The Denver Post1

Jump down the rabbit hole after Alice in “Lookingglass Alice,” playing at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts

through October 12.As in the book, Alice is a pawn who wants

to become a queen, but can she make it to the other side of the board?

Along the way Alice will meet an inquis-itive caterpillar, an odd knight, the red queen, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum, the Cheshire cat and many other odd things.

Will Alice make it to the ball to become queen, or will she just be swept away in a sea

of tears.? David Caitlin’s adaptation of Lewis Car-

roll’s works, “Alice Through the Looking glass” and “Alice in Wonderland and What Alice Found There” features high fl ying acro-batics, comedy, song, and dance.

The actors play their parts well and they improvise often. Audience members should prepare to become part of the show.

The stunts are cool to watch, and actors often take fl ight. The caterpillar will remind anyone of a curious toddler, as it constantly asks, “Why?”

The white queen grows younger and younger still as Humpty Dumpty falls off his wall and the Cheshire cat explains why he is mad.

“Lookingglass Alice” is best described as a gravity-defying tea party.

Lauren Hirte and Lindsey Noel Whiting take turns being Alice, and both perform impressive acrobatic feats, like fl ying though the air, climbing up a rope while reciting a line over and over again, and occasionally getting fl ipped upside down.

Adeoye plays the Cheshire cat and other characters. Kevin Douglas acts as the Mad Hatter as well as several other characters.

Samuel Taylor plays the White Knight and others. Taylor rides an unicycle that seems to be taller than he is.

All the actors and actresses perform im-pressive acrobatic feats.

The costumes are very impressive. The Red Queen’s dress elevates her height by several feet, and the White Knight radiates silliness from his appearance.

I would recommend this play for people eight and up, as there are some scenes that may scare little kids, and may even make older audiences jump a little bit.

There are also parts of the show in which small children may not be able to contain their excitement.

“Lookingglass Alice” is a great play for children eight years old to 800 years old.

For show times and ticket information, go to ColoradoNIE.com

CK Reporter of the WeekMargaret Vogelpohl

DCPA hosts a fl ying tea party

September 29, 2015

By Anja Mook,13, a CK Reporter from Northglenn

Rocky Mountain National Park turns 100 in 2015. History Colorado is celebrating the people and the places of one of our most cherished spots in the We ❤ Rocky Mountain National Park exhibit, now open. The exhibit is part of a year-long, state-wide celebration of Rocky Mountain National Park’s centennial. Join us for a great day of learning just for educators!

Rocky Mountain National Park Teacher Workshop

Register online atestore.historycolorado.org/WebStore/Shop/ViewItems.aspx?CG=tws&C=TWSTIC

or by calling 303-866-2394or email reservations@state.co.us

Oct 17, 2015 8:30AM - 3:30PMHistory Colorado Center 1200 Broadway Denver, CO 80203$25, light breakfast and lunch provided. Reservations required.

After seeing the fi rst movie in the “Maze Runner” trilogy, I was very excited for the next one to come out.

The fi rst Maze Runner movie is based in a near post-apocalyptic time.

Thirty boys are stuck in a maze with all of their memories erased.

Eventually they escape after three years of failed attempts.

But once they get out the real challenge begins.

And this is where the movie “Scorch Trials” starts off; they have escaped from themaze only to fi nd echoes of what wasonce mankind.

Years before, a solar fl are from the sun called The Scorch eradicated most of the moisture on planet Earth leaving humans nothing to live on.

But the worst was yet to come, a disease called The Flare struck all mankind wiping the rest of them out and making them into zombie-like monsters called cranks.

The remaining boys from the maze are im-mune to the sickness but there are still many obstacles on their way to fi nd asylum.

Once I got out of the movie theater, I was a little disturbed.

I would recommend this movie to only the

most die-hard horror fans who are at least 14 years old.

Filled with jump scares and grossly graphic cranks, it is defi nitely not a movie for fami-lies.

In the original books there was no bad language and the cranks were not as creepy. I think the writers amplifi ed the horror and added unnecessary cursing.

