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  YOUNG YEARLING BOOKS YOU WILL ENJOY:

  The Pee Wee Scout books by Judy Delton

  COOKIES AND CRUTCHES

  CAMP GHOST-AWAY

  LUCKY DOG DAYS

  BLUE SKIES, FRENCH FRIES

  GRUMPY PUMPKINS

  PEANUT-BUTTER PILGRIMS

  A PEE WEE CHRISTMAS

  THAT MUSHY STUFF

  SPRING SPROUTS

  THE POOPED TROOP

  THE PEE WEE JUBILEE

  BAD, BAD BUNNIES

  ROSY NOSES, FREEZING TOES

  SONNY’S SECRET

  YEARLING BOOKS/YOUNG YEARLINGS/YEARLING CLASSICS are designed especially to entertain and enlighten young people. Patricia Reilly Giff, consultant to this series, received her bachelor’s degree from Marymount College and a master’s degree in history from St. John’s University. She holds a Professional Diploma in Reading and a Doctorate of Humane Letters from Hofstra University. She was a teacher and reading consultant for many years, and is the author of numerous books for young readers.

  For a complete listing of all Yearling titles, write to Dell Readers Service, P.O. Box 1045,

  South Holland, IL 60473.

  Published by

  Dell Publishing

  a division of

  Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc.

  666 Fifth Avenue

  New York, New York 10103

  Text copyright © 1992 by Judy Delton

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law.

  The trademark Yearling® is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

  The trademark Dell® is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

  eISBN: 978-0-307-79996-8

  v3.1

  For my favorite grandson,

  Daniel Jaschke Levy

  Contents

  Cover

  Other Books by This Author

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  1 The New Badge

  2 Trash Time

  3 Cartons and Curtains

  4 Molly Is a Window

  5 Save Those Trees!

  6 The Un-newspaper

  7 Batman Molly

  CHAPTER 1

  The New Badge

  Roger White crawled under the table. He had a long string of firecrackers in his hand. Pop pop pop they would go if they were lit. When he got to Rachel Meyers’s chair, he dropped the firecrackers under her.

  “KaBOOM!” he shouted.

  Rachel jumped up. All of the other Pee Wee Scouts jumped up too. They were at Mrs. Peters’s house for their meeting. Mrs. Peters was their leader. They met every Tuesday in her basement. The Scouts were seven years old. They were in second grade.

  “Roger White, you make me sick!” shouted Rachel.

  Her face was white.

  Molly Duff put her arm around Rachel. It was no fun to be blown up by Roger. Roger was a bully.

  “You’re mean,” said Tracy Barnes.

  “Firecrackers are illegal in our state,” said Mary Beth Kelly.

  “You are a lawbreaker, Roger. You could be fined a million dollars.”

  “You could go to jail,” said Kevin Moe. “You could be locked up for life.”

  “They weren’t even lit,” said Roger. “How come you’re scared of itty-bitty firecrackers that aren’t even lit?”

  Mrs. Peters clapped her hands. She frowned at Roger.

  “We don’t want any firecrackers in here whether they are lit or unlit,” she said. “Pick them up and take them out of here, Roger. Firecrackers can be dangerous.”

  Everyone sat down again.

  “I know that spring is here,” Mrs. Peters went on. “But there are lots of ways of celebrating its arrival without firecrackers.”

  Rachel’s hand waved.

  “We’re having a family picnic this weekend,” she said. “I’m making the potato salad all by myself.”

  Roger made gagging noises. Some of the other Scouts did too.

  Mrs. Peters had to clap her hands again.

  “We’re going to church,” said Patty Baker. She and Kenny Baker were twins.

  “Why?” said Tim Noon.

  “We just are,” said Patty.

  The Pee Wees all started to talk about where they were going for the weekend.

  “We are going to Horseshoe Lake,” said Lisa Ronning. “We have a cabin there. There are no firecrackers at the lake.”

