rising.

All the fish look for colder waters to escape the heat, and the colder waters are deeper than young sea lions like Duke and Maverick,

can go. Over-fishing also means fewer fish like sar-

dines for them to eat. The Denver Zoo gave them a permanent

home in July, medicating and feeding the sea lions.

They may seem like pets, but these two sea lions still have a wild side.

Maverick is very inquisitive and energetic but Duke is very chill and laid back.

Duke and Maverick hadn’t seen a sea lion in awhile since their rescues, so the Denver Zoo introduced Duke to Gunnison, another sea lion pup, and they really hit it off.

Duke and Maverick weigh about 100 pounds each but could get up to 600 to 700 pounds.

Zookeeper Meryt Schumacher talked us through their training, feeding and medical health programs.

The Denver Zoo is doing great things to save these comical, active and adorable crea-tures.

Make sure to stop by soon and meet Duke and Maverick!

2

Rescued twice, now home here

Popular sugar substitute could be fatal for dogsYour dentist might like it

if you would use sug-ar-free mints and gum.

Your doctor might also like it if you would cut down on the sugar in your diet.

But your dog’s veterinarian would very much like it if you would make sure not to leave anything with xylitol in it around where your dog can find it.

Xylitol is an artificial sweetener that is in a lot of gum, toothpaste, chewable vitamins and even some types of peanut butter.

It’s not harmful for people, but veterinarians are very concerned about it, because dogs’ digestive systems are different than ours, and dogs that eat xylitol can die from its effects.

It isn’t good for dogs to begin with, and can give them hypoglycemia.

But vets have reported cas-es of serious liver and kid-ney damage, and even some deaths when dogs steal food containing xylitol.

If you have a dog, think twice around buying any-thing with xylitol. And if he gets into it, call your vet.

Photo/Denver Zoo

By Haley Deison,11, a CK Reporter from Arvada

By Jayden Ponsford,12, a CK Reporter from Arvada

Wheel-free skateboard for youngest shredders

Series finale full of excitement and humor“Why Is This Night Different from All

Other Nights?” by Lemony Snicket mostly takes place on a train.

Lemony works with his partners. Even though his partners are adults, they treat him like an adult as well because he is a good detective.

One night Lemony is left home with his chaper-one. She tells Lemony that he has an early bedtime and then she leaves him alone.

She wasn’t supposed to do that so Lemony waits a few minutes then gets out of bed and watches her get onto a train.

The next thing you know a librarian is mur-dered, the chaperone is blamed and Lemony is on a quest to prove she is innocent because the police are not doing anything.

Lots of action unfolds as Lemony unravels the clues and works with his partners to solve the murder.

The story is exciting and funny at times.

It isn’t a scary book, but it has a little bit of adventure in it. I think this book is good for kids fourth grade and up because that’s when they’d have the right understanding of the vocabulary.

This book is the final part of the four book “All the Wrong Questions” Lemony Snicket series, and I look forward to going back and reading the oth-er three, starting with the first one “Who Could That Be at This Hour?”

By Tyler Vanourek,13, a CK Reporter from Littleton

The Denver Post3

The Hawaiian Islands are home to some animals found nowhere else.

But since the coming of settlers from the mainland, the islands have also become home to cats, rats, pigs and other invasive species that prey upon these native animals.

The Hawaiian petrel is a seabird that spends much of its time cruising the ocean in search of food, but that comes back to Hawaii to breed, laying its eggs in burrows.

Those eggs, and the fl uffy gray-and-white chicks that hatch from them, are vulnerable to the invasive species in the islands, and

the loss of habitat due to development has meant fewer safe places for the petrels to raise their chicks.

Recently, 10 petrel chicks were removed from burrows on Kauai, put into small pet kennels and taken by helicopter to Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge.

There, a predator-proof fence will keep the chicks safe. They will be fed by naturalists until they are old enough to fl y away.

Then, after three to fi ve years at sea, the adult petrels will come back to the safety of Kilauea to raise new chicks.

Endangered Hawaiian birds get airlifted to safer homes

The East African nation of Tanzania was full of celebrations last week, as a new president, John Magufuli,

was inaugurated.Not everyone was in a festive mood;

leaders of the opposition party stayed away from the inauguration, claiming that the vote had been unfair.

However, most observers disagreed, and the only place where there were serious problems was in Zanzibar.

There, the election process was halted and a fresh vote will have to take place later. But, since Magufuli won 58 percent of the vote elsewhere, it won’t change the results of the presidential election.

Tanzania was for many years a pair of colonies, Tanganyika and Zanzibar, noted for tourism because of its wildlife and its beautiful countryside and oceanfront.

