The Denver Post •

CK Reporter of the WeekJaden Sutherland, Denver

Leaping back for a 59th season of pirouettes, plies, and graceful lifts it’s “The Nutcracker” as the Colorado Ballet celebrates the holidays with a

fresh retelling of the classic tale. Based at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House in the

Denver Performing Arts Complex from now until December 29, “The Nutcracker” is back to dazzle you.

I had a wonderful time.

As you may know, “The Nutcracker” is about a young girl (Clara, played by Mackenzie Dessens, Emily Speed, or Sarah Tryon) who goes to a Christmas party and receives a delicate nutcracker as her gift.

She goes on an adventure encountering the Mouse King and defeating him, and for her reward she is given many foreign gifts from abroad.

Clara wakes to realize it was all a dream.The cast consists of rotating dancers who switch out

depending on each performance. Dancers in roles like the Sugarplum Fairy alternate

from Chandra Kuykendall, Asuka Sasaki to Dana Benton. All are principal dancers, the highest rank you can be in the Colorado Ballet company.

All of the dancing was extremely energizing and elegant, and the orchestra performed the Tchaikovsky score beautifully.

The props and sets were also stunning. For example, the Christmas tree at the party grew and emerged from the ground, making for a spectacular visual marvel.

Clara and “The Nutcracker” arose from the fog on a swan, and how we will never know.

In the snowflake scene, snow gracefully drifted from the ceiling.

The Colorado Ballet’s costumes are meticulous and impeccable in detail, and for this production no effort

was spared. The Columbine Fairy wears a dress in the party

scene embellished with beads and jewels. The Sugarplum Fairy has a violet and ivory dress

with a structured tutu, also with abundant sparkles.Hints of modernization and humor were included:

Mother Ginger danced the sprinkler and other dances which not only gave a hilarious approach, but a modern look to “The Nutcracker.”

This was not in the original. Not only this, but when the Mouse King dies, his soldiers attempt to give him CPR.

Kudos to the Colorado Ballet for ingenuity!As for the age range, this kind of performance is for

all. While I was there, I saw children from the ages of 5 to 90+ year-old seniors.

There is no better way to celebrate your holidays, regardless of age.

If you are looking to spend the best two hours of your Christmastime in a beautiful opera house with excellent sound transmission, this is it!

The Ellie Caulkins Opera House will be hosting this incredible cast of prodigious dancers with “The Nutcracker” throughout the holiday season, but buy your tickets ahead of time; this magical holiday tradition is sure to be sold out!

December 10, 2019

Dark but appealing story of tragedy and recovery

“Bouncing Back” is a novel by Scott Ostler about thirteen-year-old Carlos Cooper.

Carlos was the star of his basketball team, chucking shots and making them.

But after “the accident” -- the one that took his mom and dad -- Carlos is stuck in a wheelchair.

He moves in with his aunt and uncle in Bay City, California, but misses being on a team.

Carlos’ aunt Rosie signs him up for the wheelchair basketball team.

He finds it very tough to learn some of the basic fundamentals of the game -- dribbling, passing, and shooting -- but, after a few practices, Carlos starts to get the hang of things and becomes friends with all of his teammates.

The team is shooting for the state tournament, but when the mayor threatens to tear down their gym, it makes it even harder for Carlos and the team to accomplish their goal.

The main characters in this book are easy to love. All of them are very well developed throughout the book.

They are all very appealing and each has their own unique personality.

Some of their nicknames, like Stomper and Jellybean, are very amusing.

However, because there are so many characters who play large roles in the story, sometimes it’s hard to follow who’s who.

Carlos has six teammates, plenty of friends, and bitter rivals, so it makes sense

that there are a lot of characters important to the plot.This book is very serious at times, with accidents and struggling relationships.

Carlos loses his mom and dad to a severe car accident, which was devastating for his entire family.

He gets into fights with his aunt and uncle, along with one of his closest friends.

The book also deals with the Rollin’ Rats’ gym having asbestos, a poisonous mineral that was used in insulation.

Still, one surprising element that was added despite the book being very serious is humor.

There are constantly characters making jokes, even when they are in tough situations.

It really lightens the mood up in dark times during the story

Throughout this book, there are basketball terms that appeared very frequently.

Some of the recurring ones are phrases like “pick-and-roll” along with “ten-footers” and “boxouts.”

This book is a relatively easy read and would appeal to both basketball players and fans, though it deals with some pretty advanced stuff, and it would not be a very enjoyable read for sensitive or very young children.

