TIME for Kids G3 Student Reader

Acknowledgments

“Today is Very Boring” from THE NEW KID ON THE BLOCK by Jack Prelutsky Text Copyright © 1984 by Jack Prelutsky. Reprinted
by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.

“The Family Car” by Tom Absher from PEELING THE ONION, An Anthology of Poems selected by Ruth Gordon, published by A
Charlotte Zolotow book, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Copyright © 1993. Original copyright © 1985 by Monitor Book
Company. Reprinted by permission of Monitor Book Company.

“Instructions for Earth’s Dishwasher” by Lisa Westberg Peters from EARTHSHAKE, POEMS FROM THE GROUND UP Copyright
© 2003 published by Greenwillow Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins
Publishers, Inc.

“Eletelephony” from TARRA LIRA by Laura E. Richards. Copyright © 1930, 1932 by Laura Richards; copyright © renewed 1960 by
Hamilton Richards. Reprinted by permission of Little Brown and Company.

“Roller Coaster” from THE KITE THAT BRAVED OLD ORCHARD BEACH by X.J. Kennedy. Reprinted with the permission of Simon
and Schuster Children’s Publishing Division.

“No More Water” from THE ALIENS HAVE LANDED AT OUR SCHOOL! Text copyright © by Kenn Nesbitt published by
Meadowbrook Press. Used by permission.

Photography Credits

Book Cover: (c) John Lund/Sam Diephuis/Blend Images; (tr) Corbis/Premium RF/Alamy

Contributor

© Time Inc. All rights reserved. Versions of some articles in this edition of TIME For Kids
originally appeared in TIME For Kids or timeforkids.com.

B

Published by Macmillan/McGraw-Hill, of McGraw-Hill Education, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.,
Two Penn Plaza, New York, New York 10121.

Copyright © 2011 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the
prior written consent of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., including, but not limited to, network storage or
transmission, or broadcast for distance learning.

Printed in The United States of America

ISBN: 978-0-02-207795-2
MHID: 0-02-207795-2

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 WEB 13 12 11 10 09

Contents

Issue 1 Main Idea and Details • Prefixes • Bar Graphs

Dollars Small Loans Make a Big Difference ............... 6
and Sense Class Safari....................................................... 8
Temperatures of Cities in Kenya CHARTS ....... 12
(c) Frans Lanting/Minden Pictures; (tr) Farjana K. Godhuly/AFP/Getty Images
A journey to Africa teaches kids
about this fascinating nation. 1/20/09 12:28:12 PM

A3TFK_TXNA_I1FP_RD11.indd 5

(c) AFP/Getty Images; (tr) Geography and Map Division/Library of Congress Issue 2 Cause and Effect • Unknown Words • Maps

Making Two Maps: One New, One Old...................... 14
Maps Learning with Laptops................................... 16
All-American Tall Tales MAPS ....................... 20
Green
Machine!

A free laptop
is changing the
way kids around
the world learn.

A3TFK_TXNA_I2FP_RD11.indd 13 1/23/09 1:29:30 PM

Issue 3 Main Idea and Details • Synonyms
• Photos and Captions
Light
Building Sunlight and Shadow.................................... 22
Great Ball of Fire ........................................... 24
(c) Detlev van Ravenswaay/Photo Researchers; (tr) Global Image Express/Li Jiangsong/Newscom Scientists learn new facts about the sun. Today Is Very Boring POETRY ......................... 28

A3TFK_TXNA_I3FP_RD11.indd 21 1/20/09 12:29:57 PM

Issue 4 Compare and Contrast • Context Clues
• Skimming and Scanning
A Rich
Legacy A Lifetime of Treasures................................. 30
Open Liberty! ................................................ 32
Lady(c) Michel Setboun/Corbis; (tr) Marissa Roth/The New York Times/Redux Let’s Celebrate! TABLES .................................. 36
Liberty
1/20/09 12:31:59 PM
The Statue of Liberty welcomes visitors
and immigrants to America.

A3TFK_TXNA_I4FP_RD11.indd 29

Issue 5 Make and Confirm Predictions • Suffixes
• Charts
Cars Are
“Celling” The Car of the Future?.................................. 38
Wild Rides ...................................................... 40
(c) Tony Dejak/AP Images; (tr) Kyodo News/Newscom New roller coasters The Family Car POETRY ................................... 44
are bigger, faster,
A3TFK_TXNA_I5FP_RD11.indd 37 and scarier than ever.

1/20/09 12:32:45 PM

Issue 6 Sequence • Compound Words • Maps

Great Life on the Gulf ............................................. 46
Gulf Coast Building a Tsunami Warning System ........... 48
Instructions for Earth’s Dishwasher POETRY . 52
(c) Lana Slivar/Reuters/Corbis; (tr) George H.H. Huey/Corbis
A tsunami warning
A3TFK_TXNA_I6FP_RD11.indd 45 system may save lives.

1/23/09 1:32:16 PM

Issue 7 Draw Conclusions • Context Clues • Graphs

Gates Is Legacy of Dreams.......................................... 54
Generous A Helping Hand............................................. 56
Top 5 U.S. Foundations GRAPHS .................... 60
(c) Ariel Skelley/Getty Images; (tr) Gates Foundation/Corbis
Businesses help people make
their dreams come true. 1/23/09 1:33:03 PM

A3TFK_TXNA_I7FP_RD11.indd 53

Issue 8 Main Idea and Details • Context Clues
• Time Lines
Friends
of Freedom Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass ... 62
American Indian Nations.............................. 64
Inside the United States are(c) Bowers Museum of Cultural Art/Corbis; (tr) The Granger Collection Mary Youngblood TIME LINES ......................... 68
hundreds of independent nations.
1/23/09 2:04:11 PM
A3TFK_TXNA_I8FP_RD11.indd 61

Issue 9 Author’s Purpose • Context Clues • Maps

Mysterious This Flower Stinks ......................................... 70
Pyramids! Secret at the Heart of a Pyramid.................. 72
Eletelephony POETRY ..................................... 76
Not all flowers are sweet.
Take a whiff of the world’s
smelliest bloom.