But after half a century of independence, Tanzania remains a very poor country, and President Magufuli has promised jobs in a nation with high unemployment.

The voters who put him into offi ce are young.

In the United States, the median age is 37.8, meaning that half of Americans are older than that and half are younger.

In Tanzania, the median age is 17.5, and the nation’s young voters are expecting to see improvements in a number of places that will improve their nation’s future as well as their own.

They want Magufuli to create a sys-tem of free education from kindergarten through high school, something we take for granted but that is not common in the developing world.

They also want those promised jobs. The BBC reports that an ad for 70 jobs drew more than 10,000 people and interviews had to take place in a soccer stadium.

Tanzania’s young voters also want an end to corrupt government. Magufuli is from the political party that was in pow-er, but has promised to get rid of offi cials who have not done their jobs honestly.

Tanzania’s young voters celebrate needed change

Fast-paced graphic novel has humor, action

photo/Andre Raine

Rules: Every row across, every column down and each of the six smaller boxes must contain numerals 1,2,3,4,5 and 6, one time and one time only.

The solution to this week’s puzzle is on Page 4.

On this day in 1969, “Sesame Street” was broadcast for the fi rst time, so our answers this week will begin with “S.”

1. Author and illustrator of “In the Night Kitchen” and “Where the Wild Things Are”

2. Though it’s made of brass, this musical instrument is a woodwind.

3. The NFL team whose home is in Louisiana

4. Glucose, fructose and lactose are all forms of this common food.

5. The name of this Colorado mountain range means “Blood of Christ.”

6. This word for a ghost is also the name of the next James Bond movie, where it’s spelled in the British way.

7. The largest of the Great Lakes

8. Fluffy, white husky-like dog used for herding reindeer and sled-pulling

9. Jonathan and Martha Kent’s foster son Clark is also known by this name.

10. Sweden’s capital

(answers on Page Four)

Above, happy supporters of Tanzania’s victorious Chama Cha Mapinduzi political party dance in celebration of the election results. (AP photo)

In the graphic novel, “Hilo, the Boy Who Crashed to Earth,” by Judd Winick, D.J is an ordinary boy who, unlike his busy family, isn’t “good at anything.”

D.J. has a friend named Gina, a girl that he had been neighbors with since they were two.

They did the best things together, and D.J felt like he was a part of something, until Gina moved.

Three years later, something out of this world happens.A streak of yellow light cascades towards Earth and crashes just

outside D.J’s house. He races towards it and fi nds Hilo, the boy in silver underwear, who

triggers a lightning-like bolt of energy when D.J tries to help him out of the crater he has created.

D.J. takes the mysterious boy to his house and the next day they go to school together.

There D.J. spots Gina and learns that she came back to his school. Now the squad is back together, and just in time.

Weird bugs crash in from another dimension and Hilo is being hunt-ed down by an evil monster.

Can D.J. and Gina stop the monsters from invading Earth and de-stroying their new best friend?

“Hilo, The Boy Who Crashed to Earth,” by Judd Winick, is a fast-paced graphic novel that is perfect for reading under the covers.

Though there are very few words, each chapter will leave your fi n-gers itching to turn the page.

This book is for anyone who needs a friend or a bit of adventure in their lives. Anyone can read it and it doesn’t require a large vocabu-lary.

It defi nitely lifted my spirits while I was reading because of the com-ical nature of the pictures and of the elementary things about Earth that Hilo didn’t know.

One of the parts that I enjoyed the most was when Hilo tried to eat

D.J’s shoes, but refrained because of how badly they stank. I can’t wait for the sequel, and I thank you should read about Hilo’s

adventures, too. They will brighten even the toughest hearts.

By Natalia Goncharova,12, a CK Reporter from Fort Morgan

The Denver Post 4

is produced by Denver Post Educational Services

Executive Editor: Dana Plewkadplewka@denverpost.comCK Editor: Mike Peterson

coloradokidseditor@gmail.comWe welcome your comments.

For tools to extend the learning in this feature, look under “Youth Content” at:

www.ColoradoNIE.com

eEditions of the Post arefree of charge for classroom use.Contact us for information on all

our programs.

Denver Post Educational Services101 W. Colfax Ave.Denver CO 80202

(303) 954-3974(800) 336-7678

Stories without bylines were written by the editor.

(see Page Three)

10 right - Wow!

7 right - Great!

5 right - Good

3 right - See you next time!

1. (Maurice) Sendak 2. saxophone 3. (New Orleans) Saints 4. sugar 5. Sangre de Cristo

6. specter/”Spectre” 7. Superior 8. Samoyed 9. Superman 10. Stockholm

Hot Links to Cool Sites!

