NEWSBITES FOR KIDZ JAN 18 2005
From the News
for Kidz� e-magazine : Where
you�re the first to know!
HEADLINES This is what kids all over the
world did this month
KIDS HELPING KIDS:
TSUNAMI THAT DESTROYED Creates A FLOOD OF RELIEF
Sri Lankan children back to school after tsunami �
SRI LANKA
Hilary Duff to Donate a Portion of All Ticket
Sales From Her Sold-Out Most Wanted Tour to Help Survivors of Tsunami Disaster
-USA
SPECIAL EVENTS
Students hold hands for King �INDIANA, USA
GROWING INTO SOCIETY
BOCOG Helps School Students to Have Good Manners -
CHINA
HEALTH
Stressed-out children tend to consume more fatty
foods- study �United Kingdom
OPINION/ EDITORIAL
Children should be taught empathy - INDONESIA
FUNSTUFF
Dialog Between Grandson and Grandpa � Smiles
Explode- CHINA
Pop culture and classics inspire names for kids
�Minnesota, USA
ENTERTAINMENT
Children Will Listen � TELEVISION, USA
BOOK REVIEW
Ear that Whistle Blow! How the Railroad Changed
the World.
Lemons are not Red
T Is for Terrible
The Education of Patience Goodspeed.
Sam I Am.
A City Is: Poems.
Hannah Is My Name
Best books for kids
Kevin Henkes' Kitten's First Full Moon
HEADY HEADLINES
Titan's sea views are out of this world
UH-OH!
NOT ENOUGH KIDS IN GERMANY
Children hurt in escalator accident �NEW YORK, USA
Disney plans to mix ads, video games to target
kids, teens
SHORTBITES
Children mould images in clay� -BAHRAIN
�HEADLINES������ Past issues of NewsBites for Kidz�
KIDS
HELPING KIDS:
TSUNAMI
THAT DESTROYED Creates A FLOOD OF RELIEF
Sri
Lankan children back to school after tsunami � SRI LANKA
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-01/11/content_2444601.htm
�
www.chinaview.cn 2005-01-11 13:02:22
Sri Lankan school children go back
to school Monday after the devastating Tsunami disaster hit the country two
weeks ago. (Xinhua Photo)
)
���
HIKKADUWA, Sri Lanka, Jan. 11 (Xinhuanet) --
Sri Lankan school children went back to school Monday after the devastating
Tsunami disaster hit the country two weeks ago.
���
As many schools on the coastal belt were damaged or destroyed by the
marauding waves, many school children and teachers are still taking refuge in
schools and other makeshift camps across the island.
���
"We have no lessons today, the students come and sign their
names," said W. Mendis, a teacher in Vidyalaya
School in southerncity Kosgoda.
���
The school has 2,000 students, but only a small number of students have
come today,"Mendis said, adding "the school
principle died in the disaster, and the Buddhist monk in nearby temple presides
the school now."
���
While the children and their parents are busy cleaning desks and
clearing up the piled garbage, a student told reporter that they would likely
have lessons Thursday.
The children and their parents are
busy cleaning desks and clearing up the piled garbage in a Tsunami-hit school
in Sri Lanka,
Jan. 10. (Xinhua Photo
���
According to the Center for National Operation, there are 76,911
students in these partly and fully damaged schools in the tsunami-affected
areas. Of this, 59 schools have been completely destroyed and the Sri Lankan
government has already taken the initiatives to commence the reconstruction of
the destroyed schools within one month.
HEADLINES
� In Devannanda College
in Ambalangoda city, a leading national school in Sri Lanka,
things are different. The campus is not damaged and none of the students died
in the disaster. More than 500 students, however, are displaced. Enditem
Hilary
Duff to Donate a Portion of All Ticket Sales From Her Sold-Out Most Wanted Tour to
Help Survivors of Tsunami Disaster -USA
http://www.kidswithacause.org/
�
LOS ANGELES, Jan. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- International superstar and Hollywood
Records recording artist, Hilary Duff announced today that she will donate a portion
of all ticket sales from her current sold-out Most Wanted tour to help the
survivors of the earthquake and tsunami disaster in southern Asia.