(c) Scott Barbour/Getty Images; (tr) Michael T. Sedam/Corbis

A3TFK_TXNA_I9FP_RD11.indd 69 1/26/09 12:02:55 PM

Issue 10 Author’s Purpose • Context Clues
• Photos and Captions
Teen
EMTs Teens to the Rescue! .................................... 78
Long Live the Emperor! ................................ 80
(c) Koji Sasahara/Wide World Photos/AP Images; (tr) LEGO Prince Hisahito could one day become Emperor of Japan. Mighty Monarchs MAPS ................................ 84

A3TFK_TXNA_I10FP_RD11.indd 77 1/28/09 11:40:45 AM

Issue 11 Draw Conclusions • Context Clues • Diagrams

Kids Give Freedom Fighter ............................................ 86
a Hand Surf’s Up! ....................................................... 88
Roller Coaster POETRY .................................... 92
Ride the (c) Sylvain Cazenave/Corbis; (tr) Tom Hanson/Wide World Photos/AP Images WaveRide the Learn about the
science behind
surfing. It may
keep you afloat!

A3TFK_TXNA_I11FP_RD11.indd 85 1/23/09 2:05:55 PM

Issue 12 Author’s Purpose • Context Clues • Time Lines

The Final Where No People Had Gone Before............. 94
Frontier Mysterious Mars ............................................ 96
How Spirit Landed DIAGRAMS ....................... 100
(c) NASA; (tr) Bettmann/CorbisAll Eyes
on Mars
1/30/09 9:22:40 AM
NASA spacecraft are giving us the
closest looks ever of the Red Planet.

A3TFK_TXNA_I12FP_RD11.indd 93

Issue 13 Cause and Effect • Context Clues • Charts

Water Water Troubles............................................. 102
Troubles Kaboom! Volcanoes Are a Threat............... 104
No More Water POETRY ................................ 108
Kilauea volcano in
Hawaii has been
erupting almost
nonstop since 1983.

(c) Jim Sugar/Corbis; (tr) Rao Guojun/China Foto/Getty ImagesNew tools are helping to predict when
volcanoes will blow.
1/30/09 9:23:18 AM
A3TFK_TXNA_I13FP_RD11.indd 101

Issue 14 Sequence • Context Clues • Maps

Inca Welcome to India ..........................................110
Mummies Faces From the Past .......................................112
The Inca Empire MAPS ...................................116
(c) Chris Nash/Getty Images; (tr) Osvaldo Stigliano/Wide World Photos/AP Images Big Country!

Explore the success and challenges of
the world’s largest democracy.

A3TFK_TXNA_I14FP_RD11.indd 109 1/30/09 3:49:32 PM

Issue 15 Cause and Effect • Homophones • Diagrams

Dead Trouble in the Ocean .....................................118
Zones One Giant Squid! .......................................... 120
How Diamonds Form DIAGRAMS ................... 124
Tsunemi Kubodera
takes the first photos
of the ocean giants.

(c) Franck Robichon/EPA/Corbis; (tr) Robert Simmon/NASA

A3TFK_TXNA_I15FP_RD11.indd 117 1/30/09 1:00:47 PM

(c) Frans Lanting/Minden Pictures; (tr) Farjana K. Godhuly/AFP/Getty Images Dollars
and Sense

A journey to Africa teaches kids
about this fascinating nation.

Farjana K. Godhuly/AFP/Getty Images

Microcredit offers a chance to succeed. Muhammad Yunus won the
by Lorin Driggs Nobel Peace Prize.

M uhammad Yunus and the Loans Help Poor Escape Poverty
Grameen Bank help bring
millions of people out of poverty. In 1983, Yunus founded Grameen
Yunus is from Bangladesh. He Bank. It loans small amounts of
founded the Grameen Bank to help money to people to start businesses.
his community. Yunus wanted to These loans are called “microcredit.”
give the poor the power to change They are given to people who are
their lives for the better. unable to get loans from regular
banks. Most microcredit loans are
Small Loans, Big Gains very small, around $130. Most of the
borrowers are women. This is odd
Since Muhammad Yunus founded because women do not usually have
Grameen Bank in 1983, the bank’s jobs or run businesses in Bangladesh.
size and impact in Bangladesh have
grown. This graph tells the story.

Then and Now at Gerama edenoBaantkG a ee a Key
In 1983
Percentage of 46 Now

borrowers that 97

are female

Number of 1,249
villages served
83,178

Number of 86

bank branches 2,530

0 100 500 1,000 2,500 5,000 10,000 30,000 60,000 90,000

6 • Time For Kids

Yunus’s idea caught on. Microcredit
is now available in more than 100
countries, including the United States.

With their microcredit loans,

millions of people have brought

themselves and their families out of

poverty. One woman in Bangladesh

borrowed $120 to buy a cow. A year

later she had repaid the loan and

bought chickens. Nine years later she

moved from a shack to a brick house

and owned land. In the United States,

a microcredit loan of $2,500 helped Nicholas Pitt/Getty Images

an unemployed woman to open In Bangladesh microcredit

a day-care center. is helping some people start

strong businesses.

