The Denver Post1

CK Reporter of the WeekKayla Mitchiner, Golden

‘Mortal Instruments’ books hit TV

“Shadowhunters,” a television show based on the extremely popular “Mortal Instruments” books by Cas-

sandra Clare, has debuted on Free Form, the new name for ABC Family.

The show follows fi ve teens on their jour-neys through their lives, and soon their paths cross in strange ways.

It all begins when the main character Clary sneaks into a club when she follows some intriguing, tattooed teens that none of her friends can see.

Soon she discovers a world hidden before her eyes, a world of demons, warlocks, vam-pires, werewolves, seales, and a strange race of people called Shadowhunters that is de-voted to protecting humans.

Before long, fragments of memories fl ash through her head.

Though she remains confused, her enemies decide that she already knows too much.

Soon her world is torn apart and she loses all sight of who she is.

What has been concealed from her for so many years?

How will she react when she has to choose between her best friend and three mysterious new strangers?

“Shadowhunters” is a television series that will be satisfying to both the fans of the books and the people who were drawn to it

because of its fantasy appeal. It is obvious that the show was cast

thoughtfully and the script and plot were altered to fi t the needs of both of these audi-ences, meaning the storyline will likely stray from the book.

One should note that the show can be dark; As is implied by the name change from “ABC Family” to “Free Form,” the channel is head-ed in a new direction.

Based on the demonic concepts and cloth-ing design, or the lack thereof in some cases, it can be inferred that the show is directed towards more mature audiences.

Although you should probably check with parents before watching, the character cast-ing, soundtrack, and computer graphics will transport both viewers who are fans of the books and those who just want to try it out into the world of “Shadowhunters.”

January 19, 2016

Teachers!It is time to register for the Colorado Literacy conference!

February 3-6, 2016 Hyatt Regency Tech Center

Choose from 375 sessions • 25 Invited Speakers15 Authors • Exhibits • Special Events

Go to www.CCIRA.org to register today!

Register for our session #171 and #403 and meet some CK ReportersVisit us in the exhibit hall!

By Brooklyn Webb,13, a CK Reporter from Littleton

Start of a new direction for the former “ABC Family” channel

Beth is a pretty normal 12-year-old girl. The only thing that is different between her and all of the other 12 year old girls in her town is that

she loves theater and acting. In “Playing Juliet” by Joanne Stewart Wetzel her

dream is to play Juliet in Romeo and Juliet and she will do anything to get that part.

When her theater is in jeopardy and the owner wants to make the theater into an adult theater, Beth thinks that she may never get the chance to play Juliet.

After Beth gets caught sneaking out of the house late at night, she learns that the last play her theater will be putting on is Romeo and Juliet.

Beth is very frustrated because she is grounded and won’t be able to go to the auditions for the roles.

Will Beth be able to play her dream roll?When I fi rst started reading this book I was almost

certain that Beth was going to get the role of Juliet. Then, as the book went on, I started to become a

little unsure. The author did a very good job of getting the reader

to feel the emotions of the characters and make us want Beth to play the role she so badly desired.

She kept us guessing and engaged throughout the entire book.

The publisher recommends this book for ages 8-12, but I would personally recommend it to kids ages 9-14 who like acting and Shakespeare’s plays.

I loved this book and I think the author did a great job.

By Amelia McAnally,11, a CK Reporter from Aurora

Off-stage drama in novel of on-stage dreams

Fun fantasy hybrid will entertain young readers

“Life of Zarf: The Troll Who Cried Wolf” by Rob Har-rell, is about a troll named

Zarf. His friend, Kevin (a pig) and their

human teacher are snatched by a pack of wolves with funny names like Sinister Sneaky, Awkward Aw-ful, and Mad Malicious Wolf.

It is up to Zarf and Red Riding-hood’s daughter, Sierra, to save them.

The story is not very detailed, but it is funny for younger kids.

At one point, I thought the prin-cipal of the human teacher’s school

would be leading the effort to get them back, but it turns out he was a disguised wolf!

I won’t tell you more, but let’s just say there were at least three exciting, surprising, and interesting events.

This is a hybrid book, which means it uses words and pictures to develop the story, and a fantasy book in the sense that the animals are alive and talking.

