Title

This book has been developed for UNF Roskilde 2020

Written by: Claes Lindhardt and Hasim Tekin Illustrated by: Anne-Theá R. Uldal

1st and 2nd edition - Edited by: Phillip E. T. Nikolajsen and Alejandra Larossa Translated by: Janne Bernild Kyster

3rd edition edited and layout: Thorbjoern Elvestad

3rd edition published by: T.Elvestad, Siggerud, Norway

We encourage the sharing of this material, however with reference to the source material - possibly as 22 Vein Street - Lindhardt et al.

Carl goes to Camp

Carl is a very small cell who is about 7 days old. That may not sound like much, but Carl is a special kind of cell called an immune cell. That means – among other things – that Carl will soon be an adult. His mother, Mrs. Bone Marrow, hopes that Carl gets a job he finds exciting, as do all parents.

Immune cells usually get jobs within the immune system when they grow up, and Carl is excited to get to help the body fight diseases. Until now, he has enjoyed climbing tall trees and listening to wild music.

One day at school during recess, Carl overhears some of the other immune cells talk about a special summer camp. A kind of camp where young immune cells can try different things to help them figure out what kind of job, they would like when they grow up. All adult immune cells must work with the body. A cell only gets to choose one kind of job, and they then have to work that same job for the rest of their life. Carl finds this a little silly, having to work the same job for the rest of your life.

It does sound nice to be able to try out some different stuff at a camp before deciding what kind of job Carl wants. Mrs. Bone Marrow likes the idea too, and together, they start exploring the summer camp options. Carl and Mrs. Bone Marrow read about a lot of different camps, but Carl cannot seem to make up his mind. Every time Carl finds a camp, he thinks is exciting, it turns out that there are no more open spots left. Many kids want to go to camp and Carl has taken too long to make up his mind.

In the end, only two camps have open spots left. The first camp is called Camp Lymphocyte where the small immune cells can learn how to work as B cells or T cells. The other camp is called Camp Myelocyte as it takes place inside the bone. Here, the immune cells can learn how to work as granulocytes or monocytes.

Now, we say ‘young’. This is because Carl – like other young immune cells – have yet to choose whether they would like to work as a lymphoid or myeloid cell when they grow up. Eventually, Carl decides that he wants to become a myeloid cell. He really hopes that he gets accepted into Camp Myeloid. Carl wants to play and talk with others who also want to work as myeloid cells when they grow up.

However, just to be safe, Mrs. Bone Marrow signs Carl up for both camps. Carl and Mrs. Bone Marrow fill out the applications and send them off by mail. Then, Carl waits. And waits some more. In the end, Carl gets tired of waiting and instead goes out to play. After waiting many days, the mailman finally delivers the awaited letter:
“Congratulations on the admission!”, It says. “We are pleased to inform you that you have been admitted to Camp Lymphocyte.”

At first, Carl is a little disappointed. He had been looking forward to playing with the other young myelocytes who too want to work as granulocytes and learn about it at Camp Myelocyte. For a moment, Carl doubts whether or not he wants to go to camp at all. However, Mrs. Bone Marrow tells Carl that he will also have a good time and make new friends at Camp Lymphocyte.

 

Finally, the day arrives when Carl has to leave for camp! Carl is at first surprised by the number of young myelocytes at camp. But that also means that Carl can make a lot of new friends!

Carl also thought, that now that he was at camp, he did not have to think about making hard choices. But the first thing Carl needs to do when he arrives at camp is to make a choice: He has to decide if he wants to be trained to become a T cell that can fight all kinds of diseases and bacteria, or if he would like to be trained to become an old and wise B cell who can remember what kind of diseases the body has had before.

Carl thinks that it is hard to make a decision right off the bat. Carl remembers that T cells are important to the body since they protect it against bacteria and other things. But then Carl thinks about the B cells that he has met who worked as memory cells. They seemed to have a really comfortable life since they rarely got any difficult tasks.

 

After having listened to the camp counselors describe what kind of jobs you can get when working as a T cell, Carl is no longer in doubt. Actually, he does not want to become a B cell at all, but rather a T cell. T cells are the emergency response of lymphocytes, which respond far more quickly than any ambulance. The T cells, which are also known as CD8 T cells, can quickly reach any cell to see if it has been attacked by viruses or bacteria, and then help kill off the dangerous enemies.

“That is so cool!” Carl thinks. He is now quite sure that he wants to become a T cell and experience the excitement of that kind of work. To become

Impressum

Verlag: BookRix GmbH & Co. KG

Texte: Claes Lindhardt
Bildmaterialien: Anne-Theá R. Uldal
Cover: Claes Lindhardt
Lektorat: Thorbjørn Elvestad
Korrektorat: Phillip E. T. Nikolajsen; Thorbjørn Elvestad
Übersetzung: Janne Bernild Kyster
Satz: Thorbjørn Elvestad
Tag der Veröffentlichung: 19.01.2023
ISBN: 978-3-7554-3009-4

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This book has been developed for UNF Roskilde 2020