Ahmet and his New Friends.

Cadence Scheunemann

    Ahmet is a boy who showed up in Alexa's 4th-grade class three weeks into the school year. Ahmet doesn't say a word, looking down at his desk, and rumors about him fly through the classroom. "'Maybe he's deaf?' someone whispered" (Raúf 14). Maybe "he [i]s from a super-rich family and... his parents had sent him to... [Alexa's] school undercover so that he wouldn't get kidnapped" (Raúf 23). No matter how mean, far out, or downright weird the rumors were, Alexa is determined to become friends with the new boy. Eventually, Ahmet starts talking to Alexa and her other three friends, Josie, Tom, and Michael and they find out why Ahmet is really at their school (You'll just have to keep reading to find out!).

    At the beginning of their friendship, Alexa gives Ahmet a special treat every day after school to try and get Ahmet to smile at her. The first day Ahmet arrived at her school, Alexa gave him some extra lemon candies she had in her pocket. The funniest part of that interaction was when Alexa's teacher winked at her to say thank you. Alexa then decided to wink at Ahmet FORTY times every day! Ahmet found it so amusing, that he stared at her all throughout class. Alexa also figured out what Ahmet's favorite fruit is and she went on a giant adventure with her mom to find a dragonfruit to give him after school. That finally gets a smile out of him, and it is the first time that Alexa knows they are going to be friends for real.

    Ahmet arrived at Alexa's school because he is a refugee. He was running away from Syria with his mom, dad, little sister, and cat. Now, he is living with a foster mom in England. After Ahmet learns some English, he makes a presentation to the class about his trip to England. Ahmet saw some true hardships before he even turned ten! His cat died in the mountains and his sister in the ocean while he was traveling on a boat to get away. His mom got sick in the refugee camp and he hasn't seen her since and Ahmet's dad couldn't get past the gate with Ahmet. It's such a good thing Alexa and her friends are being nice to Ahmet after he has had to deal with all of this.

    Caution! This paragraph contains a *SPOILER ALERT* Alexa learns about Ahmet's family and knows she has to do something to reunite them. The gates to England will be closed by the end of the month! Together Alexa, Josie, Tom, and Michael come up with many plans as to how to keep the gates open so Ahmet's family can get across the border. None of the ideas seem like they are going to work until Alexa realizes that they just need to go to the castle and deliver their letter directly to the Queen of England! A huge adventure takes place after Alexa's idea forms, involving trains, bravery, guns, and tea. The fact that his new friends are willing to go through all of that just for Ahmet is really special and it showcases how special Ahmet is as well.

You should read the book to see if they successfully find Ahmet's family!

Pluto is Still a Planet (in my Heart)

          

            In 2006, the International Astronomical Union (or, more commonly, the IAU) created its definitive answer for what a planet is. Just like that, planet Pluto was planet no more. Of course, the debate goes much deeper, but the IAU’s rule stuck. Pluto is still not a planet. But should it be? For starters, the rule that cut Pluto out is about as ambiguous as it gets and its fascinating geology can make it a worthwhile visit. For sentimental reasons as well, keeping Pluto as a planet ends up as the better idea. 

Starting with the science, Pluto got cut out because of it doesn’t clear its neighborhood. However, this rule gets murky and almost seems to specifically block off Pluto and its fellow “dwarf planets” in the Kuiper Belt. A planet “clearing its neighborhood” means that it can move away anything that is within its orbit. But in the Kuiper Belt, with millions of astronomical bodies, getting everything to move out of Pluto’s path is hard. According to Paul Bryne, a planetary scientist, if you put Earth in the Kuiper Belt, “where neighbouring bodies are far, far more distant than in the inner Solar System, Earth would not necessarily be able to clear its neighbourhood” (Bryne). As Paul explains, the farther out planets go, the harder it gets to be the gravitationally dominant object, especially in the massive Kuiper Belt. The IAU’s variable determinant of planets conveniently cuts out Pluto without providing other substantial reasoning.

The IAU also ignores the geology, the main contributor to the love Pluto; its colorful patches, mountains, glaciers, and the possibility of an ocean makes it extremely fascinating to scientists. Unlike other dwarf planets in the Kuiper Belt, like Eris and Makemake, Pluto contains so much that, despite being demoted to a dwarf planet, scientists still heavily research it. In addition, within it’s 248-year orbit, its surface changes with heat from the sun (Stephens). The IAU’s rules are purely physical and do not consider the character behind it. After all, the 2006 decision was before NASA’s New Horizons flyby in 2015, which provided many photos documenting Pluto’s fascinating surface.

One of the main arguments against Pluto being a planet is that, if Pluto becomes a planet, why shouldn’t the Moon become one too? What about Eris, or the tens of other objects with Pluto in the Kuiper Belt? The flaw in this argument is that, all of them can be planets. Splitting nature provides a lot more problems than lumping things together (as seen with our fall final history project!). Calling Pluto a planet does not imply that everything else needs to also be a planet. A planet can be anything. The IAU’s reclassification of Pluto drew more attention about its demotion than the cool things that scientists have leaned about it. For a more modern and whole argument, Pluto should be a planet. 

Works Cited:

Bryne, Paul. “Pluto Should Be Our Ninth Planet. A Planetary Scientist Explains Why.” BBC Science Focus Magazine, 12 June 2023, www.sciencefocus.com/comment/pluto-is-a-planet.

Stephens, Tim. “Pluto’s Varied Landscape Reveals Surprisingly Complex Geology.” UC Santa Cruz News, 17 Mar. 2016, news.ucsc.edu/2016/03/pluto-geology.html.