  When the Scouts were finished talking about the weekend, they told all the good deeds they had done during the week. Then they said their pledge. Molly loved their pledge. She loved doing good deeds. She loved coming to Pee Wee Scouts and earning badges. She loved Mrs. Peters’s chocolate cupcakes. Being a Pee Wee Scout was the most fun thing about second grade.

  “Today,” said Mrs. Peters, “we are going to talk about a brand-new badge we are all going to earn.”

  The Scouts sat up straight. Everyone was listening. Even Roger. They all wanted another badge. They all wanted to know what they had to do to get one. No one could have too many.

  “Don’t you love collecting badges?” whispered Mary Beth to Molly. She was Molly’s best friend.

  Molly nodded.

  “Spring is a good time to talk about this badge,” said Mrs. Peters. “Roger picked a good day to remind us of it.”

  Everyone looked at Roger. Mrs. Peters knew how to make everyone feel good. Even if they made trouble.

  “When spring comes, we look around our backyards,” said Mrs. Peters, “hear birds chirping, and think how important it is to live in a beautiful world. And a clean and healthy world.”

  “What’s the badge?” shouted Sonny Betz. “What’s the name of it and how do we get it?”

  Mrs. Peters smiled. “The name of our new badge is the Save-the-Earth badge,” she said. “Can any of you think of what it means to save the earth?”

  “My mom saves coupons,” shouted Tim Noon.

  The other Scouts snickered.

  “His mom saves coupons because they are poor,” whispered Tracy to Molly.

  “My mom saves coupons, too, and we’re not poor,” said Molly. “Anyone can save coupons.”

  “Good, Tim,” said Mrs. Peters. “But saving coupons isn’t like saving the earth. That kind of saving is collecting. This kind is protecting.”

  Now a lot of Pee Wee hands were up.

  “We have to protect the environment,” shouted Kevin. “Or else all the trees and grass and dogs and people will die.”

  “Cats too,” said Mary Beth.

  “I’m allergic to cats,” said Tracy.

  The Pee Wees began to sneeze. Mrs. Peters had to clap her hands again. “Let’s stay on the subject of our badges,” she said.

  Then their leader picked up some chalk and wrote something on the blackboard. “Protect our environment” it said.

  “Kevin is right. We have to protect all living things around us,” she said. “Do you have any ideas on how to do that?”

  “Pollution,” said Kenny Baker. “We can’t dump stuff in rivers.”

  “We can’t kill animals,” said Molly.

  “I killed a fly once,” said Sonny.

  “A fly isn’t an animal, dummy,” said Roger. “It’s an insect.”

  “I like flies,” said Kenny.

  “We have to kill animals,” said Lisa. “Like to eat. We have to eat pigs and cows.”

  “Mooo, mooo,” said Tim.

  “Oink, oink, oink,” said Roger.

  Soon all the Pee Wees were mooing and oinking.
<
br />   “Give me a piece of pig,” said Sonny.

  “It’s not funny,” said Molly. “Some people just eat vegetables.”

  “My uncle is one of those,” said Sonny. “He’s a veterinarian.”

  “You mean a vegetarian,” corrected Mrs. Peters.

  Sonny shook his head. “He’s an animal doctor, but he eats only beans and peas and junk.”

  Patty raised her hand. “We shouldn’t kill animals to make fur coats,” she said. “Like leopards and elephants. Or they’ll become distinct.”

  “Ho, ho,” said Roger. “Who wears an elephant coat?”

  The Pee Wees began to laugh with Roger.

  “Patty is right,” said Mrs. Peters. “If we kill rare animals, they will become extinct. That means we will never have them on our earth again.”

  Mrs. Peters wrote Protect rare animals on the blackboard. “There are many things we can do to save our earth,” she said.

  Mrs. Peters told the Scouts about recycling and planting trees. She told them about saving water and conserving energy and not wasting paper.

  “A tree has to die so that we can have writing paper,” she said.

  “We shouldn’t have spelling tests,” said Roger. “Then we’d save paper!”

  “And we shouldn’t read books!” said Sonny.

