NewsBites for Kidz [TM] April 21-27 2003

NewsBites for Kids [TM] April 21-27 2003

The only weekly news digest of news about kids

Know what's happening-- be in the happening!

And hey- let the parents in on it too!

This week:
NEWS PHOTOS- From the press
FILM REVIEW- Spellbound
The baboons who fought kids for water-Siolo, Kenya
Whiz kid graduates college at 13-Virginia, U.S.A.
Poll for the Planet-Worldwide from California, U.S.A.
Wee Wie makes LPGA return-Hawaii, U.S.A.
Wagging student shuts school .-Shetland Islands, U.K.
A sell-out painter at 10 -West Bengal, India
Toddlers go on rampage-Deols, France
Young writer shares strong words, mature thoughts-Kansas, U.S.A.
Kid Power-U.K.

Don't see your country here? Neither did we- but we'd like to! We're looking for reporters who will send us news about kids from different countries. Write to us.

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NEWS PHOTOS:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/030422/241/3v8k5.html- Young boy and water, Basra, Iraq
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/030423/168/3vkhe.html - Iraqi Shiite boy in Damascus
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/030423/168/3vkch.html -Iraqi Shiite girl in Damascus
http://www.azstarnet.com/star/Wed/30423DMHOMECOMING2f2frjs.html - Daddy's home from Iraq
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/030423/241/3vkpl.html- Kids out of school in China
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/030424/168/3vvhu.html - Albino python at the Wild Kingdom Kids' Summit, California, U.S.A.
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/030427/170/3ws2a.html Argentinian girl sees mom vote, Buenos Aires, Argentina
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/030427/168/3ws0e.html Nine month old after the Orthodox church's Easter service, Istanbul, Turkey

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http://www.nytimes.com/2003/04/27/movies/27GOLD.html?ex=1052020800&en=055592ec41a07a6c&ei=5062&partner=GOOGLE

FILM REVIEW-SPELLBOUND

Kids Versus Dictionaries (and Each Other)

By SYLVIANE GOLD, The New York Times

THEY march to the microphone one at a time, some calm, some anxious, their preadolescent afflictions in full view: glasses, braces, speech impediments, facial tics. But the angst in the Oscar-nominated documentary "Spellbound," and, for that matter, the exhilaration, have nothing to do with standard junior-high-school psychodramas. They have to do with cephalalgia and lycanthrope and hellebore. They have to do with surviving into the next round of the 1999 National Spelling Bee in Washington........

Click on the link to read more

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http://edition.cnn.com/2003/TECH/science/04/22/kenya.baboons.reut/- click for picture

Baboons Attack Girls for Scarce Water

Reuters

SIOLO, Kenya, Apr 22-Four young girls had the fright of their lives when a pack of thirsty baboons attacked them for their water containers in a northern region of Kenya ravaged by a long dry spell, a local official said on Tuesday.

Aisha Wako, 12, suffered cuts and bruises to the face as she tried to fight off the animals while Mumina Golicha had her clothes ripped by the baboons' claws.

Wako and her friends were attacked by about thirty baboons as they walked the seven miles back to their village from drawing water at a well in Isiolo district, 192 miles north of the capital Nairobi last Friday. Lions, hyenas and elephants now share the boreholes used by local people for fresh water due to a biting water shortage caused by low rainfall in the east African country.

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http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/04/21/tech/main550399.shtml- click for picture and greater details

Whiz Kid, 13, To Graduate College

CBS News

Ashland, Va., U.S.A. April 21, 2003 - He was solving math problems at 14 months, reading and correcting adults' grammar by 2 � the same age he decided to become a vegetarian. He was explaining photosynthesis to kindergarten classmates at 5.

He breezed through 10 grades of school in three years, graduated with honors from high school at 9, founded an international youth advocacy organization, met with prime ministers and presidents, and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. Twice.

Now, 13-year-old Gregory Robert Smith is about to add another line to his resume: College graduate.
Among his goals is to become president of the United States.

�It would give me the opportunity to help so many people,� Greg said in an interview in the campus office where Janet Smith spends her days managing her son's always-packed daily schedule.
Greg already was well ahead of his classmates intellectually when he arrived, Wessells said. But the cheerful lad with the distinctive bowl-shaped mop of golden hair lacked life experience and cultural understanding. That is where he has made the greatest strides said his mentor, psychology professor Michael Wessells.

Greg earns money on the speaking circuit to support his philanthropic work. He writes his own speeches, which he delivers with the polish of a veteran campaigner.