Hilary's efforts will be carried out through her charity of choice,
Kids With A Cause, Inc. Together they will work to ensure that the money they
donate gets to the children who are most in need.
Hilary will travel to New York in March and at
a special event at the United Nations will present U.N. officials with a check.
"I, just like
everyone else, have watched this terrible tragedy and feel so sorry for the
children and the families who have lost so much,"
Hilary said. "I
want to do everything I can to help those that have survived."
Giving to those in need is nothing
new to Hilary Duff. She has been involved with Kids With A Cause since
it's inception in September 1999. The charity
was created to provide a helping hand to the children who suffer from poverty,
hunger, sickness, lack of education, abandonment, neglect and/or abuse. The
members behind Kids With A Cause are primarily celebrity youth and teens (from
film, television & the recording industry), who recognize that they
have been very fortunate and understand, even at a young age, that it is never
too early or never too late to donate their time to help others and give back
to the community and to the children of the world.
Hilary and Kids With
A Cause will work hand-in-hand with UNICEF to make sure that the money
will go to the children that have suffered from this event.
For more information on Kids With A
Cause, Inc., please contact: Linda Finnegan, Kids With A
Cause, 310.590.4505 or [email protected]
Quelle: Hollywood
Records
HEADLINES
�SPECIAL EVENTS
Students
hold hands for King �INDIANA, USA
CALUMET
CITY, Indiana: TF North recognizes civil rights leader
BY MEMA AYI
[email protected]
219.933.3241
CALUMET CITY
| For 10 minutes Friday morning, all of Thornton Fractional North
High School stood as one.
JUDY FIDKOWSKI | THE TIMES Thornton
Fractional North High School students hold hands in a hallway as they listen to
Martin Luther King's " I Have a Dream" speech during the "Hands
Across TFN" event organized by the Student Council in honor of Martin
Luther King's birthday.
Faculty, staff and roughly 1,500
students poured into the school's hallways at 9:30 a.m., holding hands while
listening to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I
Have a Dream" speech.
The tribute, sponsored by the
school's Student Council, was meant to bring students together to reflect on
their similarities, said Lisa Ramos, a senior and Student Council president.
This marks the second year for the
tribute to honor the slain civil rights leader on the Friday before the
national holiday.
School will not be in session
Monday to recognize the holiday, but Ramos thought students could do more than
just getting a day off, she said.
"The whole student body was
all connected to honor his birthday and all he's done," Ramos said.
"We were all joined together as one just as Dr. King said in his speech,
'(Let freedom ring) from the hilltops of New
Hampshire ... to Stone Mountain of Georgia.' "
Assistant Principal Dondelayo White said she noticed this year students did not
talk to one another, but seemed to be focusing on the speech.
"It was wonderful. I got
teary-eyed," she said.
The relevance of King's speech has
become more meaningful to White, she said, as society continues to see racial
disparities, but builds to bridge gaps.
"They may have heard the
speech 1,000 times, but this time they really listened to it," White said.
For all students, the tribute
encouraged education, tolerance and spiritual growth, just as King did, said
Michelle Anderson, who came in to pick up her granddaughter.
"This is allowing them to
continue the struggle for the black community," Anderson said.
HEADLINES
GROWING
INTO SOCIETY
BOCOG
Helps School Students to Have Good Manners - CHINA
http://en.beijing-2008.org/38/18/article211641838.shtml
�
�10 JAN 2005
�
Olympic champion Zhang Guozheng joined some 900 school students at the Jingshan School in Beijing
to launch an educational campaign on promoting politeness and good manners
amongst the young people on January 7, 2005. The boys and girls, representing
all school students in the city, received new books entitled �School Students
Manual of Amenity� and �New Children�s Rhymes� from the Olympic champion and
BOCOG Executive Vice-President Jiang Xiaoyu.
The campaign, with the theme of
�Passion for the Olympics: My Courtesy and Charm�, was jointly sponsored by the
Culture and Ceremonies Department of BOCOG and the Beijing municipal government.
According to Long Xinmin from the municipal government, the campaign is
designed to help develop good manners and habits among school children, such as
taking the initiative to say �Hello� to people, being more understanding and
tolerant of others, showing respect for elders and teachers and also showing
pride in singing the National Anthem aloud in public.
