The Denver Post • 1

The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey “Out of This World” show came to the Denver Coliseum this month, a

combination of animals and acrobats along with various types of stunts.

The show itself was exciting and sometimes scary.

In the fi rst act, the performers wore spacesuit costumes and did a lot of acrobatics. The set made it look like you and the performers were on the moon. They even had some of the performers up in the ceiling!

The circus used a storyline around a boy named Jonathan and his friend who wanted to grow up to be ringmasters.

However the best circus in the world only needs one ringmaster, and Jonathan’s friend was chosen to be that ring master.

Jonathan then is employed by another circus that is not that friendly. The story included multiple planets, a space crew, ice skaters, a ring master, unicycles, a jaguar, and some clowns.

Each act focused on a specifi c planet and had unique performances at each one.For example, the Sand Planet scene was a big cat show including 14 big cats

with four female lions, two male lions, and eight tigers. There was a trainer in the cage with the animals. He used a small whip-like thing that guided the cats to where they were to go

that did not hurt them. They did a lot of tricks.The Ice Planet scene involved a lot of ice skaters, unicycles, fi reworks, and a

snowball fi ght. The Ice Planet even had a family of motorcyclists (eight of them) that were

biking in a metal ball, and people playing basketball on unicycles.

The Fire Planet had a fi re scene where they took out torches and lit the ground on fi re.

After the fl ames were extinguished they had a lot of horse tricks that included people riding on a horse and jumping off and on while still hanging on! There were some pretty cool acrobatics too.

Other animals in the show included a wallaby, two huge pigs, about 12 dogs, four alpacas, three llamas and two goats with really long horns.

In addition to the show, there were a lot of concessions and stands for shopping. You could buy toys, food and drinks, stuff ed animals, pictures, and other types of souvenirs.

For example, cotton candy in a sack with a stick on it so that you could carry it over your shoulder, a snow cone with a holder in the shape of a jaguar (and other animals), or a box of popcorn with a tiger symbol on it.

When the circus that calls itself “The Greatest Show on Earth” comes back next year, don’t miss it!

CK Reporter of the WeekChristopher Smit, Boulder

“Middle School : The Worst Years of My Life,” directed by Steve Carr, and written by Chris Bowman, Hubbel Palmer, and

Kara Holden, is based on the book of the same name by James Patterson.

The movie keeps to the same basic plot as the book, but several details are diff erent.

Rafe Khatchadorian (Griffi n Gluck) and his friend Leo (Thomas Barbusca) are middle schoolers at a new school.

After Principal Dwight (Andy Daly) dissolves Rafe’s drawing book in acid, Rafe starts “Operation R.A.F.E.,”

which stands for “Rules Aren’t For Everyone.” With Leo, Rafe puts R.A.F.E. into action, going from

placing sticky notes all over the school, to putting fi sh and eels in the trophy case.

He also uses R.A.F.E. to get the attention of Jeanne (Isabela Moner), his crush.

Rafe’s adventures lead him through all sorts of trouble, and his story is relatable to all students.

Everything is relatable in this movie, from the standardized tests, (in this movie it’s called B.L.A.A.R.) to the terrible dress code and annoying brother and sisters.

I highly recommend this movie because of its unique fi lming style. The movie switches from live action to comic animation and back.

The comic scenes are well animated, and very fl uid. “Middle School : The Worst Years of my Life” is a fi lm

I recommend to everyone.

October 18 , 2016

‘Greatest Show on Earth’ great in space, too!

Apply to be a Colorado Kids Reporter!It’s fun and there are cool perks

Love to Write?Get all the details at ColoradoNIE.com today!

Or email dplewka@denverpost.com

Worst years make for best movie

photo/Ben Vanourek

By Ben Vanourek ,11, a CK Reporter from Littleton

By Carson Butler,13, a CK Reporter from Littleton

The Denver Post • 2

The 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics went to a pair of scientists who managed to produce graphene,

an extremely strong, extremely thin substance that could be made at a single atom’s thickness.

Science was excited at the potential for this wonder material, but only now has someone found what may be a practical way to make use of it.

Researchers at Beijing’s Tsinghua University dissolved graphene in water and sprayed it on mulberry leaves, then fed the leaves to silkworms.

Silk is already a strong material, but the silk these worms spun was half-again stronger than regular silk.

Not only is this super-silk much stronger than

regular silk, which might, for instance, make it useful for protective clothing, but, unlike plain silk, it conducts electricity.

That means it could, for instance, be used to make light, durable, fl exible clothing that functioned as an audio device.

Don’t throw away your headphones and ear buds yet, though: There’s still a lot of research yet to come before electronic super-silk shirts begin to show up at your local store.