Yunus didn’t stop with the Grameen Bank.

He started a company to provide cell phone

service in rural areas. Another business

makes solar panels in areas where there These Bangladeshi women
is no electricity. Yunus has also started are receiving loans from the
a food company and an eye hospital. Grameen Bank.

Since the Grameen Bank began, it
has lent over $5.72 billion. In 2006,
Yunus won the Nobel Peace Prize,
one of the biggest honors in the world.
Microcredit loans may be small, but
their impact on the world is very big.

Philippe Lissac/Godong/Corbis

Issue 1 • 7

Class Safari A teacher from Kenya
takes his American
students back home.

Danuta Otfinowski

It’s an early wake-up call for ↑ “I feel like teachers are role models.
Just like the elders in my village,”
C.J. Queenan. It’s 5:00 A.M.! says Joseph Lekuton. He is wearing
C.J. doesn’t get up that early at Masai clothes and is surrounded by
home in Virginia. Well, maybe his students.
to eat breakfast once in a while
but never to herd cows! But C.J. Yes, it’s a tough job for a 14-
isn’t at home. He is in Africa, year-old from Virginia, but C.J.
on the plains of Kenya. He is sticks it out. He wants to keep
visiting the Masai people. He is up with the Masai tribesmen.
helping them with their cattle. “The Masai can’t call people on
C.J. even carries a spear to keep cell phones to rescue them when
the lions away. they get tired,” C.J. says.

8 • Time For Kids

Dividing the Land

Many Kenyans travel from place to place to

feed their cattle. They also farm the land. What Land Is Used For
This graph shows how land in Kenya is used.
100%
C.J.’s trek to Africa isn’t a vacation.

It’s part of classes at Langley School. 75%

C.J.’s teacher is Joseph Lekuton. He 50% 30% 25%
is a member of Africa’s Masai tribe of 37%
Kenya. Every summer Lekuton takes
some of his students and their parents 25%
on a two-week trip to his homeland.
Kenya is a whole new world for the 0% 1% 7%

kids from Virginia. When they get Permanent pastures
there, the American kids put on Masai Permanent crop
clothing. Boys herd cattle. Girls collect
firewood and water. Families depend Land that can be used for farming
on their cattle. As a result, the Masai
and the students have to move a lot Forests and woodlands
so the cattle have grass to eat.
Other, including cities

The World Factbook

Masai tribesmen get students ready for a cattle
drive. It will go across African grasslands. ↓

philipkent.com Issue 1 • 9

Top 5 African Countries for Tourists South
Africa
The graph shows the countries in Africa most 7.51
million
visited by tourists in 2005. Tunisia
7.1
Cows to the Rescue Zimbabwe million
1.55 million Morocco
Back in the United States, Kenya is on Swaziland 5.84 million
the minds of the students at Langley 0.83 million
School all year. Droughts have killed = 1 million
many cattle in Kenya, so the students Source: World Tourism Organization, 2006 tourists
created Cows for Kids. The money
they raise buys cows for Masai
herders. Each cow costs about $100.
“One cow means more to the health
of a family than cash,” says Lekuton.
“Here we’re really giving life. A cow
will give a child milk every day.”

Every time Lekuton sees a little boy herding cows, Danuta Otfinowski
he thinks, “How can I help make his life better?” ↓

10 • Time For Kids

Giraffes can run as fast as
32 miles an hour. Who will
win this race? →

Lekuton wants to help people
in his homeland—and in his new
home. “I’m just trying to give
my students a different way of
thinking,” says Lekuton. He says
helping the Masai is just one step.
He hopes the kids will discover
ways to help those in the United
States who need it, too.

Welcome to Kenya Yann Arthus-Bertrand/Corbis

The Masai is one of 40 tribes that live in Kenya. Those 40 Masai girls wear
tribes speak more than 30 languages. The Kikuyu is Kenya’s colorful clothing and
largest tribe. The Luo is another group. U.S. President Barack beaded jewelry. ↓
Obama’s father is Luo. Many of the people are fishers. They
are also great storytellers. Issue 1 • 11
The lands of Kenya are as different as the tribes.
There are wide grasslands in Kenya. The country also
has deserts and forests. Thousands of people visit
Kenya each year. Most of them go on safari. A safari
is a special kind of trip. It gives people the chance
to look at animals in nature. People who visit
Kenya take their cameras along. They return
home with photos of elephants, lions, giraffes,
and zebras!

Jim Zuckerman/Corbis

The climate of Kenya is tropical. Key 5. Mandera
That means it is warm most Capital
of the year. The coast of Kenya 4. Lodwar
is humid. The inner part of the
country is cooler. The north Kenya
is very dry. These are the
average temperatures of major 3. Eldoret
Kenyan cities.

Maximum Minimum 2. Nairobi
Temperature Temperature
City Height
(feet) (°F) (°F)

1. Mombasa 55 86 72 1. Mombasa
2. Nairobi 5,449 77 56
Joe Lemonnier

3. Eldoret 10,121 74 49

4. Lodwar 1,660 95 74

5. Mandera 1,660 94 78

Jon Warburton Lee/Getty Images

12

(c) AFP/Getty Images; (tr) Geography and Map Division/Library of Congress Making
Maps

Green
Machine!

A free laptop
is changing the
way kids around
the world learn.

Two Maps:

One New, One Old

Maps help people describe the world.

Look at the two maps on these pages. One is
more than 200 years old. The other is from today.
They both show North America.

