Subcribe & Win: A Nerf® N-Strike® Longstrike
CS-6™!  Click here...

 
 
 
 
 
 



  
... Click here to find out


Awesome Adine! 

Hey Upstart Magazine! Adine is the the best netball player I have ever seen by far!

She is an absoloute legend, having played for the extremely dominant Southern Sting in New Zealand’s previous 10-year national netball competition.

Southern Sting came first for seven years and second for three years.
Adine also captains our Silver Ferns.

She is an extremely versatile player, covering all four attacking positions in a team.

The speed and athleticism she brings to the game makes it exciting to watch. Sheis purely indispensable.

Her natural flair and skills match no other netballers I’ve ever seen. 
    
She always takes time to engage in a quick chat with her fans, and gives out her autograph willingly.

I met her one day after a Sting game and I count myself extremely lucky. 

Netball is a great sport in our country, and we ought to be proud of our team.

Adine is an inspiring netballer for me and other young netballers all over the world!

HOLLY MCLEOD, 13
Queen Charlotte College, Picton

Get up and get out!

Hi Upstart, It is very unhealthy how a lot of kids are sitting down playing the PlayStation.
Even adults are exercising their thumbs!
Technology is improving every minute and more of the human race are turning into television zombies with square eyes.
GameBoys and PSPs are so small that you see people playing them everywhere.
SCREENS ARE CRIMINALS! 
TV kills brain cells and brain cells don’t grow back.
Why not go on a bike ride, kick a ball, climb up a tree?
If it’s raining don’t go back on that PlayStation or computer or even the TV – read a book instead! 

MITCHELL ALDERLIESTE, 11
Fairhall School, Blenheim		 


Green fingers

What’s Up, Upstart? My school belongs to the Enviro-Schools Club.
We planted feijoa trees on the roadside.
We even made our own little tyre gardens and placed them where we wanted.
We put dirt and soil and warm castings inside.
I planted silverbeet, sunflowers, lettuces, flowers, and broccoli in mine.
We also planted some murals onthe shed doors. One looked like sports equipment scattered all over the court.
The other looks like night time.
Now we have better parking at school.
We have also planted more trees around the carpark.

DILAN WILSON
Ahititi School, Urenui, New Plymouth

  
  Pokemon please

Dear Upstart, I am a huge Pokemon and Upstart Magazine fan.
My favourite Pokemon are Umbreon and Diaruga.
I also like Pikachu.
I wish you could add some manga with Pokemon,
Yu-Gi-Oh etc.

FELIX WATKINS, 10
Havelock North Primary School

Sue says: Hey Felix! We hope to bring you more fun Pokemon stuff very soon.
In the meantime, check out our upside down back section for a chance to win Pokemon and other toys!


My nana and poppa

Dear Upstart,

The most inspiring people in the world are my nana and poppa.
I love my grandparents so much, I’d do anything for them.
Most weekends my mum takes me over the harbour bridge to see them.
We sometimes stay there for over four hours just listening to stories on the lazy-boy.

My poppa always makes lunch – usually chicken nuggets, broccoli, fish fingers and ketchup (yum!).
Sometimes my poppa is inventing something in the shed, or maybe he is in the garden watching the flowers and fruit grow.

My nana might show us some pictures from the photo album and what lies inside them.
There is lots more to say, but no room left!

ARIJANA LYNG-0LIVE, 10
Birkdale Primary School,
Auckland

Sue says: Not long after writing this letter, Arijana’s poppa died. Arijana was still keen for us to publish her letter as a tribute to her poppa.
We’re all really sorry to hear about your sad loss, Arijana.
You have some very precious memories of your poppa which you will treasure forever.


  Star gazing

Dear Upstart,

My name is Dilan and I go to Ahititi School.
Our school went to a sleepover at the local marae.
There was a planetarium dome inside and we saw Orion’s belt, the Matariki, the lobster, the dog and the Southern Cross.
At night I went outside and I saw the Milky Way and Orion’s belt, and the lobster and the Seven Sisters.
Afterwards we had a lovely kai.
All my classmates like your magazine.

DILAN WILSON, 9
Ahititi School, Waitara


Big ups, Upstart!