The campaign will go on for the
next three years till 2008.
Olympic Champion Zhang
Guozheng (first from the right), Long
Xinmin
(third from the right) and
Jiang Xiaoyu
(second from the right) present students with books.
HEADLINES
HEALTH
Stressed-out
children tend to consume more fatty foods- study �United Kingdom
�
http://www.foodingredientsfirst.com/newsmaker_article.asp?idNewsMaker=7235&fSite=AO545
British study finds that children
most frazzled about homework, schedules, social problems or family issues are
also most likely to eat fatty foods.
18/01/2005
Like
adults who deal with stress by visiting the office snack machine or the local
drive-through, stressed-out children also tend to eat more fat.
As Prevention magazine reports, a
British study of more than 4,300 11- and 12-year-olds found that those most
frazzled about homework, schedules, social problems or family issues were also
most likely to eat fatty snacks, skimp on fruits and vegetables, and skip
breakfast.
Other stress signals in children
include headaches, stomachaches, irritability and withdrawal. The magazine says
parents who want to help should listen and commiserate with their kids but
consider therapy if stress persists.
A growing body of
research offers hope that lifestyle changes can help people with pre-diabetes
avoid>
becoming
full-blown diabetics.
http://www.ediets.com/news/article.cfm/cmi_867718/cid_32
HEADLINES
Children
should be taught empathy - INDONESIA
Simon Marcus Gower, Jakarta
http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaileditorial.asp?fileid=20050115.E03&irec=1
Our modern world is a world in
which our senses seem to be more and more stimulated. From the variety of foods
from all over the world we may taste, to music of all kinds all around us --
our senses can be stimulated to a quite phenomenal extent. This extends to the
sense of sight, with newspapers, magazines and television screens inundating us
with images daily.
All of this can add up to a kind of
"sensory overload" that leaves it difficult for us to make sense of
things and not be lost in chaos. The tragedy of the tsunami could be seen as a
horrific example of this. The deeply disturbing and saddening images have
graphically shown us the terrible destructive force of the tsunami but they
have been difficult for us to make sense of.
The extent of a tragedy such as the
tsunami that hit so many countries but was most forceful and destructive in Aceh and North Sumatra has been difficult for adults to
comprehend but this is so much more so the case for children. Many children
have obviously been disturbed and saddened but what has happened and what they
have seen but other children have, in a sense, been left cold by what they have
seen.
This is not to say that they have
intentionally set out to be dismissive or uncaring about what has happened but
in some ways they are left unable to respond; either due the kind of
"sensory overload" noted above or because they are simply not yet
emotionally and sensitively mature enough to have an appropriately respectful
attitude.
The kind of sensory overload that
children today are experiencing, in a strange way, means that they are
seemingly more distant from reality and so an appropriate response and attitude
to what is really happening around them. For example, for a number of children
their greatest and most significant connection to the terror of the tsunami was
their reference to a recent Hollywood movie.
In the film The Day After Tomorrow
massive climate change was imagined and through computer graphics a vast
tsunami was depicted overwhelming the island of Manhattan.
For many children this was their most significant and even only reaction to what
has happened. With a nervous laughter they would say "Oh yeah, it's like
in that film, only smaller."
These children may seem cold and
detached from the awful reality of what has happened. But this can be because
they are simply not equipped with the emotional skills to respond. The visual
sensory overload that they can be experiencing should be thought of here.
For example, it is quite likely
that children are getting a massive amount of exposure to the terrible imagery
coming from the disaster struck areas. It is important that we see these images
to try to understand the scale and awfulness of what has happened but for
children exposure to these images should probably be limited by parents.
Many children, too, will and have
experienced a significant loss of sense of safety and security that can be
deeply psychologically disturbing. Again this is probably something that many
adults have to come to terms with too as we all must fear that such an awful
disaster might hit us. But this kind of fear and a feeling of the loss of
safety and security can be a deep scar on a young and developing mind.