Central Intelligence Agency/Library of Congress Geography and Map Division

North America is a continent,
or a large body of land. The
United States is part of North
America. So are Canada
and Mexico.

Modern Map

Take a look at this map. It
is a modern map of North
America. Find the edges of
the United States. The edge of
a country is called a boundary.
What are the names of the
two countries that touch the
United States? One is Canada.
One is Mexico.

What bodies of water are at ↑ Today, mapmakers use technology
the edges of the United States? to help them create maps.
(Bodies of water can be oceans,
gulfs, lakes, or rivers.)

On the East Coast is the Atlantic
Ocean. To the south is the Gulf of
Mexico. To the west is the Pacific Ocean.

14 • Time For Kids

Detlev van Ravenswaay/Photo Researchers

Making Maps

Cartography is different now than it was 200 years
ago because of technology. Satellites orbit Earth.
They take pictures and gather information about
landforms. As a result, mapmakers use this
information to help them make maps.
They also use computers to
measure and draw accurately.

Library of Congress Geography and Map Division

Old Map

Take a look at this map. It was
made in 1804. That’s more than
200 years ago.

Use your finger to trace the
boundaries of the United States
on this map. Which of these
1804 boundaries is a boundary
of the United States today?
The Atlantic Ocean is still a
boundary today.

↑ This map from 1804 was drawn There are some important
by hand. differences between the modern
map and the old map. One
important difference is the size
of the United States. It is much
larger now. This is becaues the
boundaries of the United States
have changed. It now stretches
from the Atlantic Ocean to the
Pacific Ocean. — Susan Moger

Issue 2 • 15

Learning William B. Plowman/Wide World Photos/AP Images

with Laptops

By Jill Egan

Can a green machine help the world’s poorest

kids learn better? Nicholas Negroponte thinks
so. He and his team of scientists have invented a
new type of computer. As a result, many children
who live in poverty will have their very own laptop
computer!

Negroponte works at a university. He started
a group called One Laptop Per Child (OLPC).
It is a nonprofit organization. The people at
OLPC don’t work for money. They work to help
children learn. OLPC makes computers that
don’t cost a lot. Then they sell the machines to
governments of countries
that have many people
living in poverty. The
governments then give
the computers to kids
for free. The low price
means millions of kids
can receive a laptop.

Nicholas Negroponte
with his laptop →

16 • Time For Kids

Fun Features A teacher helps a student using
The XO laptop computers the XO laptop ↓

are made for school-aged

children in developing

nations. Many of these

children live in remote

areas and go to schools

with outdoor classrooms.

In order to work, the

laptops have to be

durable and student-

friendly.

The machines have

many fun features like

a built-in video camera,

voice recording, and

games. The wireless

network lets students

share information on the

Web, edit work, and read

e-books. They also can

make music and chat

with friends. Marcelo Hernandez/Wide World Photos/AP Images

Another great feature Because of these features the

is the battery. It can be hand XO laptops make learning

charged by a crank, pedal, fun while helping the

or pull cord. It also can be environment.

recharged by attaching to a (bkgd)Tomi/PhotoLink/Getty Images

solar panel. The crank makes

the machine very resourceful.

Issue 2 • 17

Colorful Computers
The laptops have a colorful nickname—“the green
machine.” Negroponte thinks his green machines
could make a difference in the lives of millions of
kids. He says, “Every single problem you can think
of—poverty, peace, the environment—is solved
with education.”

One Laptop Per Child
OLPC plans to give out over ten million computers
in the next few years. Kids in Thailand, Nigeria,
Brazil, and Argentina will get most of them. China
and Egypt also want to take part in the program.
After that, Negroponte hopes to sell computers to
other countries with high poverty. Once the kids
get them, they can start cranking away!

Because of OLPC, every student in Villa Cardal, Marcelo Hernandez/Wide World Photos/AP Images
Uruguay, owns an XO laptop. ↓

18 • Time For Kids

Countries Getting the Green Machines

Here are facts about school kids in some of the nations
that are getting “green machines.”

Egypt Kids must go to school for six China Most schools run from 7:30 A.M. to
years, beginning at age six or seven. 5:00 P.M., including a two-hour lunch break.

Nigeria Asia
Boys and girls
must have short North Europe
hair and wear America
uniforms to school. Thailand
Africa Kids go to school
on Saturday.

South
America

Argentina Australia
In the country some kids
ride horses to school. Brazil Kids go to school for about four
hours in the morning or afternoon.
Sophie Kitteredge

← As a result of Nicholas
Negroponte’s hard work,
students around the
world can explore and
express themselves with
the new XO Laptop.

W
illiam
B. Plowman/W
ide W
orld
Photos/AP
Images
(bkgd)Tomi/PhotoLink/Getty Images
Issue 2 • 19

All-American

Here are two tall tale heroes. The stories
about them aren’t true, but they do say
a lot about the American spirit.

Guy Francis Pecos Bill Paul Bunyan Guy Francis

They say Pecos Bill was raised Paul Bunyan was a lumberjack.
by coyotes. He became the He cut down trees in the north
greatest cowboy of all time. woods. Paul was strong and
He had courage and strength. always worked hard.

Paul Bunyan Paul Bunyan was
worked as a born in Maine.
lumberjack
in Minnesota, Guy Francis
Wisconsin,
and Michigan. One story says that
Paul Bunyan dug
One legend says that the Lake Michigan as a
entire state of New Mexico watering hole for
was Pecos Bill’s ranch. Babe the Blue Ox.
Pecos Bill rode a
Pecos Bill was tornado in Kansas.
born in Texas.