The fi rst Maze Runner movie had a different feel to it, a better, more family feel.

That feeling just disappears in the second installment.

The translation from book to movie fol-lowed the same storyline but added unneces-sary creepiness and foul language making this a movie for teens only.

I don’t think children under fourteen should go to this movie unless they’re sure they can handle the intensity.

By Thomas Krumholz,13, a CK Reporter from Denver

Second ‘Maze’ movie ratchets up the intensity

The Denver Post

It’s where monsters go for safety, for pro-tection, and to be with other monsters: Hotel Transylvania is a monster gathering

place, and has been for a long time. When the first movie about it came out

three years ago, it really caught the eye of the public. Now, the long-awaited sequel, “Hotel Transylvania 2,” is finally here, and better than ever.

You may recall that Mavis, the main charac-ter and vampire, and Johnny, a human, clicked as a couple.

In this movie, they are married, and Mavis’s father, Dracula, has even come around to accepting the likes of the human.

In an extravagant celebration, Johnny’s fam-ily meets all the monsters at the hotel, and all the characters from the last movie are rein-troduced, setting the stage.

Soon enough, Mavis announces that she is pregnant, and when the baby, Dennis, comes along, her father is determined that his grandchild will be a vampire.

Over the next five years, we see cute, happy, laughing Dennis grow up, but, much to Drac-ula’s dismay, he does not sprout fangs.

Mavis and Johnny are both happy to see Dennis growing up, whether he becomes a vampire or not, but Dracula is not satisfied.

When his fifth birthday is coming up, Mavis is having second thoughts about raising a

human with all these monsters, and considers moving to a safer place. Dracula sends Mavis and Johnny away to give himself some alone time with Dennis in hopes of getting his fangs to come out before the big day arrives.

He neglects to tell them his intent, and so the action begins, as do some family argu-ments.

Will Dracula get his wish or will Mavis pack up and head out, away from all she’s ever known, for the sake of her child?

I thought this movie had some good humor in it, and although it was kind of a predictable storyline, there were definitely some surpris-es to keep it interesting.

You really feel connected to the characters, and feel the emotion of the story.

Younger kids will love it, and parents can have fun too.

If you’re looking for a cute, quick movie this Halloween season, this is the perfect one for you.

2

Hotel Transylvania 2 lives it up

By Kaitlyn Pierce,13, a CK Reporter from Arvada

Losing weight with fruits and vegetables means choicesAdding more fresh vegetables

and fruit to your regular diet is a good way to help maintain a healthy weight level and can even help you lose weight if you have to.

But, first of all, you shouldn’t expect that just eating a few more apples and cucumbers is going to suddenly turn you into a skeleton.

Second, to keep a healthy weight level, you still have to make some good choices.

Researchers at Harvard’s T. H. Chan School of Public Health kept track of 130,ooo adults over

20 years to see how their eating choices affected their weight and overall health.

They didn’t mark down every mouthful: Every four years, the volunteers kept a week-long food diary, and they reported their weight every two years.

It was enough to show that those who added an additional helping of fruit per week lost a half a pound over those four years, and those who added a vegetable serving each week lost a quarter of a pound for each serving.

It’s not a crash diet, but it is the kind of change that isn’t hard to keep up with.

Researchers admit that they don’t know if some of those people who made healthier food choices also made healthier choices about things like exercise.

What they did find, though, is that starchy vegetables like pota-toes and corn, rather than things like broccoli or cauliflower, could cause weight gain, and that berries and apples were better choices than melons and avocados.

photo/Eric Hunt

Making new friends at the Friendship Powwow

The Friendship Powwow at the Denver Art Museum featured a dance con-test, Native American food, booths

selling stuff from a variety of tribes and nations, and an art booth where kids could do stencil art to make bandanas and bags.

I met a woman named Night Eagle at one of the booths who was selling mini-teepees.

She said she started making them after her 9-year-old grandson, Hawk Blueback, asked for something that he could take to school so that he could talk about his Native Amer-ican history.

He is part Ponca, Shoshone, Bannock, Pueblo and Navajo.

She prayed for an idea and one night the idea of making a teepee design around a funnel came to her.