NASA’s Space Placehttp://tinyurl.com/ckspace

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How to become a NextGen Reporter!http://tinyurl.com/colokidsreporter

To read the sources for these stories

Hawaiian petrels

Xylitol and dogs

Tanzanian elections

go to http://www.tinyurl.com/ckstorylinks

The Tulip Nursery (England)

In a little thatched cottage at the very edge of a small village there lived a little old lady, all alone.

Her husband had died years ago and they never had any children, and so she tended her vegetable garden and a small flock of chickens by her-self, and was happy enough most of the day, though sometimes, at night, she grew a bit lonely.

She was a good gardener and had quite a large vegetable patch that kept her in fresh greens throughout the summer and furnished her with potatoes and parsnips and cabbages enough to last through the winter.

But her real joy was in the flower bed that lay at the side of the cottage just beneath her bedroom window. She especially loved the tall, bright tulips that came up each year.

One warm summer evening when the moon was just about to be full, the little old lady finished her supper, cleaned up her tiny kitchen and then went off to say her prayers and go to bed.

She blew out her lamp and climbed into bed as she did each night, then lay quietly looking at the shaft of moonlight that came in through the open window and thinking about her day, and about the days long ago when she was young and used to look at the moonlight on her blankets before she went to sleep.

And then she heard something.It sounded like a baby giggling, far away, and then another, and another, soft

and faint.Now, there are many animals that can sound in the night like a baby crying,

but there aren’t any animals that sound like a baby giggling in the night. The little old lady listened to the sound and wondered who was out in the night with babies, and why they were laughing so.

Gradually, the sounds died away and a new sound came to her: the sound of singing, soft and sweet.

The little old lady sat up on the edge of her bed and looked out the window. In the moonlight, she could see the meadow that went from her cottage down to the river, and she could see the dark trees of the forest beyond.

Perhaps a band of travelers had stopped for the night in the woods, she thought. She looked to find a glow from their fires, through the trees or perhaps reflected from the leaves at the top of the forest. But the only light came from the moon.

She lay back down in her bed, listening to the soft, sweet singing, and soon she fell asleep.

The next day, as she worked in her garden, she thought about those giggles, and the soft songs, and she smiled to herself at the memory. Whoever they were, she thought, they had probably moved on now, though she hadn’t seen any cara-vans come through the village.

But that night, as she lay down to go to sleep, she heard again the quiet sounds of babies giggling, and then the sound of soft, sweet song, and this time she noticed that the singing began just before the giggling ended, and so she knew that, wherever they were, these mothers were softly singing their happy babies to sleep.

She sat up on the edge of her bed and looked across at the forest, but, just as on the night before, there was no glow from fires.

Then, as she sat listening, she realized that the sound was not coming from the forest. She put her head closer to the window. Yes! The soft sound was not distant at all, but came from the flower bed just below.

The little old lady knew better than to put her head out and look. She quietly lay back down and listened to the singing until she fell asleep, and again she awoke with a smile at the memory of those sweet songs.

But the next night, instead of going to bed, she quietly stole out the front door of her cottage and crept up to the corner closest to the flower bed, then slowly peeked around. There she saw the tulips swaying back and forth in the moon-light, although there was no breeze to move them, and soon she heard, coming from inside the tulips, the sound of babies giggling.

And as the moon came out, she saw the tiny fairy mothers, rocking the tulips back and forth as their babies giggled with joy. Then the mothers began to sing sweet lullabies, and to rock the tulips more gently and slowly, until the giggling stopped and their little babies were all fast asleep.

The little old lady quietly crept back into her cottage and went to bed and never again tried to see the fairies, for she knew that, if they found her looking at them, they would leave forever.

Instead, from then on, she simply lay in bed each night from spring to fall, enjoying the sounds of the happy babies and their sweet mothers, and then let those sounds keep a smile on her face all the day after, and all through the long winter besides.

In the village, everyone knew what a fine garden the little old lady kept, but soon they began to remark upon her flower bed, and particularly her tulips, for each spring it seemed they bloomed sooner than they had the year before, and each fall they held their blossoms longer than any other tulips in the village, and each year they grew brighter and taller than ever.

Mortals do not live forever, of course, and after many years the little old lady died and was buried in the village churchyard next to her husband. Her cottage was sold to a man who didn’t care for flowers. He guessed the soil there must be fertile indeed, however, so he dug up all the tulip bulbs and planted herbs instead, hoping to sell them in the market in town.

But nothing ever grew there again, once the tulips were gone.

text c. 2005, Mike Peterson - illustration c. 2005, Marina Tay

For a teaching guide, go to http://tinyurl.com/ckserial

Folk Tales & Fables