Holiday classic hits the mark

By Talia Schanman,12, a CK Reporter from Cherry Hills Village

By Rohan Kotwal,11, a CK Reporter from Highlands Ranch

1

Emily Speed and Sean Omandam ( Photo/Mike Watson)

There is no better way to celebrate

your holidays, regardless of age.

The Denver Post • 2

“King of the Mole People,” by Paul Gilligan, is a hilarious and well-structured hybrid novel.

Like “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” or “Timmy Failure,” “King of the Mole People” is largely text, but there are illus-trations throughout.

The main character, Doug Underbelly, is a kid doing everything he can to be normal.

He has just started at a new school, and hopes this will be a chance to avoid some of his bad past expe-riences of being socially awkward and a target for bullies. 

Unfortunately for Doug, being normal is not the

plan of the “mole people,” the group of subterranean creatures who are obsessed with “up stuff” (human stuff) and want Doug to be their king.

Being king of anything might sound great, but Doug discovers being a monarch is very hard work,

especially if your subjects need help understanding everything from Taco Tuesday to wedding ceremonies.

“King of the Mole People” is very funny. Doug is regarded as a king because, among other

reasons, he hits himself in the head with a shovel, and there is a royal guard who only says “booog” when he speaks.

The book also has a serious message, though, about being yourself even when the world wants you to be “normal,” or just like everyone else. 

Doug struggles to find himself (and to lose his dad’s homemade eel sandwiches), but in the end, he discov-ers that he is not meant to be just like everyone else. 

The only part of “King of the Mole People” I didn’t like was the first chapter or two where Doug is just getting insulted and picked on by bullies and even his teacher!

This part of the book is not badly written or even un-

necessary, but it was still hard to read because Doug is so miserable. 

I would recommend this book to anyone who likes slapstick comedy or hybrid novels.

If you have read and enjoyed “Timmy Failure” by Stephen Pastis or Jeff Kinney’s “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” series, you will want to get your hands on this book.

Maybe being normal just isn’t the point

In “Pages & Co.:The Bookwanderers” by Anna James, Matilda “Tilly” Pages is liv-ing with her grandparents in a small family-owned book shop in London.

She is quite an avid reader, reading multiple books at a time to occupy her day.

Tilly knows that her father passed away before she was born, but her grandparents know very little about him.

Her mother, however, disappeared when Tilly was young, vanishing without leaving a trace.

Tilly is eager to find out more about her mother and find her.

When she finds an old box full of her mother’s favorite books, strange occurrences start to become a regular thing.

Tilly sees her grandmother talking to a woman she has never seen before, but, as soon as Tilly turns away, the woman vanishes into thin air.

She thinks nothing of it at first, but she then sees her grand-father talking with a man wearing a trench coat and a pipe in his mouth. Again, when she looks away, the man is gone.

Neither of her grandparents talk about what she saw, but were clearly panicked. Tilly soon starts to see characters out of books.

She can touch them and talk to them, and they can respond. After she ropes her friend from down the street into the mess of real-life fiction

characters appearing in the book shop, they realize that they can go into books and interact with the characters.

This is a quick read and contains easy vocabulary. In some parts, it was a bit rocky and hard to understand, but

for the most part, the chapters are well developed. It quickly jumps right to the plot and the obstacles.

Each setting and mood is well described, showing the reader what Tilly and her friend see inside the books and in The Underlibrary.

However, characters throughout the novel didn’t seem to change nor were they affected by the plot of the story.

They often have an outlook on their lives and perspective that remains firm and permanent despite the plot of the story. Their mood hardly changes, always happy or always suspicious of the rest of the characters.

Tilly had many descriptions to describe her appearance, but not how she changes from the events that take place, nor her character’s perspective.

Novel has interesting plot, but flat characters

By Aidan Muldoon,12, a CK Reporter from Denver

By Avery MacKenzie,14, a CK Reporter from Fort Collins

Big Nate

Characters throughout the novel didn’t seem to

change nor were they affected by the plot

The Denver Post •

There are two types of diabetes.Type 1 is often called “juvenile diabetes”

because it shows up when you are young. It’s related to how your pancreas works and how your body processes sugar and is most often inherited.

Type 2 diabetes is more troublesome because it can be the result of behavior: Lack of exercise, poor diet and being overweight.

It’s possible to predict likelihood of developing Type 2 diabetes, and a recent study of teens and young adults in the United States returned discouraging news.

Researchers at the Center for Disease Control looked at data from 5,786 young people and determined that one in five teens and one in four young adults have a condition known as “prediabetes.”