  Mrs. Peters frowned at the boys.

  “I want you to watch for ways you can help save the earth,” she said. “I want you to tell me if you see people polluting or harming nature.

  “And I want you each to plant a tree. And collect old newspapers and cans. Keep a list of other things you do every day to save water and energy. Do you know that we have big, big salty oceans, but not much drinking water? We have to take care of our rivers and streams or our drinking water will be gone.”

  The Scouts sat and thought about drinking water. And all the oceans that were salty. What would they do if the rivers dried up? Or if they got clogged up with oil and junk?

  “We have to do something!” shouted Molly. “I’m going to start right away.”

  She wished she could save the earth all by herself. She was glad Mrs. Peters told the class to keep a list. She loved lists. She made lists in notebooks all the time. Lists of her friends’ names and addresses. Lists of her favorite jokes. Even grocery lists for her mother.

  Now she could make another list. A list of what she did to save the earth. That would be the most important list of all.

  CHAPTER 2

  Trash Time

  Molly wanted to run right out the door and watch for polluters. But the Scout meeting wasn’t over. Mrs. Peters was still talking. Talk talk talk. When would she stop?

  “Now,” said Mrs. Peters at last. “It’s time for our treat.”

  She handed Molly some paper plates. They had blue and yellow flowers on them for spring.

  She handed Lisa some napkins. They had green leaves all over them. Even the paper tablecloth had little ladybugs on it.

  Everyone helped set the table. Then Mrs. Peters brought in a plate of cupcakes with pink, white, and green jelly beans on top of the frosting.

  “It’s a Save-the-Earth party!” said Mary Beth.

  “But a tree got killed to make these plates,” said Roger.

  The Scouts were shocked. How could Roger accuse Mrs. Peters of destroying the earth?

  Their leader smiled. “You are right, Roger. I usually use glass plates. But this is a special occasion.”

  “If you use real plates, you have to use water to wash them,” said Kevin.

  Was everyone going after Mrs. Peters today? thought Molly.

  “It’s better than plastic,” said Molly, to make her leader feel better. “Plastic stuff takes about five hundred years to disappear. I saw it on TV.”

  After the Scouts had their treat, they helped clean up. They washed their hands and faces. Then Mrs. Peters said, “Get into a circle now for our Pee Wee song.”

  Molly liked the end of the meetings. Before they left they held hands and sang. And Molly loved to sing. She held Mary Beth’s hand and squeezed it. Mary Beth was her best friend.

  When they finished the song, they ran upstairs and said good-bye to baby Nick. He was just waking up from his nap. He was too little to be a Pee Wee Scout.

  “Does Nick wear cloth diapers?” asked Kevin. “Plastic ones pollute. My cousin has a baby and he wears cloth diapers.”

  “Nick wears cloth diapers,” said Mrs. Peters.

  Molly felt relieved. She would hate it if the Scouts found Mrs. Peters was polluting again.

  * * *

  Molly ran all the way home to tell her family about the Save-the-Earth badge.

  “Mrs. Peters says we have to recycle things,” she said.

  “Good,” said Mr. Duff. “Make something work twice, is what I always say. Use things over and over again.”

  Molly went up to her room. She got out her notebook. Her father was right. Recycling was using something over and over. What could she use over and over?

  She looked into her wastebasket. There was a piece of paper in it. It had writing on only one side. She took it out of the wastebasket. She would make her list on that, instead of on a new piece of notebook paper.

  There was a hair ribbon in the wastebasket too. It was wrinkled. She would press it flat between two books and use it again.

  “There must be lots of things in other people’s wastebaskets,” she said out loud. “Things that could be used.”

  She picked up her pencil and wrote, Use trash.

  Molly picked up her phone and called Mary Beth. “I have an idea,” she said. “Come over and I’ll tell you about it.”

  Mary Beth came right over.

  “Everybody in town has wastebaskets,” said Molly. “I think we should stop them before the garbage truck takes the stuff away. It’s up to us to use all that stuff again.”