The pictures are basic and in black-and-white. There are 262 pag-es with about 2 large pictures per page.

This is the second book in the series, following “Life of Zarf: The Problem With Weasels.”

On a scale of 1-10 I would give it an 8 for ages 6-8, but I don’t believe this book would entertain anyone above the age of 9.

By Jack Vanourek,10, a CK Reporter from Littleton

The Denver Post 2

Fisher among candidates for endangered species listThe US Fish & Wildlife

Service will be investigating 11 species over this next year to see if any of them should be added to the Endangered Species List.

One of particular regional interest is the fi sher in the northern Rockies of Idaho, Montana and Wyoming.

This is not a separate spe-cies from the fi shers found in other areas of Canada

and the northern US, but loss of habitat and too much trapping may have lowered the number of fi shers in the Rockies to the point where they need protection there.

This member of the family that also includes weasels, wolverines and martens, was rejected for protection in 2011, but FWS is giving it a second look this year, along with seven types of skink,

two species of beetle and a butterfl y.

FWS also announced that it had rejected requests to re-examine several other species in the coming year.

The Service not only looks into animals to see if they belong on the Endangered Species List, but regularly checks animals on the list to see if they still need its protection. photo/US FWS

In some families, there is a night set aside for family fun. In

others, fun happens when you’re snowed in, or when everyone’s bored or when someone simply says “Let’s play a game!”

The largest group of readers who answered our question said board and card games are most popular for family play, but many others said their families play a mix of high- and low-tech games.

Here’s what we asked you, and what you told us:

Which types of games does your family play together?

A. Just board and card games - 51%B. Just video and computer games - 2%C. Both types of games - 38%D. Neither - 6%

Now here’s our next question:What’s the best part of winter?

A. Snow, winter sports and outdoor funB. All the great winter holidays and celebrationsC. Bundling up in a warm place with hot snacks

D. Spring

To answer this question, go to http://nextgen.yourhub.com

WE ASKED YOU, YOU TOLD US:

Analog games top family funLast month, we told you

about Leah Still, the little girl whose father, Devon, quit his job as a professional foot-ball player with the Cincin-nati Bengals to concentrate on helping her through her cancer treatments.

“Sports is not more import-ant than me being there while my daughter is fi ghting for her life,” he said.

Although he wasn’t playing, the Bengals kept him on the team long enough for him to qualify for health insurance for Leah.

They also sold his #75 jersey as a fundraiser for children’s cancer research and raised

over a million dollars, making it the biggest selling jersey in the team’s history.

We reported in December that her latest scans had shown no evidence of cancer, and earlier this month, Leah Still completed her final hospital stay and went home for good.

Now it’s time for her daddy to get back to his job, and “home” has turned out to be the Houston Texans, who offered Devon Still a chance last week to make the team as a defensive end along with JJ Watt and Jadeveon Clowney.

Now father and daughter can switch roles: He’s the one with the tough challenge to face, and she’s the one who can stand on the sidelines and cheer him on to victory!

Good News Update:

Leah’s dad goes back to work

photo/Still Strong Foundation

Light reading in a complex tale of toxic dystopia

Hundreds of years ago, pollution cov-ered the planet. To get rid of it, scien-

tists created nanites, minis-cule beings that would suck up all of the waste in the world.

Soon, Earth was free of pollution, but the evolving nanites knew it would not stay this way unless they produced a product that would eliminate the prob-lem, humans.

They became the Fog, a white mist, that was deadly to the human race.

“The Fog Diver” by Joel Ross will take you into this world, testing your limits.

Years later, the human race consists of fi ve fam-ilies that dominated the mountaintops, the only places free of the Fog.

Chess, Hazel, Swedish, and Bea grew up in the slum of an empire called Rooftop.

With barely enough food to go on, they did the things that many were too afraid to do: Go into the Fog.

In the Fog, Chess searched for anything that could be worth selling or that could serve as food for the crew.

But now, survival isn’t enough.

Mrs. E, a woman who took them in as family when they were left on the streets, has Fog sickness and the only way to save her is to get to the city of Port Oro.

There is just one thing: Chess has a secret, a fog-fi lled eye that lets him go into the fog and be unaf-fected.