But scientists are very excited to fi nd the fi rst practical use of graphene, a nano development they say could one day prove to be as revolutionary as plastic was.

Silkworms produce strong, conductive silk after eating nano-carbon

The world’s longest-reigning monarch died last week, and Thailand has gone into deep mourning for their king.

King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who was 88, had become Thailand’s king in 1946 and so had been on the nation’s throne for 70 years.

By comparison, Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain, who is 90, has reigned for 64 years. With Bhumibol’s death, she becomes the longest reigning monarch in the world.

Thailand is the only nation in Southeast Asia that has never been made a colony of a Europe-an country. The country also managed to make agreements with Japan to remain independent during World War II while surrounding countries were invaded and conquered.

Thailand was an ally of the United States dur-ing the Vietnam War and many American Air Force members who were involved in the war were stationed in Thailand.

Bhumibol gained the throne just after the end of World War II and so most Thais have known only one king for their entire lives.

During the 70 years of his reign, the govern-ment changed several times, often with the military in charge, though the monarchy was

respected even in times of dictatorship.In 1997, the country became a constitutional

monarchy with free elections, but, in 2006, the military overthrew the elected government and took control.

However, King Bhumibol remained an import-ant leader and symbol of the nation, and harsh laws make it illegal for the press to criticize the king or the royal family.

The nation was deeply emotional throughout the last days of his life, with crowds praying in the streets for his recovery.

With his death, Thailand will have a year of formal mourning, and his son, Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn, will become king.

Because of the laws against criticizing the royal family, it is hard to know exactly what will happen next.

Many who have left Thailand say that the Crown Prince is not popular. According to them, he is seen by many Thais as a rich, spoiled person, but nobody in Thailand would say that publicly, even if they believed it.

Even without a law against criticizing the royal family, though, it is unlikely that any king could be as popular in Thailand as King Bhumibol was.

Thailand mourns longest-reigning monarch

In this 2012 photo, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, left, is seated as Crown Prince

Vajiralongkorn, second left, and Princess Sirind-

horn, right, stand after he addressed the crowd from

a balcony of the Ananta Samakhom Throne Hall on his 85th birthday in

Bangkok. (AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn)

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.

Happy Alaska Day! On this day in 1867, Alaska became part of the United States, so our answers this week will all begin with the letter “A.”

1. The long chain of islands reaching from Alaska into the Pacifi c

2. The geographic term for that sort of long chain of islands

3. This vegetable looks like a pine cone, pulp from its leaves is eaten steamed or boiled

4. The mountain range that stretches down the middle of South America

5. Author of “The Little Mermaid”

6. Home of the Norse gods

7. Able to use the left or right hand equally well

8. He became president when James Garfi eld was assassinated.

9. Colorado county that includes Brighton and Thornton

10. Horse with leopard-like spots, developed and bred by the Nez Perce(answers on Page Four)

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“The Adventurer’s Guide to Successful Escapes” by Wade Albert White, is about Anne, Penelope, and Hiro’s quest

experience. As background, the world has been broken up into

small masses of fl oating land called the Hierarchy. Each of these land masses is called a tier.

Anne and Penelope lived on the St. Lupins tier which had the Saint Lupin’s Institute for Perpetually Wicked and Hideously Unattractive Children,

This is an orphanage that is a very clean place, thanks to the orphans, and has a lot of small rooms. It is dark, has mines underneath it where the kids have to work and is overall a horrid place.

The Matron is in charge of St. Lupins. She is a mean lady with a metal cane who forces the kids to do lots of chores to keep the facility spotless.

She also makes them work in the coal mines so they get little sleep and no play time.

To cope, Anne daydreams about leaving St. Lupins and starting a life of her own.

She technically is allowed to, but she cannot leave because she does not have a birth certifi cate to prove where she came from. She is stuck.

A “rightful heir quest” is her best chance of getting out.

A rightful heir quest is a journey of puzzles. Whatever tier she ends the quest on, she will own.

In order to receive a quest, you must have a gauntlet. Also, you need a quest medallion in the palm of the gauntlet.

Jocelyn is an instructor at the Institute. She went to a quest academy and brought Anne a gauntlet because her mother had given her instructions to fi nd Anne and give her the gauntlet before she died.

There are 12 levels of quests and a time limit. However, something interesting happens to Anne. Anne receives a level 13 quest and has four days to complete it. You usually get about a year.

Anne must have two people join her for the quest. She chooses her old friends Penelope and Jocelyn.

The book takes you through her journey: Wizards, dragons, possessed knights, this book has it all.

I found the book to be easy to read and exciting. I would defi nitely recommend it, especially for people who enjoy fantasy.