�When I was very young,� Greg says in one videotaped speech, drawing laughter from the crowd of about 11,000. He waits for silence and begins again: �When I was very young and witnessed the video accounts of children suffering from disease or malnutrition, separated from their families or subjected to violence, I knew I had to act. I was just 7 years old then, but I was certain that there must be a way that I could make a difference.�

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http://www.enn.com/direct/display-release.asp?objid=D1D1364B000000F4B67597ACDD41066B

'Poll for the Planet' finds kids committed to saving the environment

Environmental News Network

From Monterey Bay Aquarium, Ca, U.S.A. April 22-Children worldwide want to get involved in conservation efforts, and most think young people are doing a good job of caring for wildlife, according to a new survey released today (Earth Day) by the American Zoo and Aquarium Association (AZA).

The global opinion poll asked children to share their thoughts about the environment and questioned them on who they thought was doing the best job caring for the planet. Worldwide, 60,000 children and adults responded to "Aza's Poll for the Planet" via the Internet or on-site at AZA-accredited zoos and aquariums across the country.

For more information about AZA and "Aza's Poll for the Planet," visit www.aza.org

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http://www.azstarnet.com/star/Wed/30423POETRYWINNER.html

Picture Rocks boy worldwide poetry winner

By Inger Sandal, ARIZONA DAILY STAR

Tyler Mitchell, a second-grader from Picture Rocks, has taken top honors in the world's largest youth poetry and art contest.

On Saturday the 8-year-old will read his poem "Wishing Dust" at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., during a ceremony for the 2003 River of Words contest.

"I just made it up. It is kind of hard to describe my poems," said Tyler, an avid writer who attends Desert Winds Elementary School in the Marana Unified School District.

Tyler said he was very happy about the contest and excited to ride an airplane for the first time when his family travels to the nation's capital this morning.

"The whole intent of River of Words is to help children develop an informed and heartfelt connection to the Earth," Michael said. "We particularly liked that he included not just the natural world, the rain and the trees, but he also mentions the road and his own heart - he realizes he is of nature as well."

Tyler is scheduled to meet the other winners, who include a 12-year-old artist from Azerbaijan already in the Guinness Book of World Records, for pizza this afternoon. On Thursday they will all take a daylong canoe trip up the Anacostia River. They are free to go sightseeing with their families Friday.

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http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/usatoday/20030424/sp_usatoday/5098845

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/afp/20030424/sp_wl_afp/golf_uslpga_030424022139

Wee Wie makes LPGA return

Harry Blauvelt USA TODAY and AFP

STOCKBRIDGE, Georgia, U.S.A. Apr 24-Michelle Wie, a Hawaiian 13-year-old who stunned rivals at the first LPGA major of the season, returns to test golf's top women starting at the LPGA Charity Championship.

If 13-year-old Michelle Wie can keep her caddie calm this week, the golf prodigy from Honolulu might steal the spotlight at yet another LPGA event.

The caddie in question? Her father, B.J., as Wie begins play Friday in the Chick-fil-A Charity Championship hosted by Nancy Lopez in Stockbridge, Ga.

''Chill, please,'' was Wie's constant admonition to her dad in last month's Kraft Nabisco Championship, the LPGA's first major this year.

To comply was not easy, as Wie (pronounced Wee) became the youngest to make an LPGA cut, tied an LPGA record for lowest round by an amateur in a major with a third-round 6-under-par 66 and tied for ninth, youngest to finish in the top 10.

Wie started playing golf when she was 4. Now almost 6 feet tall, she has a prototype body for golf: tall, long arms and flexible. She has an easy swing with tremendous power.

Wie devotes much of her time to school and golf yet finds time to be a young girl. That means going shopping or to the movies and watching TV.

''I go to movies and the mall, but I want to be something special,'' Wie says. ''Golf isn't a chore. It's fun.''

Her bedroom walls are covered with Tiger Woods photos, the golfer she most admires.

Wherever she tees it up, Wie attracts admirers.

In January in the Sony Open in Hawaii, Vijay Singh played with Wie in a Pro-Junior challenge. ''You watch her swing and say, 'That's normal,' '' says Singh, winner of the 2000 Masters. ''Then you realize she's only 13, and that's unbelievable. She plays like an 18-year-old. She's going to be a star.''

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http://onenews.nzoom.com/onenews_detail/0,1227,185459-1-9,00.html

Wagging pupil closes school

Reuters

Papa Stour, Shetland Islands, U. K., Apr 25-The reopening of Britain's smallest school has been cancelled because its sole pupil failed to turn up for class, The Times reported.

The newspaper said the six-year-old girl's parents were unhappy with a teacher hired at public expense to teach the only primary school-aged youngster on Papa Stour, one of the Shetland Islands off the northeast coast of Scotland.