For smaller children, also, the
repetition of awful images from the disaster can be deeply confusing; confusing
to the extent that they feel that those awful events are happening again and
again. Their inability to distinguish reality and realize that images are just
being shown repetitively can leave them fearing that awful events are occurring
and reoccurring.
None of this is to say that these
images should be hidden from us, but it is to suggest that we should exercise
discretion and caution when thinking about the degree of exposure we allow to
such images. It is consistently observed that Indonesia television channels
broadcast very openly with very little in the way of editing.
Where people and specifically
children are consistently being exposed to such awful images, it is quite
possible that they are becoming desensitized to what they see and may then have
a less human and humane reaction to it.
It is vitally important that
children are taught about empathy. This means that they are taught to be aware
of their own feelings and in turn may be better able to appreciate and respect
the feelings of others. Significantly children need to learn of their own
emotions and so develop an emotional intelligence and sensitivity towards
others.
Often schools and schooling systems
are deeply rooted in developing academic strengths but are relatively rather
neglectful of emotional strength. Particularly at times of great disaster such
as the present schools should respond differently. They cannot be indifferent
to children's emotions and blindly treat children as objects or numbers that
must be processed.
Ultimately, the pain and the depth
of sorrow felt after the tsunami leaves words almost redundant and mostly
inadequate but empathy and the caring and help that can emanate from it can
assist people back from the loss and despair they have experienced. Empathy is
a vital human response and children need it.
The writer is an education
consultant.
HEADLINES
1'>
class=SpellE>
爷爷和孙子之间的爆笑对话
Dialog
Grandson and Grandpa � Smiles Explode- CHINA
[Rough translation]
�http://www.sina.com.cn 2005/01/11
11:09� 视听英语Ladder AI
杂志
�
�
Bao Bao. Wash up!
Grandson (Bao
Bao, 12 years old): Aw Grandpa, I don�t want rice
again. Can you take me to KFC tonight? Please?
Grandpa: I suppose so, but you�ll
have to show me where it is. We�ll take the bus.
At the counter of KFC�
Grandpa: Why are children so crazy
about chicken wings and hamburgers? What�s so good about them?
Grandson: Hmm�hmm. Hey, I�ll take 2
chicken wings and a Coke, OK?
At the table�
Grandpa: Bao
Bao, do you like being Chinese or do you sometimes
wish you could live in America
or Europe?
Grandson: Uh, maybe America, I
think the foods there are cool. Why?
Grandpa: Well, when I was your age,
I liked to go out with my parents and eat in a Chinese restaurant. We didn�t
have chicken wings or the drink with bubbles. We drank tea and we had rice and
traditional Chinese dishes.
Grandson: Grandpa, I want some
French fries. Can I have some?
Grandpa: Phew � all right! Children
are children after all. Bao Bao,
do you know what children ate in the past? They ate spring rolls when spring
was coming, glutinous rice balls during the Lantern Festival and if they
behaved well, their parents would probably buy them small steamed bread made
with corn flour� I can still remember the taste, that sweet �
Grandson: I want more chicken
wings, can I, Grandpa?
Grandpa: You�ve already eaten too
much of that, Bao Bao! A
lot of your friends are getting fat too � you know, in the good old days, we �
Grandson: Grandpa, pass the
ketchup, �kay?
HEADLINES
Pop
culture and classics inspire names for kids �MinnesotaUSA
By Kate
Kompas
http://miva.sctimes.com/miva/cgi-bin/miva?Web/
Jan. 18 - Jennifer and Bryan
Bonovsky chose a unique name for their third son: Creed.
They wanted to keep the
"C" theme going; their other sons are Christian, 7, and Cole, 2.
Before Jennifer
Bonovsky found out she was carrying a
boy, she considered Claudia.
She nixed that idea when she
discovered that name means "lame."
>
Times photo by
Kimm
Anderson
Jennifer
Bonovsky
(left), Sauk Rapids, remembers the first time she heard the name Creed, which
she and her husband, Bryan, named their new son.
No, she and Bryan
Bonovsky aren't big fans of the rock group Creed. Jennifer
Bonovsky knew of an adopted Columbian boy who lives in the
area who is named Creed, and she liked the name a lot. She doesn't care that
she won't find many baby trinkets with his name on them.