Dear Upstart, My name is Cheylon-May and I go to Clive School.
I am 10 years-old and I love to play netball.
Anyway, your mags are the best of the best.
Our class (room 7) loves to read them, especially when our
work is in it.
I don’t really like reading but I love to read Upstart Magazine.
I like reading the crazy facts and the pet stories because they are so funny and weird.
Well, that’s all I’ve got to say today – but anyway, hip hip
hooray!

CHEYLON-MAY MEROITI, 10
Clive School, Hawke’s Bay


My family – and ME!

Dear Upstart Magazine,

I come from a family with three girls and four boys – that’s
seven of us!
I have my twin brother, Sean who is 10, and an older
brother called William. He’s 12.
My younger brother and sister are Dylan and Sophie. Dylan is seven and Sophie is five.
Believe it or not, we have two sets of twins in our family.
The younger set of twins are babies, named Grace and Ryan.

Every weekend my brothers invite their friends to stay.
During the day it’s not so bad because they all go off and ride motorbikes and stuff like that and don’t bother us girls.
But at night they always hog the TV and computer.
They always play the same DVD (Smoked) and the same awful war games on the computer.
Last Saturday night wasn’t any different, so after I had watched Smoked four times in a row, I was well and truly bored and decided to go to bed.
 
I had a good night’s sleep, but woke to find a note on my
bed. It said: “Your lucky but not to lucky from William”. Straight away I knew it wasn’t William’s hand writing and they had spelt it all wrong!
I slid down the stairs and rushed over to the mirror. I knew it!
The boys had drawn on my face – AGAIN! This time it was dots across my forehead.
I thought those boys are too annoying. So after I washed the dots off I went downstairs and drew on Sean’s face, because I knew he had written the note.
I hope I get a friend up next weekend because boys are so annoying!

ALICE LOVELL, Urenui


Ronaldo is my idol 

Dear Upstart,
Cristiano Ronaldo is an awesome soccer player.
He plays on the wing for Portugal and Manchester United.
Manchester United’s coach, Sir Alex Ferguson, thinks he is the world’s best player, and so do I.
The reason I like him so much is that he’s exciting to watch and is unbeatable when it comes to skills and speed.
Cristiano Ronaldo is only 22 years old and is probably going to get better and better in the next few years. He is my idol and I hope one day I am as good as he is.

DEXTER REGO, 8,
Clyde Quay School, Wellington 
 
 
   


The good – and the not so hot!

Hi Upstart Magazine! My name is Caleb Logan and I am from Tauranga in the Bay of Plenty.
I absolutely LOVE living here. It has everything I could ask for – great beaches, awesome people, lots of adventures and exciting things to do, heaps of shops, loads of skate parks and a love for sport.
Yes, I know that all sounds great but my parents have split up so every Thursday I have to pack a king size bag of my clothes to use in the next week at either my mum’s or dad’s house.
It gets sooooo frustrating because if I leave my school uniform or something like that behind, well, I get in trouble, and everyone knows how fun that is. NOT AT ALL!
My dad’s house is in a quiet place called Bethlehem and my mum’s house is in the Mount.
There are benefits of living at both houses because at my mum’s house I have the beach and at my dad’s house there are always fun things to do within biking distance and great neighbours.
My dad is the principal at my school – Tauriko School. It’s a great school with 270 awesome people who would love you to feature our school in your Loud and Proud pages. We would feel honored.
We would love to show readers around our school and around Tauranga because it really is a wonderful place.

CALEB LOGAN, 12,
Tauriko School, Tauranga 

  
  Letter from Rome

Hi Upstart Magazine, My name is Livia. I live in Rome, but my mum is from New Zealand.
Last Christmas we went on a trip – my fourth – to New Zealand, this time with Dad.
There at Auckland airport was my great aunt Angela who took us to catch the next plane that carried us to Palmerston North.

Waiting for us there was Grandma. When she showed me to my bedroom at her house, there was an Upstart Magazine just for me.
I was so interested reading it that when I went back to Italy I asked my Grandma if she could post Upstart Magazine to me.
Now nearly every month I receive a parcel with an Upstart Magazine – it is great.

LIVIA, 9,
Ada Negri Primary School, Rome

Sue says: Hey Livia! Thanks for your wonderful letter.We’ve all enjoyed reading it! We hope you continue to receive Upstart Magazine. Please keep in touch and tell us more about life in Rome! We hope to hear from you again soon. Love from all the Upstarters in Aotearoa!