Now she makes lots of the mini-teepees and she also makes dream catchers.

Dream catchers catch bad dreams in a web of silk so that when the sun rises the first rays of sun melt the bad dreams and destroy them.

Good dreams are caught and kept.I also met Rosabelle Atayde who is an

eight-year-old Navajo, Southern Cheyenne

and Mexican dancer. She has been dancing since she could

walk. She does the Jingle Dress Dance, which is a healing dance.

Her dress had little golden bells on the skirt that ring when she dances.

Her mom made her traditional dress and her mom and grandma made all of her neck-laces and beads. She danced at the Powwow with her little brother Apollo, who is 2.

At the art tent, I took stencils that an artist had designed and used them to make a handkerchief with a native design on it.

There were lots of kids busy with the art including Saari Akhiasa Ashemu and her mom Tiffani Balashange Ashemu who are from Denver and Ghana, West Africa.

I definitely want to go back next year. It was a lot of fun and I learned new things.

By Ben Vanourek,10, a CK Reporter from Littleton

Rosabelle Atayde and Apollo (Photo by Ben Vanourek)

Many animals have adapted to life in the city, such as raccoons, mice, squirrels, and foxes.

C. Alexander London has managed to write a tale that will make readers ponder about what these creatures are really doing.

“The Wild Ones” is a story about how a young raccoon is able to change the fate of an entire community. It is a great story for children ages nine through eleven.

Kit is a young raccoon who lived happily with his parents in the woodlands, under the Big Sky.

However, he is forced to flee from home when his home is destroyed by a pack of hunting dogs that call themselves the “flea-less.”

When he escapes from his old home he has to find an uncle he has never met while protecting a relic with a value is unknown to him.

When Kit arrives in the city to find his un-cle, he encounters many challenges he never expected.

“The Wild Ones” by C. Alexander London is a great story of family and friendship.

It is a tale of courage and wits, and is good for readers who enjoy mystery and adven-ture.

As Kit desperately explores the strange en-vironment known as the city, will he be able to save the threatened creatures of the alley?

City life of country animals a fun, thoughtful tale

By Jasmine Douglas,11, a CK Reporter from Thornton

The Denver Post3

The crown-of-thorns starfi sh is posing a prickly problem on Australia’s Great

Barrier Reef.The venomous, thorn-covered starfi sh is a

native of the Indo-Pacifi c Ocean, but it is in much larger numbers than usual right now, and it has been eating coral at a rate that seriously threatens the reef.

Coral reefs are mostly the skeletons of the actual coral animal, and the living coral are found on the surface.

Known for short as “COTs,” the starfi sh spreads its body across a stretch of coral and then digests the living animals on that

surface, leaving behind a white, bleached-out appearing dead section.

Attempts to control the COTs have been expensive and diffi cult, but now researchers think they have found a very inexpensive, environmentally-friendly answer to the chemical they has been using: Vinegar.

Injecting vinegar into the COTs kills it within 48 hours, and fi sh that then eat the dead starfi sh are not harmed by the vinegar.

It’s still not easy to attack 12 million COTs one at a time, but saving local reefs is pos-sible, and may now be safer and less expen-sive than in the past.

Vinegar may be a sweet solution to coral reef destruction

Since you’re not old enough to drive and certainly not old enough to buy a car, you may not be paying much attention to

the problems that Volkswagen is having.But it’s worth keeping on eye on this story,

because it helps explain the difference be-tween smart advertising and illegal dishonesty.

The carmaker is in very big trouble for lying about the diesel engines in several of its pop-ular models.

Diesel engines, which are usually found in heavy-duty vehicles like tractors, vans and trains, run on different fuel than regular cars.

When they are used in cars, they have a problem: Either they create too many pollut-ants to meet legal standards, or they make the car slower and less peppy.

Several years ago, however, Volkswagen an-nounced that they had developed diesel-pow-ered cars that were fast and responsive, but that did not pollute the atmosphere.

It turns out that they were lying. What they did was to put special software

in their cars so that it could tell when it was being tested for emissions.