Fantasy quest is an exciting, easy read

photo/Małgorzata Miłaszewska

By Jack Vanourek,11, a CK Reporter from Littleton

The Denver Post • 3

is produced by Denver Post Educational Services

Executive Editor: Dana Plewkadplewka@denverpost.com

CK Editor: Mike Petersoncoloradokidseditor@gmail.com

We 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. Aleutians 2. archipelago 3. artichoke 4. Andes 5. (Hans Christian) Andersen 6. Asgard 7. ambidextrous

8. (Chester A.) Arthur 9. Adams 10. Appaloosa

King Bhumibol

Supersilk

Chapter Four: One Amendment Calls For Another

In the years before the Civil War, the split between abolitionists and suffragists was quiet and mostly friendly. But a serious disagreement came after the war.

Of the seven states that formally announced they were leaving the United States, four said specifically why, and the main reason was that they wanted to keep slavery. It became clear that, if the Union won, slavery would be ended.

The suffrage movement had come to a halt during the war. The suffragists felt it was patriotic to concentrate on the war and save their own struggle for later.

Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton even formed “The Woman’s Loyal National League” and presented petitions to President Lincoln with 400,000 signatures urging a victory in the war and an end to slavery.

When the war ended and the slaves were freed, however, there were serious questions to answer as the nation struggled to put itself back together again.

The Thirteenth Amendment had made the slaves free, and now the Fourteenth Amendment was planned in order to guarantee their rights as citizens.

But suffragists had a very serious problem with how it was worded.The first part of the amendment was fine: It said that all citizens of the United States had

the same rights and protections. But the next part included a word that had never been in the Constitution before: It guaranteed the right to vote to the nation’s “male inhabitants.”

Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and other suffragists were furious. After all the progress women had made in the various states in finally being allowed

to own property and to have a chance for custody of their children in a divorce or if they were widowed, and after all the sacrifices they had made during the war, Anthony wrote, now the federal government was declaring, for the first time ever, that women were lesser citizens than men.

Suffragists began petitions to change “male inhabitants” to “persons,” but now the abolitionists objected.

It would be hard enough to get the vote for African-American men, they argued. The states where slavery had existed just a few years ago would never ratify an amendment that might make the combination of African-American men and women a voting majority there.

However you felt about women voting, however you felt about African-American men voting, the abolitionists warned, if the amendment didn’t pass, neither would benefit.

Even Horace Greeley, a powerful newspaper publisher who had supported women for years, wrote in an editorial that the important thing now was to ensure that African-American men could vote. “When that is done, we shall be ready to take up the next question.”

On July 9, 1868, The Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution was ratified with the word “male” in it, but the suffragists were not giving up.

The amendment said “all persons born and naturalized in the United States...are citizens of the United States,” and New York law didn’t specifically say women could not vote.

Susan B. Anthony felt that this meant she had a legal right to vote. So a few days before Election Day in 1872, she and her three sisters went to a polling place in Rochester to register.

The people there weren’t sure what to do, so they allowed the women to register, and on Election Day, the women returned. Again, the officials at the polls weren’t sure what to do, so they allowed them to vote.

Two weeks later, Susan B. Anthony was arrested. Historians agree that her trial was not fair. Although she had a jury, they were not allowed

to vote on her guilt or innocence: The judge told them they had to find her guilty. Then he read a decision he had written before the trial.

He ordered Anthony to pay a fine of $100, and she said she would not. Then the judge did something very clever. If he sent her to jail for refusing to pay her fine,

Anthony could go to a higher court and ask it to decide if the judge’s ruling was fair.Instead, he released her without insisting on her paying, which meant that Susan

B. Anthony had no chance to go to the Supreme Court and make it decide if the 14th Amendment meant that women had the right to vote.

Meanwhile, however, a suffragist in Missouri found a way to get the Supreme Court to rule on the question.

Virginia Minor tried to register and, when she was told she could not, she sued the registrar. Missouri’s courts ruled against her, and so she went to the United States Supreme Court.

But the Supreme Court did not agree with the suffragists’ argument that the 14th Amendment meant that all American citizens had to be permitted to vote.

The Court was unanimous that, while the amendment did make it clear that women were citizens, there was nothing in the Constitution that said all citizens had the right to vote.

In fact, they said, the original 13 states had all had rules about which citizens could vote and which could not.

If the Founding Fathers had wanted all citizens to be able to vote, the Court wrote, they would have said so, and would not have allowed states to put in restrictions.

Suffragists now had two choices: Either get each state to change its laws and let women vote, or pass an amendment to the Constitution giving them that right.

text copyright 2015, Mike Peterson - illustrtions copyright 2015, Christopher Baldwin

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

From Seneca Falls to the Voting Booth

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