Prediabetes is a condition that indicates that, while

you don’t yet have Type 2 diabetes, you are in danger of developing it. It also indicates a risk of high blood pressure, kidney disease and heart disease.

The main measure is how your body processes sugar, and the test involves fasting for several hours, then drinking a sweet drink and taking a blood test.

The young people who were tested had not come to the doctors’ offices for any particular reason, and so it can be assumed they were average.

Young adults were more likely to be prediabetic than teens, and males were more likely than females to have the condition.

Researchers hope their findings will help in developing programs to encourage young people to eat a more healthy diet, get more exercise and generally take better care of themselves.

Teens, young adults show high risk of developing diabetes

I got three of the four Tiny World Craft boxes. They were each quite unique and taught me very

different ways of crafting.The first box I opened

was the “Felting!” kit. I had never heard of

felting before, so I was excited to learn.

Working with fabric to make three-dimensional toys ended up to be a stranger craft than I had imagined.

The kit had a felting tool, a needle with bristles attached to a pencil like structure.

The instruction book was very helpful, a 32-page full color booklet.

However, this was not my favorite craft. It involved a lot of poking, over and over and over again.

I got agitated with the craft before I even got to the second step.

The needle comes with a case for when you aren’t using it. I put the

case on not so gently, evidently, because when I came back after a much needed break, the needle was broken.

The needle is very delicate, so I shouldn’t have been surprised by the result.

I was sad about that, but I had learned that

felting wasn’t for me. The second box that I

opened turned out to be my favorite. The box was called “Pins!” was similar to Shrinky Dinks.

I really enjoyed making them, and

coming out of the oven they looked great!

However, when I applied the enamel coating like the instructions said, the white enamel was evident on the pins, and the design was

covered by the white.

I may try again and leave out the enamel.

Still, this was my favorite box.

The third box was the “Embroidery!” box.

This one was a close second among favorites, and I learned a ton!

Some of the stitches, the chain stitch in particular, were difficult

and required a lot of ripping out thread, but I eventually got it and enjoyed it.

I haven’t finish my cactus yet, but I’ve already learned a lot.

The crafts are a lot of fun because they introduce you to something you might not have found otherwise, and I would love to get the fourth kit, the sculpting kit.

With great instruction booklets and tiny ways of seeing what you like, the Tiny World crafts are a fun way to learn a new skill and find a new hobby!

Craft kits will introduce you to new art forms

photo/Tiia Monto

It is not unusual to find ancient animals embedded in the permafrost of Siberia, and the continuously frozen ground even allowed a group of adventurous

diners to try a bit of woolly mammoth for dinner once. But in recent years, the changing climate has

brought more discoveries of defrosting animals, most-ly mammoths, since professional mammoth hunters seek their tusks to sell to Chinese purchasers.

While that sort of commercial activity makes it harder for scientists to study these “frozen fossils,” the changing climate may be more of a concern.

“Why has Yakutia come through a real spate of such unique findings over the last decade? First, it’s global warming. It really exists, we feel it, and local people feel it strongly. Winter comes later, spring comes ear-lier,” one Russian scientist told the Associated Press.

Yakutia is the region around the city of Yakutsk, where there is not only an institute to study the things found in the permafrost, but a museum dedicated to displaying them in their frozen state and to celebrat-ing the culture of the Northern People native to the region.

Last week, scientists unveiled a new find that is unusual even in this place of unusual frozen fossils: A young, male canine that is estimated to be 18,000 years old.

So far, they’re not sure if it was a wolf or a very early type of dog, but they’ve got a lot to study: The pup, which was found in a frozen lump of mud that had come to the surface, has all its limbs and fur, even whiskers, as well as its nose and teeth.

It appears to have been just two months old when it died and was frozen into immortality.

Scientists have named their permafrost puppy “Dogor,” which doesn’t have anything to do with the English word “dog,” but rather is the word for “friend” in the language of the Yakut people.

One of the important tasks will be to run additional DNA testing and cross-testing to determine if Dogor was a wolf or a domesticated dog.

This genetic testing is challenging in large part be-cause, if he was a domesticated dog, he wasn’t all that domesticated: It’s widely believed that the first dogs evolved about 20,000 years ago.

Permafrost Pup offers keys to canine evolution

By Izzie Intriago,11, a CK Reporter from Aurora

On this date in 1996, Nelson Mandela announced the passage of a new constitution for South Africa, ending years of racial discrimination. Our answers will begin with “M” for Mandela.