Lord Kodoc is hot on his trail and will do anything to fi nd Chess.

The crew must survive the unthinkable to get their beloved Mrs. E to Port Oro and keep

themselves out of harm’s way. In “The Fog Diver,” you will embark on an

adventure with the crew that will get your heart racing in fright.

Will you survive or will you die trying in the Fog?

“The Fog Diver” is great for a bit of light reading and could easily be fi nished in a few hours.

It features a fourth grade level vocabulary that is easy to follow, but also includes many unexpected twists and turns in the storyline that kept me engaged from the beginning to the end.

The story has a very adventurous complex-ion, but beneath that lies compassion, for-giveness, teamwork, and most of all, love.

When you open these pages, the characters come to life. Join them on an adventure you will never forget!

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

In “A Whole New Ballgame,” a hybrid written by Phil Bildner and illustrated by Tim Probert, Rip and Red are beginning a new fi fth grade year and

expecting another normal boring year of schooling. But when they arrive in the classroom they meet

their new teacher, a tattooed hippie named Mr. Ace-vedo with some interesting teaching methods.

He gives no tests and minimal homework, and he has them do bizarre class projects like writing essays about disgusting things in daily life.

When they fi nish their fi rst week of school, Rip and Red are ready for a great basketball season to start.

To their surprise when they arrive in the school gym, Coach Acevedo greets them once again.

Together Rip and Red overcome challenges of new friendships and adjust to the new fi fth grade.

They grow to love their new teacher even more throughout the year on and off the court.

As soon as I started this book I knew I would love it. It took me about three days to read the whole

thing, and over that period it never once got slow. “A Whole New Ballgame” would be a sweet read-

aloud for the family; each chapter spans from one page to several.

Being the fi rst in a new series, there is an ex-citement that you will feel when you fi nish it: The excitement of knowing that there will be more.

It was a joy to read this book and I can’t wait for the second one to come out; I highly recommend this book to all ages above third grade.

By Thomas Krumholz,14, a CK Reporter from Denver

A whole new series is successfully launched

The Denver Post3

People like to say that their dogs know when they are sad, and they’re sure their dogs

know when they’re angry.But do dogs really understand when you

could use a little affection, or do they just come up because you’re being quiet?

And do they understand anger, or are they just frightened by shouting?

Researchers at England’s University of Lin-coln tried an experiment to see how well dogs understand the emotions humans are showing.

They took pictures of men and women’s faces and of dogs’ faces showing emotions like happiness or anger, and they recorded human

and dog voices expressing playful, welcoming emotions or angry, challenging ones.

They mixed them up, so that sometimes the sound matched the face and other times it didn’t, and showed them to dogs.

They saw that, when the face and the sound matched, the dog was much more interested in the picture than when the dog was shown a face that didn’t match the sound being played.

It wasn’t surprising that dogs found other dogs more interesting when their faces and voices matched, but researchers said that dogs responding to the emotions of human strangers was quite intriguing.

Dogs may really understand human emotions

The fi rst reports last week from the Persian Gulf

seemed frightening: Two US Navy boats with 10 sailors aboard had been seized by Iranian forces.

Photos showed American sailors kneeling with their hands behind their heads, the posture for being taken into custody.

Some people said it was an em-barrassment for the United States to have its sailors taken prisoner and wanted immediate military action to force Iran to free them.

The Navy said it was a differ-ent type of embarrassment: The sailors had made a mistake in navigating and passed near Farsi Island, which is Iranian territory.

Accidental trespassing in narrow bodies of water between nations isn’t unusual, but it rarely results in a boat and its crew be-ing taken into custody.

However, Iran’s political situa-tion is diffi cult and has sparked this sort of incident in the past.

Iran has both moderate and more hard-line governmental groups who often disagree on both foreign and domestic issues.

The US sailors were captured by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, who report to hardliners in Iran’s government.

This was similar to an incident in 2004, when a British boat went into the Iranian side of the Shatt al Arab, a river passage between Iran and Iraq.

Those sailors were held for two weeks before being released.

This time, the more moderate Iranians who formally run the government and who negotiated the recent nuclear arms deal with seven nations including the US, did not want bad feelings.

