← The Green

The Friday Paper · ages 9-14

The Story We Got Wrong

The idea: go to the original record; when you get it wrong, say so as loudly as you said it.

Danya and Beto check the cash book with Deed while Errata holds up the page with the correction box.

Read it

Who is in this book

Every recurring character has a short tune, so you can tell who is on stage before a word is said. The tunes play only when you tap, and the Reading Access sound switch turns them off.

The Honest Page

Which parts of this story are true, stretched or made up?

True

  • Eighty-five cakes at £4 each is £340, which is £90 less than £430.
  • Newspapers publish corrections when they get something wrong, and many have a standing corrections column that says what was wrong and what is right. Source
  • Swapping two neighbouring digits, like 340 and 430, is so common in typing and bookkeeping that it has a name: a transposition error. Source

Stretched

  • The correction went on page one, as big as the mistake. What we simplified: Many real papers put corrections in one regular spot; the rule most follow is to make them easy to find.

Made up

  • The bake sale, the note and the cash book are made up. Deed and Errata come from NewsForge.

Tell it back

Tell the story in your own words: who was there, what went wrong, and what they found out. Then the first Corrections box, cut out and pinned to the newsroom wall goes on your belt.

Ring the hammer for someone

Pick this book for someone younger. The link carries only the book, and it will wait for them on the Green.

Across the Table → For the grown-up: the story in three lines, one question to ask, and one thing to do together.