The hundreds of
babies who are born at St. Cloud Hospital
every year
are given names that range from
old-fashioned to what many residents would consider unusual. The increasing
diversity in
Central Minnesota is reflected in
the baby names, too, with ethnic names taking their place alongside
Cade and Chloe.
Alternative spellings rule, too,
which is bound to challenge teachers for decades to come. For example, you can
name your baby
Kaitlin,
Kaitlyn,
Kaitlynn,
Katelin,
Katelyn or
Katelynn.
"I hardly ever see a Jennifer
anymore," said Pat
Michaelson, a kindergarten
teacher at
Westwood
Elementary School. She
does
sees a lot of
Austins
and
Haileys and even a few
Prestons.
though.
Many
people - Experts and nonexperts alike believe names can help define someone's
character.
Barbara
Beniek,
who teaches at the elementary education department at
St. Cloud State
University, has her
students at the beginning of the semester do a mini-research project to find
the story behind their name. Many of them are surprised by their names'
origins, she said.
"Sometimes I wonder if their
name doesn't somewhat give them some expectation of who they are like those who
spell their name with an '
i' because they don't want
to be common," she said.
Inspiration
The classics such as Emma, Ethan,
Andrew and Emily are hot, but some parents strive for creativity when naming
their tots.
Some take their inspiration from
popular culture: Yes, there were multiple babies named
FrodoFrodo
after "The Lord of the Rings" hit theaters, said Nancy
Seminitis, a birth registrar at
St. Cloud Hospital.
Others name their babies after the
place where they were conceived or even the drinks that were consumed shortly
before they were conceived, which explains why there have been Margaritas at
St. Cloud Hospital.
Braxton
Luzier,
16, of Sartell was named after a waiter his parents had on their honeymoon
cruise. They simply loved his name.
Luzier
"It's an interesting
name,"
Luzier said.
One name that shows up from time to
time at
St. Cloud
Hospital but hasn't
cracked top national lists yet is "
Nevaeh,"
pronounced "
NaVAYYa." Don't get it?
It's heaven spelled backward.
Unique
Sometimes parents name their
children what they want for them, such as "Serenity,"
Seminitis said. Sometimes babies are given family names or
parents try to give them only one name, such
aslike
Madonna. And sometimes parents don't give them any name at all before they
leave the
hospital, usually because they decide
orcan't agree.
"Sometimes they agonize over
it,"
Seminitis said. Parents legally have five
days after their baby's birth before they
haveto
choose a name and the paperwork is filed with the state.
Seminitis
said she occasionally wonders what
parents are thinking when they name their babies, but she keeps to a strict,
no-judgment policy. Sometimes parents ask her if she often hears the name they
picked
out often.
"They want to be unique,"
she said.
Lori
Gronius
of South Haven did her research after she learned she was pregnant with her
first baby. She went to the Internet for ideas and created a list of 15 names.
She and her husband, Steve, narrowed it
totown tto three.
They decided on Carter, which
happens to be one of the most popular names for boys born at
St. Cloud Hospital
last year. .
Carter Newman
Gronius
was born last week about 11 weeks early but still healthy. Newman, his middle
name, is his mom's maiden name.
"The poor little guy has three
last names," Lori
Gronius joked.
ENTERTAINMENT
TELEVISION, USA
HEADLINES
16th January, 2005
This is a one hour PBS show that follows the process of students in
fourth - eighth grades from seven Washington, DC inner city schools as they
design, costume and perform in a production of Stephen Sondheim's musical play Into
the Woods supervised by three professionals from the Kennedy Centre for the
Performing Arts. This film captures the students' journey from first hearing
about the play through design, audition and opening performance at the American
Film Institute Theater of the Kennedy Centre in May 2002, where Mr. Sondheim
attended the event. Intended for children and adult audiences alike, this
release illustrates the positive role that the arts can play in people's lives.
Narrated by Bernadette Peters.
The spirit of thanksgiving comes alive in Children Will Listen,
the moving, real-life story of a group of elementary school children who
overcome multiple hardships and obstacles � both individually and collectively
- to produce and perform in a Broadway Junior show, a special student
adaptation of a Broadway musical in the nation�s capital.