  “There’s a lot of garbage in town,” said Mary Beth doubtfully. “Can we use it all?”

  “We have to!” said Molly. “If they don’t recycle, it’s up to us!”

  Molly was fired up with excitement. This was a big responsibility. She wasn’t a Pee Wee Scout for nothing. Maybe adults were not saving the earth, but surely a Pee Wee Scout had to.

  “We need help.” said Mary Beth. “We can’t do this alone. Look at all those houses. They all have lots of trash. And we can’t just go in and grab their wastebaskets.”

  Molly thought about that. “We can collect it when they put it in the alley for the garbageman,” she said. “And I suppose Lisa could help us.”

  On the way to Lisa’s house, the girls met Rachel.

  “I’m going to recharge old batteries,” she said.

  “Pooh,” said Mary Beth. “We are going to recycle trash. We’re going to make something new out of stuff like this egg carton.”

  Mary Beth kicked an old egg carton that had fallen out of a Dumpster.

  “Like what?” asked Rachel.

  “Like a jewelry box,” said Molly. “This egg carton could be a jewelry box. All we have to do is paint it.”

  Rachel looked doubtful. But she said, “Can I help?”

  Molly wanted to save the earth by herself. But she knew that was selfish. Besides, as Mary Beth had said, it was too much for one person.

  “Okay,” she said. “But we have to get started right away.”

  “Let’s get paint,” said Rachel. “We can make a jewelry box right away.”

  “I think we have to collect the stuff first,” said Mary Beth. “Before the garbageman takes it and dumps it in the river. Once we save all this valuable stuff, then we can make new things out of it.”

  Mary Beth was very wise, thought Molly. First things first.

  “I’ll go get my wagon,” said Molly.

  “I’ll get my bike. It’s got two baskets on it,” said Rachel.

  “I’ll get my mom’s grocery cart,” said Mary Beth. “And then we’ll meet back here in ten minutes.”

  The girls forgot about getting L
isa. They raced home to get wheels. They raced back and got to work. They went up one alley and down another.

  “This feels like stealing,” said Mary Beth softly.

  “It’s the opposite of stealing,” said Molly. “We are doing something good. We are saving the earth.”

  Rachel placed an old bike tire in Mary Beth’s shopping cart.

  Mary Beth opened a big plastic bag and took out a dish that was chipped.

  Molly found a doll with a missing arm. And a teddy bear with no eyes.

  “We could sell some of this stuff,” she whispered.

  “We don’t want to make money,” said Rachel. “We want to recycle.”

  “What can we make out of this old light bulb?” asked Molly.

  “A nose for a snowman,” said Mary Beth. “We’ll paint it red next winter.”

  The girls opened bag after bag. They filled their wagon and bike baskets and shopping cart to overflowing. They were hot and dirty and tired.

  “I think we should stop for today,” said Molly. “It’s getting dark. Let’s meet tomorrow and go down Elm Street.”

  The girls wheeled the trash back to Molly’s house.

  “Let’s put it behind the garage,” said Molly.

  Even though she knew her dad would be pleased to know she was saving the earth, she wasn’t sure he’d like to see the driveway full of junk.

  “Saving the earth is hard work,” said Mary Beth, throwing herself on Molly’s front lawn to rest.

  “It’s worth it,” said Molly. “See you guys out here tomorrow morning.”

  CHAPTER 3

  Cartons and Curtains

  The next morning Molly and Mary Beth and Rachel met on Elm Street. Some of the other Pee Wees were looking for trash too.

  “Look at this eggbeater I found,” said Lisa. “It really turns. I’m going to recycle it.”

  “It’s all rusty and dirty,” said Rachel.

  “You can still sell it for scrap metal,” said Kevin. “I’ve got a whole bag of old nails and junk to turn in.”

  The Pee Wees pulled their wagons down alleys. They pushed their bikes up hills. They had bags and bags of trash. They put them behind Molly’s garage and then went out for more.