Then it would run in a way that passed the legal standards.

But the rest of the time, it gave off pollutants that were 40 times over the legal limit.

This isn’t just “puffery.” It’s lying.“Puffery” is a legal term for when an ad says

something that nobody would really take seri-ously, like “Kids love the taste!”

You know they didn’t test a million kids to see if they really “love the taste,” and you ar-en’t shocked if you try it and don’t love it.

Puffery is just a form of bragging, and you can’t sue a company for puffery.

Lying is different, and we’ve seen examples of companies that lied about their products.

In 1987, for instance, Beech-Nut was selling apple juice as a baby food, and it turned out that it was mostly sugar water and had almost no apple juice in it at all.

Beech-Nut had to pay a huge fi ne, and two of its executives were sent to jail.

More recently, Kashi cereals and Naked fruit juices got in trouble for claiming that their products were “all natural” when they actually contained some artifi cial ingredients.

In those cases, they were forced to pay a fi ne and to be more honest in the future about how they described their products.

What will happen to Volkswagen?

The head of the company has already apolo-gized and resigned, though that won’t mean he can’t be charged with a crime like the Beech-Nut executives were.

But for people who bought the cars, it’s a dif-fi cult problem. Volkswagen can fi x the cars so they won’t pollute anymore, but then they also won’t run as well as they used to.

Nobody wants a car that runs like a tractor.This will be an interesting case to watch,

because it’s hard to fi gure out how to fi x the damage Volkswagen’s dishonesty has done.

Volkswagen scandal goes beyond ‘puffery’

The movie Everest is a movie of victory and defeat.

In this thrilling movie, a group of experi-enced climbers venture out to conquer their dreams, to climb Mount Everest.

They know that Everest is going to be a challenging mountain to defeat, they know that if they get up they have to get back down.

But what they didn’t know when they start-ed was that “the last word always belongs to the mountain.”

Apart from the movie being full of excite-ment and action it is also very scenic and spiritual.

For example, when the team gets ready to start their adventure to the top of Everest they would pray with other climbers from Nepal.

Another really great thing about the movie was the wonderful views of the icy moun-tains and the open skies.

But the views aren’t the only wonderful thing about this movie; there is some fantas-tic acting, too.

The movie has some big heights but it also has some big names, like Keira Knightley, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Emily Watson.

The movie “Everest” goes above and be-yond and I hope that its reviews do, too!

“Everest” is a great movie, though it’s not the only record of the 1996 Mt. Everest disaster.

John Krakauer also happens to be one of the climbers featured in the movie. His book, “Into Thin Air,” tells his personal view of his trip to the top of Everest.

Although I wish that everybody could watch this movie, I am afraid that some of the scenes are too tough for some ages to handle and understand.

So sadly I only recommend this movie for ages over 10.

But anybody older than 10 should go see Everest, especially if you love teamwork, family and action adventure.

Thrills and beauty at the top of the world

By Katie Hangland,11, a CK Reporter from Centennial

photo/Rore bzh

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 date “in 15 hundred and 88, the Spanish Armada met its fate,” so our answers will begin with “D” for the winner, Sir Francis Drake.

1. The house elf from Harry Potter

2. The name of this fl ower, considered a weed, is French for “Lion’s Teeth.”

3. In 1956, this Summit County town had to move to higher ground and make room for the reservoir that now shares its name.

4. This dog is very handsome, but he also had to be tough and powerful to defend the horses that drew carts and fi refi ghting wagons from stray dogs.

5. This herb is often added to cucumbers and vinegar to make pickles.

6. She wrote “Because of Winn Dixie” and “The Tale of Despereaux.”

7. The southernmost Scandinavian nation

8. In a fraction, the number below the line

9. This nation shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti.

10. To copy a fi le from the Internet onto your own computer

(answers on Page Four)

(AP photo/Kevin Hagen

The Denver Post 44

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:

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

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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. Dobby 2. dandelion 3. Dillon 4. Dalmatian 5. dill 6. (Kate) DiCamillo 7. Denmark

8. denominator 9. Dominican Republic (not Dominica) 1o. download

Hot Links to Cool Sites!