["Wagging" is a slang in the U.K. that means To play truant/ or to miss school]

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http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/xml/uncomp/articleshow?msid=44416697

A sellout painter at 10

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

KOLKATA, W. Bengal, India, Apr 25: Not everyday one come across a ten-year-old who loves abstract painting, has sold ten of her paintings and has orders for 15 more lined up. Meet Saniya Sharma, who was the youngest artist to sell all her paintings on display at an students art work exhibition 'Inner Expressions' organised in the city recently.

For a girl of her age she has a mature outlook towards art. "Art is about creativity, about bright colours and finally about meaning something. My abstract paintings are always associated to a deeper emotion," said Sharma.

A case in point is her painting which she calls Madness I. Using bright colours like green, ornage, yellow and blue on a white texture, she meant to depict a house full of joy.

It is because of her explanations that she sold every single painting of the ten framed art works exhibited she created at a three month creative art workshops. The paintings ranged between Rs 200 to Rs 600.

"Mom doesn't understand my abstract art and was so reluctant to get my paintings framed that I hadn't expected anything out of the exhibition," said the excited youngster, whose obsession for art has never been taken seriously by her parents.

She is planning to hold a solo exhibition of her paintings in July.

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http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/Articles.asp?Article=50016&Sn=WORL

Toddlers go on rampage

Gulf Daily News

Deols, France-TWO three-year-old twins who disappeared from home then reappeared hours later without their clothes had been off wreaking havoc in a neighbour's empty house.

Police initially feared an abduction when the missing boys were discovered late in the evening walking through their home town of Deols, western France, stark naked and holding a bedside lamp.

But a call from a neighbour to report a suspected burglary revealed the boys had broken into a nearby house and gone berserk, emptying out drawers, bouncing on beds, scribbling on walls and gobbling up orange-flavoured vitamin pills.

The twins discarded their clothes after getting covered in shampoo and toothpaste after a rampage through the bathroom, squeezing out bottles and tubes.

They grabbed a bedside light and took it away with them thinking it would help them find their way home in the dark.

The boys' parents will compensate the house owners, Liberation newspaper said. It did not say how they would punish the twins.

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http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/living/5690052.htm

Young writer shares strong words, mature thoughts
By Marli Murphy, The Kansas City Star

Kansas, U.S.A Apr 27.-Art Linkletter had it right: Kids say the darndest things.

They write the darndest things, too, I've found from visiting elementary-school classrooms the last 25 years.Among my favorite gigs is Young Authors Day, now in its 19th year in the Raytown School District. About 30 pupils in grades two through five are chosen from each of Raytown's nine elementary schools.Pupils arrive on a given Saturday, often with parents or grandparents, for a morning with authors, poets, journalists and playwrights.

This year's standout was written by Victoria Richards, a fifth-grader at Westridge Elementary School. At her request, I've corrected spelling, but otherwise Victoria's column is printed as she wrote it -- in about 20 minutes. As you read it, keep in mind the author is 11:

[About war with Iraq] "Think about it, if you will. How would an Iraqi child feel about this? The sound of bombs dropping and exploding in your back yard, having a bloodthirsty lunatic as a leader, to have a nuclear waste dump as a place to live and grow. I think that we should keep fighting for our freedom, but is it really worth killing thousands of children to get what we want?"

Like me, most adults in the room were stunned when Victoria read aloud -- surprised a child her age felt so deeply about world politics. Her fellow pupils, however, didn't bat an eye. Obviously, the war in Iraq has been living in their hearts and minds.

Out of the mouths of babes...

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/weekend/story/0,3605,942479,00.html

Kid power

by Libby Brooks, The Guardian

U.K. April 26-This spring, in the first days of war with Iraq, the country was witness to a new kind of protest. In the most significant child-led campaign for a century, schoolchildren as young as 10 walked out of their classrooms to attend what were, for most, their first political demonstrations. And they weren't simply trotting alongside older activists, or parroting the slogans of their parents. These young people were organising and leading their own protests, leafleting at school gates, organising email networks and expertly working the media. Their determination to be heard was palpable. The results were awesome.

On Thursday March 20, 2003 the country awoke to the news that Operation Iraqi Freedom had begun. By 9am, Jo, Faiza and Charlotte were standing on the steps outside Westminster tube station in their black-and-red striped blazers. "We asked our headmistress whether we could wear our uniforms to represent the school, and she gave us permission. We had to ask our parents, too." The trio were expecting around 30 pupils from their west London girls' school to join them in Parliament Square. "It's the only thing people have been talking about in the playground," said 15-year-old Faiza.

By lunchtime, the atmosphere in Parliament Square was rowdy but festive. And still the children came, in their hundreds, then thousands. It was unprecedented. The bright polyanthus around the edge of the grass were looking vulnerable. Packed lunches were shared out.

Click on the link to read more..

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