Joe Lemonnier

20

(c) Detlev van Ravenswaay/Photo Researchers; (tr) Global Image Express/Li Jiangsong/Newscom

Light
Building

Scientists learn new facts about the sun.

Sunlight and Shadow

For thousands of years, the sun has played an important
part in where—and how—buildings are built.

Everyone who designs a But on the first official day of
building needs to understand summer (called the summer
sunlight and shadow. solstice), which is the longest
day of the year, the sun rises
The Sun and Stonehenge behind one of the biggest
stones. The sun looks like a
Stonehenge is an ancient circle fiery ball balancing on the
of stones built in the middle of towering stone.
a field in England. No one knows
how the enormous stones got Whoever built Stonehenge
there or why they were placed knew a lot about the movement
the way they were. If you stand of the sun. They also knew a lot
in the middle of the stone circle about light and shadow.
on most mornings, you won’t
notice anything special.

The sun rises over Stonehenge
on the summer solstice.

Bill Bachmann/Photo Researchers

22 • Time For Kids

Sunshine in Your Bedroom Jupiter Images/Pixland/Alamy

The builders of Stonehenge ↑ Architects think about sunlight
weren’t so different from and shadow when they design
today’s architects—people buildings.
with special training in how to
design buildings. Architects Most of the time, though,
think about light and shadow architects design houses to
when they design houses, parks, fit into a neighborhood. They
skyscrapers, and even factories. design skyscrapers to fit into
a city. How do they know
Architects know where the whether their buildings will
sun rises and sets. If they were block someone else’s light? How
building a house in an empty do they know whether existing
field, they could make the buildings, trees, or hills will make
bedroom face east for morning their new building too dark?
light. They could make the living
room face west in the direction Architects build models
of sunsets. that show the planned building
and the buildings and structures
Global Image Express/Li Jiangsong/Newscom around it. Sometimes they
use computers to build the
models, and sometimes they
use cardboard and wood. The
models help architects to figure
out just how to place their
building to get the most from
the sun. — Lisa Jo Rudy

← Today, architects make models
that show how sunlight and
shadow will affect new buildings.
Issue 3 • 23

Scientists take a closer look at the sun.

The sun seems to be a quiet neighbor—and a helpful

one. It gives off light and heat. It warms sunbathers and
helps plants grow. However, our nearest star is really
a fiery ball of gas, with a stormy surface that burns at
11,000 degrees Fahrenheit.

The sun is 93 million miles away. Even so, the stormy
solar weather can cause problems on Earth. Solar
storms can knock out TV transmissions, electricity, and
phone service. They have even caused satellites to slip
out of orbit. Scientists want to know more about how
the sun causes these dilemmas. Fortunately, they have a
lot of help from some amazing space probes.

The sun’s surface gives off
charged particles called ions.
They can move at up to
2 million miles per hour. →

(bkgd) Detlev van Ravenswaay/Photo Researchers

24 • Time For Kids

Eyes on the Sun NASA

Since December 1995 the SOHO probe has The ACE probe
been circling the sun. SOHO stands for gives people
Solar and Heliospheric Observatory. on Earth and
SOHO takes close-up photos of the sun. astronauts in
It also measures energy coming from the space information
sun. SOHO has discovered bands of gas about solar winds.
that dive deep inside the sun.
John Chumack/Photo Researchers
The gas streams may help explain the
sun’s 11-year cycle. Every 11 years the number
of sunspots and flares on the sun increases. Sunspots
are cooler patches on the sun’s surface. They look like
dark spots. Sunspots form where the sun’s magnetic
field is very strong. Flares are bursts of energy that
shoot into space from the sun. Sunspots and flares
can disrupt communications on Earth. The radiation
can also harm astronauts in orbit. What controls this
11-year cycle? It may be the streams of gases below
the sun’s surface.

Some sunspots are
thousands of miles
across. Solar flares
form above them. →

Issue 3 • 25

The ACE probe is also sending data to Earth. ACE
stands for Advanced Composition Explorer. ACE’s
job is to track the solar wind. This is a stream of
particles that bursts out from the sun. The particles are
incredibly hot—2 million degrees Fahrenheit! The wind
spreads through the whole solar system. The solar wind
affects weather on all the planets, including Earth.

Scientists have learned much about the sun. The star
is more than just a silent neighbor. “We used to think
the inside of the sun was fairly simple,” says astronomer
John Harvey. “But that was
before we [were able]
to see into it.”

More than 1.3 million Earths Mars
Earth
could fit inside the sun.
Sun Venus
The temperature at the Mercury

center of the sun is 27 million
degrees Fahrenheit.

The sun is an average star.

There are 100 billion stars in
our galaxy. Many are bigger
and hotter.

26 • Time For Kids

The Solar System

The sun is at the center of the solar system. All the
planets revolve around it. They are held in place by the
sun’s gravity. Here is the solar system. Pluto was once
thought to be the ninth planet. It is now removed from
the list of planets.

The sun holds 99 percent of the total mass
of the solar system. Its gravity keeps all the
planets in orbit. ↓

NASA

Pluto

Neptune
Uranus

Saturn

Jupiter

Issue 3 • 27

Today Is Very (bkgd) Design Pics/Alamy

BORING

By Jack Prelutsky

Today is very boring,
it’s a very boring day,
there is nothing much to look at,
there is nothing much to say,
there’s a peacock on my sneakers,
there’s a penguin on my head,
there’s a dormouse on my doorstep,
I am going back to bed.