Children Will Listen chronicles how a group of 140 students � mostly fourth and
fifth graders from public schools in Washington, DC � and their mentors work
against time and limited resources to produce and perform Into the Woods
Junior, a special adaptation of Stephen Sondheim�s musical. The film
follows the students over a nine-month period as they learn to design and
participate in all aspects of the production. From the early stages of
�casting� through closing night, the film captures the children�s growth and
transformation as they work on all levels of Into the Woods Junior �
building the sets, designing the costumes and performing in the production,
which kicked off the Kennedy
Center�s Stephen Sondheim
tribute.
Public schools in Washington,
DC, struggle with many
challenges, including insufficient resources, large class size, and the social
and economic problems facing the families of their students. Many of the
children in this documentary had never been to the Kennedy Centre or even seen
a play. This project gave them a rare opportunity to experience the theatre
both in the classroom and on the stage. Through weekly tapings and interviews from
October, 2000 to May, 2001, Children Will Listenrecorded the power of the creative
experience as well as the collaborative work of the Kennedy Centre�s
professional artists, the students and the supportive community of teachers,
parents and school administrators, and shows the transformative power of
theatre as reflected in the lives of more than 1.5 million students who have
performed in Broadway Junior productions nationwide during the past six years.
�This movie is about kids of all ages learning by doing,� said director
Charlene Gilbert, who relied on 15 students from the American University School
of Communication program in Visual Media to help her shoot and edit the film.
�It was hands-on learning for all of us all of the time.�
�Children Will Listen is about launching kids in new
directions,� Gilbert continued. �Several of the younger students in the film
have continued to perform theatrically in high school. Some of my former film
students from the project are now working professionally in the industry here
in DC.�
�
�
��HEADLINES
�
�
By Milton
Meltzer. Landmark Books/Random House. $18.95.
(Ages 8 and up) It is not obvious to children today that modern life around the
world was made possible by the railroad. Here's a thoughtful account of the
practical science, the economics of the Industrial Revolution and the political
history of railroads that will surprise young readers. Period illustrations are
included, along with some literary and musical references and a conventional
bibliography.
HEADLINES
Lemons
are not Red
Written and illustrated by Laura
Vaccaro Seeger.
Neal Porter/Roaring Brook. $14.95.
(Ages 3 and up) You can practically hear a gleeful toddler shouting that lemons
are YELLOW, or responding to other simple statements like ''Flamingos are not
gray.'' But the real magic comes as you turn the pages of this handsome
introduction to color, when the die-cut objects that were incorrectly colored
on the right side flip to the left and suddenly take on their proper hue, to
reveal (for instance) that, yes, flamingos are pink.
T Is
for Terrible
Written and illustrated by Peter
McCarty. Holt.
$15.95. (Ages 3 to 6) Some creatures
accept their destiny with equanimity. This dinosaur's tone isn't exactly
self-pitying because it is just not his fault that he eats his neighbors for
lunch. He's a regular fellow and assures us that if he could, he'd be a
vegetarian. But things didn't work out that way, and if he's hungry for flesh,
well, he just can't help it. The delicacy of the illustrations underscores his
wistful, carnivorous plight.
The Education of Patience Goodspeed.
By Heather Vogel
Frederick. Simon & Schuster. $16.95. (Ages
8 to 12) It's 1836 and Captain
Goodspeed has brought
his children, Patience and Tad, to sea with him on the Morning Star, rather
than leave them on
Nantucket. This second book
about Patience, a clever heroine, finds the family in
Hawaii, where the captain places the
children in boarding school. The thoughtful exploration of what constitutes an
appropriate education for an intelligent girl is a plausible part of the story.
Sam
I Am.
By Ilene Cooper.Scholastic.
$15.95. (Ages 10 to 14) The holidays may be over, but
for families of mixed faith, questions about how to celebrate Christmas and
Hanukkah resonate year-round. Sam is a smart 12-year-old who has to figure
things out. His mother loves Christmas, and his father is indifferent to
religion in a
Manhattan
kind of way.
Still, when the dog knocks over the holiday tree
(Christmas tree? Hanukkah bush? both?), it emphasizes the family's religious rift.