1. Species of this mammal include macaques, mandrills, marmosets and tamarins.

2. This sweet fruit with yellow or orange flesh and a large, disk-shaped pit is the national fruit of India and Pakistan.

3. Author of the “Winnie the Pooh” stories

4. Term for lines of longitude; the Prime one runs through Greenwich, England

5. Winnipeg is the capital of this easternmost of Canada’s Prairie Provinces.

6. Bronco player known for his Pro Bowl athletic skills and his love of chickens

7. Hermes, when he’s in Rome

8. The nearest planet to the Sun

9. The only metal that is a liquid at room temperature

10. Colorado’s southwesternmost county, a town in Summit County and an Aztec emperor all share this name.

(answers on Page Four)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.

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photo/Sergei Fyodorov, Yakutsk Mammoth Museum via AP

The Denver Post •

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 Services5990 Washington St.

Denver CO 80216(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. monkey 2. mango 3. (A.A.) Milne 4. meridian 5. Manitoba 6. (Von) Miller 7. Mercury 8. Mercury 9. mercury 10. Montezuma

Hot Links to Cool Sites!

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

NIE Special Reporthttp://tinyurl.com/ckniereport

Headline Geographyhttp://tinyurl.com/ckgeography

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

How to become a CK Reporter!http://tinyurl.com/COkidsReporter

To read the sources for these storiesPermafrost Puppy

Prediabetes

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

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The Discovery Zone at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science is usually bursting with activity, which can be overwhelming for some children.

But the Museum schedules special times during which, by limiting attendance and by turning down some of the ambient noise, they can offer children with disabilities an enjoyable low-sensory morning to play with their families.

Discovery Zone low-sensory events are the first Sunday of the month from 7 to 9 a.m. Then, Sunday, January 19, the Museum’s famous diorama hall will go low-sensory from 6 to

8 p.m. so that kids who need a mellower atmosphere can come enjoy the exhibits with their families.

These events are free, but registration is required. For more information, visit the Family Events section of the Museum’s website at https://secure1.dmns.org/family-programs

Ongoing through the HolidaysA Christmas Carol -- the Musical -- Arvada Center for the Arts, https://arvadacenter.org/Blossoms of Light -- Denver Botanic Gardens, https://www.botanicgardens.org Christkindl Market -- Downtown Denver, https://www.christkindlmarketdenver.com/Camp Christmas -- Stanley Marketplace, https://www.denvercenter.org/tickets-events/camp-

christmas/Free Ice Rink -- Denver International Airport, https://denevents.flydenver.com/event/4th-

annual-ice-rink/

Saturday, December 14Winter Fest, Fillmore Plaza (between 1st and 2nd Avenues on Fillmore Street), 10 am to

2 pm: Live ice carving, temporary fire pits, Yuletide Carolers, ice princesses on stilts, face painting, complimentary treats and warm beverages, giveaways and more. Businesses in the area will host free Winter Fest activities.

Monday, December 1621st Annual Holiday Reading with Jamie Horton, Tattered Cover Bookstore, 7 pm. Jamie

Horton, acclaimed actor, director, and writer, with a very special holiday event. Celebrate the spirit of the holidays with cider, hot chocolate and cookies as Jamie reads from several holiday classics. While this event is free, guests are encouraged to bring a new or gently used book as a donation to their annual Children’s Book Drive.

Friday, December 20“Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” opens in area theaters. Watch for our review in CK!

Saturday, December 21 - Sunday January 5School break fun at the Denver Art Museum. During Winter Break, the Paint Studio and

Create-n-Takes are open daily. See performances of the family-friendly play, Art Emergency: Monet Edition. Check https://denverartmuseum.org/calendar/art-emergency-monet-winter-break-2019 for performance dates and times. All Winter Break activities are included in general admission, free for kids 18 and younger. Claude Monet: The Truth of Nature requires a separate ticket; advance purchase is highly recommended.

Thursday, January 9Orchid Showcase, Denver Botanic Gardens, through February 16. This annual exhibit presents

hundreds of colorful orchid blooms in the Orangery and Marnie’s Pavilion. Common and rare species are featured, some even so special they must remain behind the greenhouse glass.

Sunday, January 19

Enjoy some low-sensory time in the famous diorama halls at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, from 6 to 8 p.m., with reduced sound, increased lighting, and a supportive envi-ronment for families with sensory integration issues. Free, but registration is required. For more information, visit https://secure1.dmns.org/family-programs

Hidden TreasuresThings we think you wouldn’t want to miss.

CK Calendar

Low-sensory events at DMNS