Today is very boring,
it is boring through and through,
there is absolutely nothing
that I think I want to do,
I see giants riding rhinos,
and an ogre with a sword,
there’s a dragon blowing smoke rings,
I am positively bored.

Today is very boring,
I can hardly help but yawn,
there’s a flying saucer landing
in the middle of my lawn,
a volcano just erupted
less than half a mile away,
and I think I felt an earthquake,
it’s a very boring day.

28

(c) Michel Setboun/Corbis; (tr) Marissa Roth/The New York Times/Redux A Rich
Legacy

Lady
Liberty

The Statue of Liberty welcomes visitors
and immigrants to America.

A Lifetime Courtesy Avery Clayton
of Treasures

Mayme Clayton left a legacy of

African American cultural riches.

Mayme Clayton collected books, magazines, ↑ Mayme Clayton
and letters written by African Americans.
Her son, Avery Clayton, thought her collection

was important. Unlike most books, these were rare Marissa Roth/The New York Times/Redux
and hard to find. They were written by authors
who helped shape African American

culture.

One book in the

collection was written by

Phillis Wheatley. Wheatley

was a slave who wrote poetry.

She was the first African

American to publish a book.

Wheatley herself signed the

book in the Claytons’ collection.

No one else owns a copy signed

by Phillis Wheatley. ↑ The only known
signed copy of
By the time she died at age 83, Phillis Wheatley’s
Mrs. Clayton had more than 30,000 books book

by or about black people. Her collection also

includes papers about slaves, photographs,

movies, sheet music, and personal letters by

black leaders and artists. It is one of the biggest

private collections of African American history

and culture in the United States.

30 • Time For Kids

Avery Clayton’s dream was to create Marissa Roth/The New York Times/Redux
a museum for his mother’s treasures.
Scholars say that Mrs. Clayton’s ↑ Avery Clayton with
collection is extremely important. a poster from his
Without her work, part of African
American heritage would have been mother’s collection
lost. “We didn’t know these things
existed,” says Sara Hodson of
California’s Huntington Library.

The collection’s new home is likely
to be in Culver City, California. Part of
Avery Clayton’s dream is to share the
cultural riches his mother collected
with others. He especially wants kids
to have a chance to see the collection.
“African American culture is currently
being defined by pop culture,” he says.
“It’s important to offer a more
complete picture.” — Kathryn Satterfield

Mayme Clayton was a bibliophile (bib•li•o•phile).
A bibliophile is a person who collects books. Here are
some of the other cool names that collectors are called.

Conchologist (con•chol•o•gist): a person who
collects shells.

Discophile (dis•co•phile): a person who collects music.

Numismatist (nu•mis•ma•tist): a person who collects

coins, tokens, and paper money. Courtesy Avery Clayton

Philatelist (phi•lat•e•list): a person who collects stamps.

Issue 4 • 31

Panoramic Images/Getty Images

A safer, more secure
Statue of Liberty
welcomes visitors.

32 • Time For Kids

E very year thousands of visitors to New York
City come to see the Statue of Liberty. For
more than 100 years, they were allowed to walk
inside and climb the 354 steps to the crown.

All of that changed on September 11, 2001.
After the terrorist attacks, the statue and its
grounds on Liberty Island were closed. The island
reopened three months later, but the statue
remained closed. Officials allowed visitors to enter
the statue beginning in the summer of 2004. Now,
though, tourists can only climb to the top of the
statue’s pedestal.

A Towering Symbol

The Statue of Liberty is different from other

famous American symbols. Unlike the United

States flag or the White House it was not made

in the United States. The Statue of Liberty

came to the United States in 1885. It was a

gift from the people of France. It recognized

the friendship between the countries during

the American Revolution.

Corbis

The head of the Statue of
Liberty in Paris, France, 1883

Issue 4 • 33

The statue became a symbol of freedom and
democracy. Immigrants saw it and knew they
were safe and free. Before 9/11, nearly 6 million
people toured Lady Liberty each year. After 9/11,
the number of visitors fell by about 40 percent.

To get into the Statue of Liberty, visitors must
call ahead. They must go through security
systems. It’s better than not getting in at all. U.S.
Representative Anthony Weiner of New York says
that the reopening is “great news.” But he hopes
tourists will one day experience the thrill of
climbing the statue. “Reopening the statue can
mean only one thing: reopening all of it.”

Around 1900 Today

Archive Holdings/Getty Images WizData/Alamy

34 • Time For Kids

Courtesy Charlie DeLeo

Charlie DeLeo,

Keeper of the Flame

Charlie DeLeo is a volunteer
who works inside the
Statue of Liberty. He has
been on the job for more
than 30 years. DeLeo has
made about 2,500 trips to
the top of the statue’s
flame. He goes up to the
top of her torch every
month. There, he replaces
burned-out lights and
removes bird droppings.

Words From Around the World!

Immigrants have brought many things to
America. Their customs, languages, and foods
have shaped our culture. In fact, many of the
words we use today come from other languages.
Here are just a few.

Alligator Jar

From the Spanish word el lagarto, From the Arabic word jarrah,
meaning the lizard. meaning large earthen vase.

Boondocks Kindergarten

From the Tagalog word bundok, From the German words Kinder and
meaning mountain. Garten meaning children’s garden.

Casserole Tycoon

From the French word casserole, From the Japanese word taikun,
meaning saucepan. meaning great prince.

Issue 4 • 35

Let’s Celebrate!

The United States is known as a “melting pot.”
People from all over the world come here. That
makes the United States a nation with many
different cultures and traditions. Just look at these
“international” celebrations that we can all enjoy!