Secretary of State John Kerry made phone calls to his contacts in that more moderate part of the government. The sailors apolo-gized for their mistake and were freed the next day.

Trouble in the Gulf, or just a misunderstanding?

“How to be Brave,” by E. Katherine Kottaras, is an intense and wildly inappropriate book that is more like an R-rated chick flick than a Young Adult novel.

Georgia Askeridis is a 17-year-old girl who has always been an outcast. She has always been em-barrassed about her weight, awkward, and afraid of disappointing people.

Then when her mom dies of kidney and heart failure, her mother’s only instructions are to “be brave” and “try everything.”

Georgia makes a list of everything her mother was never able to do.

In the process she learns that “trying every-thing” isn’t always the best course of action.

This novel has an inspiring theme but is poorly executed.

There is every offensive element that personally I know my mom would never let me experience in literature or film.

There is teenage drinking, vulgar language (including many uses of the f-bomb), sexual refer-ences, illegal drug use by teens, and hand in hand with that is a suicide attempt by drug overdose.

Usually Young Adult novels only include one or two of these elements, but this book includes excessive amounts of all of them.

The role model is mediocre at best and uses drugs illegally without any direct punishment.

It also portrays marijuana with a positive connotation.

The themes left me wondering what the author was thinking when writing this book.

This novel could have been very inspiring by emphasizing her idea of being brave and making her mother proud instead of glorifying the con-stant abuse of drugs.

Because of the intense themes, I would say this book is for ages 16 and up at the least, with a lot of consideration from the parent on what they think is appropriate for their teen.

The general idea is potentially inspirational, but with the plethora of inappropriate concepts I wouldn’t recommend this book to anyone.

Even for an older reader, I wouldn’t say it is an enjoyable or worthwhile read.

Editor’s Note: Books are screened, but not read, before being offered for review. The publisher of “How to be Brave” listed it as appropriate for 12-to-17 year olds. We remind our reviewers to be frank in their appraisals and

appreciate it when they are, whether their evaluations are positive or negative.

Novel inappropriate even for teen readers

graphic/University of Lincoln

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 2006, the New Horizons probe was launched for Pluto. It just arrived this past July 14. This week’s answers, then, will begin with “P” and we hope you don’t take quite that long to get them!

1. Lima is this nation’s capital.

2. A friend in another country whom you meet by exchanging letters

3. A red spice ground from peppers and used in Hungarian goulash or sprinkled on deviled eggs

4. This Asian or African “scaly anteater” looks like a walking pine cone.

5. Delta County town known for its peaches, cherries, apples, pears and plums

6. Author of the Junie B. Jones books

7. This swift runner of Colorado and Wyoming’s plains isn’t really an antelope.

8. Nation that lies between Afghanistan and India

9. The IMAX theater at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science is named for this Colorado senator, who donated the original auditorium.

10. Spinach-eating cartoon sailor(answers on Page Four)

Above, an example of the type of boats that were seized by the hard-line Iranian National Guard near Iran’s Farsi Island in the Persian Gulf. Communication between the US and more moderate members of the Iranian government pre-vented the situation from getting worse and the sailors were quickly freed. (photo/ MC2 Ecklund U.S. Navy)

By Paige Bakke,13, a CK Reporter from Cherry Hills

The Denver Post4

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. Peru 2. pen-pal 3. paprika 4. pangolin 5. Paonia 6. (Barbara) Parks 7. pronghorn 8. Pakistan

9. (Lawrence) Phipps 10. Popeye

Hot Links to Cool Sites!

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

NIE Special Reporthttp://tinyurl.com/ckniereport

Headline Geographyhttp://tinyurl.com/ckgeography

Pulse of the Planethttp://tinyurl.com/ckpulseplanet

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

To read the sources for these stories

Leah Still

Endangered Species

Iran confrontation

Dogs and emotion

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

Ceres and Proserpina (Part Three)(Our story so far: Pluto, lord of the Under-

world, has taken Proserpina to be his wife, with-out her consent or that of her mother, Ceres, the goddess of the harvest. Now Ceres has stopped making things grow and says she will not restore the Earth’s plants until she sees her daughter again.)

Jupiter saw that the people of Earth would starve if Ceres and her daughter were not reunited.

