"Babysitters Club 057 Dawn Saves The Planet" - читать интересную книгу автора (Babysitters Club)

"Let me!" Karen Brewer hopped up and down, waving her hand in my face.
Suddenly, everyone in the room was shouting at once. For a second I was certain we'd never calm them down. Thinking fast, Stacey grabbed a whistle from a junk drawer in the kitchen and blew on it hard.
Tweet!
Everyone froze in place.
"In order for us to save the planet," she said in a very calm voice, "we have to work together. That means taking turns."
I did some quick arithmetic in my head, then made the assignments. "Buddy, Charlotte, Becca, David Michael, and Melody will carry these items to the backyard." The five kids cheered but fell silent when they saw Stacey get ready to blow her whistle again. "Then Linny, Bill, Nicky, and Vanessa will dig the holes."
The four kids beamed at each other.
"And then," I went on, "Hannie, Suzi, Karen, and Andrew will bury the items."
There were big smiles all around the room. Stacey and I gave each other quick looks of relief.
We marched the kids into the garden and each one performed his job. When the last bit of dug-up dirt had been placed on the last hole, the kids packed it down with their feet. It was really cute. (I think stomping the dirt was their favorite part of the whole class.)
Finally Stacey placed labels attached to garden stakes over each spot. Lettuce, Plastic, Apple, and Styrofoam. The kids stood by, proudly admiring their handiwork.
"All right, everybody," I said, "that's it for our first class. Stay tuned for next week when
we'll become water leak detectives and start planning our Green Fair."
"Green fairies?" Suzi Barrett repeated.
"No." I chuckled. "Fair. Green Fair. Which is kind of an ecology carnival."
"You mean, like a talent show, with animal acts?" Becca sounded excited. Once she entered a pet show, and her hamster, Misty, had won best all-around pet.
"Let me try," Stacey whispered. She clasped her hands in front of her and said, "Each week we'll do a different experiment. At the end of six weeks, we'll put on a Green Fair, with booths to display the results of our experiments, and also to teach our neighbors what we've learned."
"In the meantime - "I pointed to our badges. "What do we tell our parents, and friends?"
All the children shouted at once, "Kids Care!"
1 checked my watch. Exactly one hour had gone by. Now it was time to return the kids to their homes, which was almost as complicated as planning the class. Mrs. Papadakis was going to take the Kormans, David Michael, and Hannie and Linny home. The Pike kids could just walk through Stacey's backyard to their house. Stacey and I would escort the others home.
I have to say, by the end of that day, I was totally exhausted. But it was a good kind of tired. I went to sleep that night feeling very proud that I, Dawn Schafer, was actually doing something to Save the Planet.
Chapter 6.
It was almost time for another BSC meeting, and I couldn't wait. Boy, did I have some news to tell my friends! I had been on the phone all afternoon trying to find out about Stoneybrook's recycling program and I'd discovered that basically they didn't have one. Can you believe it? No wonder most of the kids in my class didn't know about recycling.
I was so anxious to talk to Stacey and everyone else that I reached Claud's house a full ten minutes ahead of time. She was in the kitchen wearing big cooking mitts on each hand.
"Come on in, Dawn." Claudia pointed to the oven. "I want to show you my latest design."
"You're making cookies?"
"No! Dough earrings." Claud pointed to the timer, which had less than a minute left on it. "They're almost done."
"Dough? You mean people can eat them?"
Claudia giggled and shook her head. "No. These are like dough ornaments that you hang on a Christmas tree. After I paint them I'm going to cover them with shellac."
Leave it to Claudia to think of something clever like that. Peering through the oven door, I could see little bits of dough shaped into dogs and cats. They were turning a golden brown.
Ding!
"Just in time," Claud said. "The meeting's about to start."
She pulled the cookie sheet out of the oven and set it on a metal rack on top of the stove. Then she turned to me and wiggled her eyebrows. "Now let's have a snack."
Claud reached into her refrigerator and handed me an apple. Then she dug in her backpack and pulled out an enormous bag of chocolate drops.
I was appalled. Not just by the huge bag of candy she was about to eat but by the way the candy had been packaged. "Look at that, Claud," I said. "Each candy is individually wrapped in plastic."
"Yeah." With a grin, Claudia tore off the wrapper and popped one in her mouth. "Isn't that great?"
"It's terrible," I said. "Do you know how
bad plastic is for the earth? That stuff will never dissolve."
She studied the next piece of candy. "Gee, I never thought about that."
"Well, it's time we all start thinking about it," I said sternly. "Next time, don't buy candy that's individually wrapped."
Claudia saluted and clicked her heels together. "Yes, ma'am."
"What's going on in here?" Kristy peeked in the kitchen. She gestured with her thumb at the ceiling. "We're supposed to be upstairs for our meeting, you know."
"I'm making art," Claudia replied, "and Dawn's giving me a lecture about garbage."
She and Kristy both laughed. Normally I would have joined them but, after spending the last few days worrying about pollution, I didn't find the subject very funny.
"Speaking of garbage," Kristy joked as we made our way to Claud's room, "did you see what they served for lunch today?"
Claud made a face. "Mystery Meat on a Taco Shell. It tasted awful."
"But what was worse," I added, "was the dessert. Fruit cocktail in Styrofoam cups. Do you know how terrible Styrofoam is for the environment?"
"No," Kristy said, winking at Claud, "but I have a feeling you're going to tell us."
I ignored her kidding and said, "Styrofoam is permanent garbage. It can never become part of the earth. I mean, five hundred years from now, those little cups that held the fruit cocktail will still be around."
"Ooh!" Kristy murmured to Claud. "Dawn sounds serious."