A City
Is: Poems.
By Norman Rosten. Collected and edited by Patricia Rosten
Filan. Illustrated by Melanie Hope
Greenberg. Holt. $16.95. (Ages 4 to 8) Several
of these short, accessible poems about urban life make specific reference to New York City. The
delightful illustrations range from Brooklyn rooftop views of Manhattan
to the 72nd Street
subway stop, and from Central
Park to the Statue of Liberty.
Hannah
Is My Name
Written and illustrated by Belle
Yang.
Candlewick. $16.99.
(Ages 4 to 9) The autobiographical story of how Hannah, whose name in Chinese
is
Na-Li, and her family came to
San
Francisco from
Taiwan
in 1960 and learned how to become Americans is told with great style and
touching detail. It turned out to be such a complicated business: applying and
then waiting for green cards, working hard, going to school, helping her
parents. Imagine Hannah's surprise when her green card turns out to be pale
blue.
HEADLINES
Best
books for kids
By Bob
Minzesheimer,
USA
TODAY
A novel whose heroine is a
Japanese-American girl in small-town
Georgia in the 1950s and a picture
book about a kitten who mistakes the moon for a bowl of milk are the winners of
2005's top awards in children's literature. The awards were announced Monday.
�
� Kevin Henkes' Kitten's First Full Moon
This took the Caldecott medal,
which honors picture books.
� Winner of the Newbery medal, for
the best children's book, is Cynthia
Kadohata, author
of
Kira-Kira (
kee-ra kee-ra), from the Japanese word for "glittering."
� Winner of the Caldecott medal for
the best picture book is Kevin
Henkes, author and
illustrator of Kitten's First Full Moon, an understated suspense story for the
pre-K set.
The American Library Association,
convening in Boston, also presented its
Coretta Scott
King Awards, open to African-Americans, to: Toni Morrison, Nobel Prize-winning
novelist who wrote the text for Remember: The Journey to School Integration, a
collection of vintage photographs; and illustrator
Kadir
Nelson for Ellington Was Not a Street, which puts the poetry of
Ntozake Shange into visual
images. For other awards, visit www.ala.org.
HEADLINES
Titan's
sea views are out of this world
By Richard
Macey
January 17, 2005
UH-OH!
NOT
ENOUGH KIDS IN GERMANY
�Dwindling pensions and falling birth rates in
Germany means
the country needs more children. But, a new study has found that societal
hostility towards kids is preventing many Germans from starting a family.
�
NEW YORKUSA
��
�HEADLINES
BY DARYL KHAN
STAFF WRITER
January 13, 2005
Schoolchildren on a field trip to a
Manhattan movie
theater Thursday were knocked to the bottom of an escalator in a terrifying
pileup after a teacher pressed the emergency stop button because a student's
pants snagged on a protruding screw, officials said.
"One of them fell, and then
another one, and then they all started falling like a bunch of dominoes,"
a fire official said of the incident at the
Loews Lincoln Square and
Imax Theater.
Jennifer
Givner,
a Buildings Department spokeswoman, said the students tumbled on top of each
other.
According to fire and building
officials, 10 people were taken to
New
York Weill
Cornell Medical
Center, and 14 others
were treated at the scene.
Most of the injuries were minor
scrapes and bruises. One person suffered a fracture, and another needed
stitches. The fall occurred sometime between 10:30 and 11 a.m.
Linda Mustafa, 12, a student from
PS 83 in the
Bronx, ended up beneath other
children on a landing at the bottom of the up escalator. She said just before
the escalator jerked to a stop, she saw children piling up behind a student who
was stuck near the top steps.
"They were yelling, 'Go back!
Go back!' and everybody started falling," she said.
Mustafa was among 250 students from
a mix of public and private schools who had just arrived at the theater to see
"The Polar Express," an animated holiday movie.
Mark Bernard, 13, a seventh-grader
at
St. Jerome's School in
East
Flatbush, said he was on the landing
seperating
the two sections of the up escalator when he saw the children jammed at the
top.
"All of the sudden, it got too
big," he said. "Once the escalator stopped, it was total chaos.
That's when everything started to happen. There was lots of screaming and
crying for help."