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

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To read the sources for these stories

Fruits, vegetables and your weight

Fighting Starfi sh with Vinegar

Puffery and the Volkswagen Scandal

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

How the Hawk Chose His Food (Southern Nigeria)

Many years ago, the king of Calabar was not just king of the people but also of all the animals that crawled and walked and swam and flew.

One of his favorite subjects was the hawk, who carried messages for the king so swiftly and faithfully that the king decided one day to reward him. So he called the hawk to his throne.

“I know that you are growing older, and that it is no longer as easy for you to hunt as it once was,” the king said. “So I’ve decided to let you choose some kind of animal that you would like to be able to hunt for the rest of your life without any difficulty. Go out and find whatever it is that you would like, bring it back to me, and I will make that your food forever.”

The hawk bowed deeply, then went to a window of the palace and flew off into the sky.

He soared over forest, fields and mountains, until he saw movement on the ground and flew lower to see what it was.

What he saw was a baby owl that had tumbled out of its nest. The hawk swooped down, grabbed the owlet and flew off back to the castle.

The king looked over the owlet and said, “So this is your choice? Very well then: From now on, you may feed upon the owls to your heart’s content.”

The hawk bowed low, picked up the owlet and flew off to a nearby moun-taintop where his friends were gathered. He told them the story and showed them the baby owl he had captured.

His friends looked over the owlet, and then one of them asked him a question. “When you grabbed this youngster, what did its parents say?”

“Why, nothing at all,” the hawk replied. “They kept quiet up in their nest and didn’t make a sound. They just watched with their great, round eyes and said nothing.”

“Take it back, quickly,” his friend said, and the other raptors nodded their heads in agreement. “Put it where you found it and find yourself some other kind of animal for your food. The king is a good man and he will let you change your mind if you ask him.”

The hawk was puzzled, but his friends were all in agreement, so he picked up the owlet, flew back to the tree where he had found it, and re-turned it to the spot under the nest.

Then he flew off again to seek the food he would bring to the king as his new choice. But by this time, word of the hawk’s search had spread among the animals, and not a bird or rabbit or mouse was to be seen anywhere.

At last, the hawk circled over a farm where he saw a flock of chickens scratching in the dirt. The hawk swooped down to snatch a young chicken, and, as his shadow fell over the yard, the hens all ran and screamed. He landed on the ground and the rooster came racing towards him, feathers fluffed out, neck stretched forward, beak open, shouting and yelling and calling out threats.

The hawk grabbed a young chick and took off into the air as the hens and rooster continued to race around the farmyard, screaming even worse threats and demanding that he drop the chick.

He flew to the castle and presented the chick to the king. “Highness,” he said, “before, I brought you another animal and asked that you make it my food. But I have decided I do not want to eat owls forever. Please, sire, let me change my choice and make this chicken my food.”

The king nodded. “Yes, my friend, you shall have your choice. From now on, hawks will be able to capture chickens, and that shall be your food.”

The hawk bowed low, picked up the chick and flew back to the mountain-top where his friends were gathered.

“This is now my food forever,” he said. “I hope you approve of this choice, for I would be ashamed to ask the king to let me change my mind yet again.”

His friends looked the chick over and the wisest asked, “When you grabbed this youngster, what did the parents say?”

“They were furious!” the hawk replied. “I thought they would kill me on the spot! The hens all ran and screamed, and the rooster came at me with his feathers puffed out, screaming threats like a madman!”

“Good,” his friend said, and the other birds nodded their agreement. “Let that be your food and you will have a long and prosperous life.”

The hawk looked at him quizzically. “But I have just told you how they shouted and threatened and chased after me!”

“Indeed,” his wise friend said. “And that is all they did, was to shout and threaten and chase. You have no need to fear them. No, the ones you must fear are those who, like the owl, sit and watch and say nothing while you do them harm. They will be silent now, but when it becomes dark and you have fallen asleep, they will come to settle the score.”

And since that day, hawks have eaten chickens, and left the owls alone.

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

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

Folk Tales & Fables