Celebration When It’s What It Celebrates
Cinco de Mayo Celebrated
Mexican culture
May 5 and heritage

Columbus Day October 12 Columbus landing
in the New World;
Kwanzaa December 26– European culture,
January 1 especially Italian,
in North America
Oktoberfest 16 days in late
St. Patrick’s Day September, African American
early October family, community,
and culture
March 17
The culture of the
part of Germany
known as Bavaria

Irish culture

What celebrations
are important
to you and
your family?

36 PunchStock/Digital Vision

(c) Tony Dejak/AP Images; (tr) Kyodo News/Newscom Cars Are
“Celling”

New roller coasters
are bigger, faster,
and scarier than ever.

Car ?
By Jill Egan

When Jon and Sandy Spallino go to the store,

they drive in style. They are the first family in the

world to drive the FCX. What makes this $1 million car

so special? It doesn’t use gasoline. Instead, it gets its

power from fuel cells.

What Are Fuel Cells? This car looks
like an ordinary
Fuel cells use hydrogen and oxygen for power. car. But it uses
Hydrogen and oxygen are elements. Elements are the hydrogen and
building blocks of nature. Everything on Earth is made oxygen as fuel.
of one or more elements. There is a lot of hydrogen in
the universe. Like hydrogen, there is plenty of oxygen
on Earth. Unlike the oil that is used to make gasoline,
hydrogen and oxygen are easy to find. Their supply
is also endless. Fuel cells change these elements into
electric power. That electricity then runs the car.

Fuel-cell cars are different from cars in another
way. They run cleaner. Most cars run on gasoline.
An engine burns the gasoline to make
the car go. The burning produces
pollution as waste. Fuel
cells make waste, too.
However, the waste is
just water.

Kyodo News/Newscom

38 • Time For Kids

Kind to the Environment Mark Peterson/Corbis

For years automakers tried to build ↑ Regular cars produce
cars that are kind to the environment. exhaust, a type of pollution.
Now those cars are here. Hybrid cars
use gasoline. They also have an electric
motor. Electric motors do not make
pollution. As a result, hybrid autos cut
pollution. They also reduce the use of
gasoline. Fuel-cell cars are better for
the environment, too. But people can
buy hybrid cars now. On the other
hand, there are only a few fuel-cell
cars available.

Fuel-cell cars will become more important in the
future. They will cost much less than the one the
Spallinos drive. They will be very Earth friendly. It
may take years before most cars have fuel cells.
Still, many people can’t wait to drive these cars of
the future. Just take a look at the Spallinos!

Speeding Along

The fuel-cell car is one kind of vehicle. It can move at 60
miles per hour (mph) easily. This chart shows you some other
amazing vehicles built for speed.

VEHICLE SPEED RECORD* DATE OF RECORD PLACE
Rocket train 6,453 mph 2003 New Mexico
Supersonic car 763 mph 1997
456 mph 1990 Nevada
Train 322 mph 1990 France
Motorcycle 167 mph 1995 Utah
Utah
Bicycle
Issue 5 • 39
*Numbers are rounded off.

Wild Courtesy Six Flags Magic Mountain

Rides

Coasters are speedier and
scarier than ever!

By Lev Grossman

Have you ever been on a roller coaster?

If so, you know what it’s like. You roll
slowly up a big hill. Then you shoot down
the other side. There are sharp curves
and steep drops. Sometimes loops flip you
upside down, and you scream, “No more!”

40 • Time For Kids

Courtesy Six Flags Over Georgia Coasters are bigger, faster, and
wilder than ever before. But they didn’t
Name: Superman Ultimate Flight Courtesy Six Flags Over Georgia start out that way. New York City had
Place: Atlanta, Georgia the first roller coaster in America back
Big Thrill: It’s a bird! It’s a in 1884. Its top speed was 6 miles per
plane! Riders “fly” facedown hour. Today roller coasters have a lot
over big drops and a pretzel loop. more zip. The fastest ones speed along
at more than 100 miles per hour!
Name: X
Place: Los Angeles, California What makes all of this fun possible?
Big Thrill: Each car in the Gravity. A motor pulls the car you ride
train spins like a wheel as it in up the first hill. But gravity sends it
flies along the track. down the hill. The steeper the hill, the
more that gravity pulls you down the
track. After the first hill, the cars go up
smaller hills. Gravity slows the cars as
they go up these hills. It also speeds
them up as they go down the hills.

The tug of gravity makes the
ride fun. However, it can also make
it dangerous when you go too fast.
An automobile has a brake, but not
a roller coaster. That’s why computers
are needed to make today’s thrill rides.
Before engineers build a new coaster,
they make a computer model. They
want to make sure it is safe as well
as scary.

Issue 5 • 41

Allan Schilke is a top roller coaster
designer. Computers help him a lot. Schilke
explains it this way: “Roller coasters swing
around curves fast. This puts stress on your
body.” Computers help Schilke know just
how far to go without doing harm. “There
are upper limits, because you can break a
bone,” he says. Yikes!

“It’s awesome! You go really high.

Then the track spins, and you hold
there for a second and shoot back

”down really fast.

—Joey Stilphen, 13, one of the first riders
of Wicked Twister on a test run

Courtesy Cedar Point Name: Wicked Twister

Place: Sandusky, Ohio

Big Thrill: The world’s tallest,
fastest “double-twisting impulse
coaster.” It has two 200-foot-tall
poles. The cars spiral up one pole
and down it backward, then up
the other.