The Buildings Department issued a
stop-use order on the escalator until it completes an investigation, and it
issued a violation for failure to maintain the escalator. Department officials
believe the student's pants caught on a quarter-inch section of a screw that
holds a black protective brush, called a skirt, in place. The skirt prevents
material from falling into the escalator's mechanism.
As part of the investigation,
buildings employees will inspect the other 18 escalators at the theater.
Givner said inspectors issued a violation during an
inspection Sept. 7 because an escalator's brakes were not adjusted properly.
Investigators will try to determine if the earlier violation is related to
yesterday's incident.
Investigators are also looking into
complaints that once the emergency stop button was pushed, the escalator
continued to travel for longer than the code allows.
A statement released by Loews said:
"We are taking this incident very seriously."
Staff writer Deborah S. Morris and
freelancer Dan Morrison contributed to this story.
Copyright � 2005,
Newsday, Inc.
HEADLINES
By Michael McCarthy,
USA TODAY
http://www.usatoday.com/money/media/2005-01-17-disney-advergaming_x.htm
Jan. 17
0in;margin-left:1.0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-align:justify'>
To
reach kids and teens to promote
Disneyland's
50th anniversary this year, Walt Disney Co. will use one of the hottest � and
most controversial � gimmicks in the media business: "
advergaming."
class=SpellE>
The online arcades put up by
advertisers that include Disney, Viacom's Nickelodeon and even the U.S. Army
rival titles from the $10 billion video game industry in entertainment value
and high-tech expertise.
But ad critics such as Jeff Chester
of the Center for Digital Democracy decry them as "digital
infomercials" that blur the lines between content and commercials and
often collect data on consumers playing the games.
"These are not just harmless
games.
It's part of the brainwashing of
America,"
Chester says.
As part of an 18-month global
campaign that kicks off on May 5, Disney will roll out an interactive,
multiplayer game called "
Virtual
Magic Kingdom."
It aims to provide a virtual visit to Disney's five global resorts and 11 theme
parks to anyone with an Internet connection. The target: "
tweens" ages 8 to 12 and young teens.
Visitors will be able to play free
online games based on real attractions, such as the
Haunted Mansion
and Jungle Cruise. They'll also be able to chat, create their own avatars, or
graphic icons representing real-life Web surfers in cyberspace, and earn virtual
points that can be redeemed for T-shirts and other goodies at the actual parks.
The goal: push kids to urge their
parents to visit a Disney park during the anniversary promotion that also
includes the opening of Hong Kong Disneyland on Sept. 12.
"We hope it becomes a real
hangout for preteens and teens," said Jay
Rasulo,
president of Walt Disney Parks & Resorts, during a recent news conference
about anniversary-marketing plans.
Jeff Logsdon, managing director at
investment banker Harris Nesbitt, says Disney's strategy "is clearly a
clever way to engage with a key part of their target market. Kids 10 years old
and younger have really grown up with the Internet."
Forrest Research predicts
advergaming will grow into a $1 billion business this year.
As marketers try to target kids and elusive Gen Y consumers, Madison Avenue is
waking up to the fact that
Webwise younger consumers
like video games � and disdain pop-ups, banner ads and other less-subtle forms
of online advertising.
And rather than get a kid's
attention for just 30 seconds with a TV commercial,
advergames
can capture them for minutes or hours.
"If a kid likes a game,
they'll play it 15 times," says Tim
Spengler,
executive vice president of media services company Initiative. "Companies
are asking 'What's my game strategy?' "
But companies wanting to create
successful
advergames have to be careful about the
quality of the game experience, says Michael Goodman, senior analyst at the
Yankee Group.
"The key is to remember that
it's a game first and an ad second. If it's a good game, consumers will
recognize they're being sold. But they won't care," he says.
Children
mould images in
clay� -
MORE than 600 children participated
in a clay
modelling competition
organised
by the Lions Club of Bahrain yesterday.
Group
A
participants were asked to make either a butterfly, a bird or a flower while
Group B children were asked to choose between landscape or mother and child.
http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/Story.asp?Article=101868&Sn=BNEW&IssueID=27301
HEADLINES
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