So he called upon Mercury to travel to the Underworld and carry a message to Pluto that Proserpina must return.

But before Mercury began his trip to Hades, Pluto had begun planning on how he could keep his bride on the throne beside him.

Since she had been carried into the Un-derworld, Proserpina had done little except weep and beg to be returned to the world of warm soil, green grass and bright sunshine in which she had grown up.

Pluto was not unkind to her, but there was little he could do to make her happy. He tried to explain to her that, as his wife, she would be one of the most powerful and wealthy goddesses of all. To be the wife of Pluto was like being married to Jupiter himself, or to Neptune, for the three brothers were the greatest of all gods.

But this reasoning did nothing to stop her tears, for Proserpina did not want wealth and power. She wanted light and warmth, and she could find neither in the dark Underworld.

When he realized she would not give up her desire to return to the world above the ground, Pluto tried something else.

He ordered a feast of welcome, and had spread on a great table before them the most delicate of foods, piled on golden plates and poured into silver bowls.

But Proserpina slumped in the throne beside him. The fragrant foods simply reminded her more of the world she had left behind.

“At least try to enjoy the life you’ve been given,” he begged her.“I enjoyed the life that has been taken from me,” she responded, and, once

more, a tear ran down her cheek.Pluto stepped from his throne and took up a bowl of fruit. “You should eat

something,” he said. “You can’t possibly cheer up if you aren’t feeling good, and you have not eaten since you arrived here.”

This was what he said, but Pluto had a secret reason to try to persuade his new queen to eat.

Proserpina sighed. “I have no appetite as long as I am here,” she said.“But these are all the things you say you miss so much,” Pluto argued.

“Why deprive yourself of the things you love?”Proserpina was not hungry, but she reached for a pomegranate, and Pluto

smiled. He took it from her hand for a moment to cut it in half, then scraped the bright, juicy, garnet-colored seeds onto a small golden plate for her.

Proserpina stirred the seeds for a moment with the tips of her fingers, and the juice colored her fingers where she touched the fruit.

She picked up six of the seeds and chewed the sweet pulp from them, but the taste only made her more homesick. She put the plate on the arm of her throne and ignored it.

They sat in silence until there was a commotion as the messenger of the gods, Mercury, entered the cavern.

“Jupiter summons Proserpina to meet her mother,” Mercury announced. “The Earth is brown since she left, and all the people and animals of the Earth are starving, for Ceres will not make plants grow until she is with her daughter once more.”

Proserpina was delighted that Pluto did not argue, but ordered his horses hitched to the chariot at once. They thundered up through the crack in the Earth, and she had barely become used to the fresh air and light of Earth before she was reunited with her mother.

They hugged and wept with joy, but Pluto did not dismount from his chari-ot. “We cannot stay long,” he said.

“It is my intent that she remain here,” Jupiter replied. “We will find you another, more willing bride.”

Pluto did not argue, but simply said, “She has eaten.”At the words, Ceres stopped and turned in horror, first to Pluto, then to her

daughter, then to Jupiter. She knew well that a person who ate in the Under-world could never leave it again.

As for Jupiter, he frowned. Pluto was right, and, as king of the Underworld, it was his rule to enforce. At last he spoke. “What did you eat, child?”

Proserpina looked from her mother to divine Jupiter. “Only a few seeds of a pomegranate,” she said. “Six seeds. Almost nothing at all.”

“Be reasonable,” Jupiter asked of his brother. “Would you keep her in your power for six seeds of a pomegranate, while the Earth dies?”

The lord of the Underworld looked at his young queen, still in her tearful mother’s arms. “You know the law,” he said, but then sighed. “Still, I cannot sit every day and watch her cry. The year is twelve months long. Let her stay with me one month each year for each seed, and stay with her mother the rest of the time.”

Jupiter nodded his agreement, and thus it was, from that day forward.For six months of each year, Ceres weeps for her daughter, and nothing

grows. But then Proserpina returns for six months, and during those glorious months, the Earth is green and fruitful, as the goddess and her lovely daughter enjoy the flowers, the fruit and the warm sunshine.

retold by Mike Peterson, c. 2005 - illustrated by Dylan Meconis, c. 2005

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

Tales of the Ancient World