42 • Time For Kids

Joe Hermitt/The Patriot News Name: Roller Soaker The Thrill of It All
Place: Hershey, Pennsylvania
Big Thrill: You get soaked! Coasters keep getting scarier. But more
Riders dump water on those people want to ride them all the time.
waiting in line, who fire back Hundreds of millions of people take a
with water sprayers. coaster ride each year. Why? Experts
say some people look for excitement.
” “These people are attracted to thrills,”
says psychologist Frank Farley.

So what’s next for coasters? Well,
Schilke wants to build a 510-foot-tall ride.
That’s taller than a 50-story building.
The coaster would dive straight down
the side of a skyscraper. Wow!

How Coasters Work Car First hill
Smaller hills
First the car goes up the tallest Dean MacAdam
hill. When the car goes down Loop-the-loops
the hill, gravity gives it the Issue 5 • 43
energy to climb smaller hills. Friction
Going downhill also gives the
car the energy to make one or
two loop-the-loops. During the
ride the wheels of the car rub
against the track. This friction
slows down the car. Eventually,
the car runs out of energy and
can’t go up any more hills. This
diagram shows the hills in a
roller coaster.

By Tom Absher W. Cody/Corbis

When I was a kid we always had big cars:
Pontiacs, Buicks, an Oldsmobile Rocket.
Each year the bodies looked the same
but the grills got chromier and meaner looking.
With Father behind the wheel, Mother watching

the road,
my brother and I assigned to our life-time seats in back,
our faces were painted on the toy windows.
In the hot Texas summers people walking in the

filmy heat
seemed to float above the melting asphalt
while we cruised in air conditioning behind tinted glass.
It was quiet in there with the doors locked,
the windows sealed. From my seat in the right rear
I watched the world fan by.
This was life. This was certainty. This was big car

roominess.

44

(c) Lana Slivar/Reuters/Corbis; (tr) George H.H. Huey/Corbis

Great
Gulf Coast

A tsunami warning
system may save lives.

Life (tl) George H.H. Huey/Corbis; (tr) AP Photo/Pool, Smiley N. Pool
on the Gulf

The states that border the Gulf Hurricane Ike
of Mexico have a lot to offer. destroyed almost
People are drawn to the beauty, every beach house
the resources, and the climate. on Galveston
Summers are usually hot and Island, Texas. →
humid. Winters are mild.
Finally, it hit the Louisiana and
In some Gulf Coast Mississippi coasts. In 2008,
communities, fishing has been a Hurricane Ike came ashore at
way of life for hundreds of years. Oil Galveston, Texas.
and natural gas businesses are also
important. Many communities offer Hurricanes start over the ocean.
beach homes and outdoor activities. The force of hurricane winds
causes water to pile up ahead of the
There is something else the storm. This is called a surge. As the
area is famous for: hurricanes. hurricane hits the coastline, this pile
Since 1900, more than 40 major of water rushes over the land. At
hurricanes have hit states along the first, the water level rises slowly. As
Gulf Coast. Two recent hurricanes the eye of the storm moves closer,
were very powerful. In 2005, water rises quickly. Next, heavy
Hurricane Katrina crossed the waves pound the coast. Combined
southern tip of Florida and moved with waves and tides, the storm
into the Gulf. Then the storm surge can knock down buildings,
turned north. It grew stronger. damage bridges and roads, and
change the landscape.
46 • Time For Kids

Hurricane Katrina’s storm surge Neighbors help neighbors. The
caused levees that protected the government also provides help as
city of New Orleans to fail. Much people return to the area and start
of the city and nearby areas was to rebuild their homes, businesses,
flooded. Entire neighborhoods were and lives.
ruined. Thousands and thousands
of people were left homeless. Many People who choose to live
people died. The storm surge from along the Gulf Coast know there’s
Hurricane Ike was 15 feet high when a chance their community might
it hit Galveston Island. Most houses be hit by a powerful hurricane.
along the beach were badly damaged They do everything they can to
or totally destroyed. Power was prepare. When a dangerous storm is
knocked out over a wide area. approaching, most leave and go to a
safer place. And when the storm has
When a hurricane hits, passed, they go home again to all the
communities work together to good things that come with living
overcome the problems that follow. on the Gulf of Mexico.

Two Dangerous Storms

United States

Galveston New Orleans Gulfport Hurricane Paths
Louisiana Biloxi Hurricane Ike
Houston Mississippi Hurricane Katrina

Corpus Atlantic Ocean
Christie
Texas

Mexico Gulf of Caribbean
Mexico

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Image by Reto Stöckli (land surface, shallow water, clouds). Enhancements by Robert Simmon (ocean color, compositing, 3D
globes, animation). Data and technical support: MODIS Land Group; MODIS Science Data Support Team; MODIS Atmosphere Group; MODIS Ocean Group Additional
data: USGS EROS Data Center (topography); USGS Terrestrial Remote Sensing Flagstaff Field Center (Antarctica); Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (city lights)

Issue 6 • 47

TBuilding a sunami dpa/Corbis

Warning System

An early warning system goes
online in the Indian Ocean.

By Jill Egan

On December 26, 2004, a huge earthquake

shook the floor of the Indian Ocean. The
quake created a huge wave, called a tsunami.
It swept across the ocean and hit the coast
of Southeast Asia. The
tsunami washed away
roads and houses. It
killed 150,000 people.
The big wave caused
so many casualties
because no one
knew it was on the
way. Could an early
warning system have
saved lives? Experts
say the answer is yes.

A giant wave caused by the
2004 tsunami hit the coast
of Thailand.

48 • Time For Kids