The Green School Mystery

Table of Contents

 

 

“And now,” Dr. Prell said, “Mr. Day will wheel out all those dimes and tell us how much money we raised.”

Mr. Day walked into the school.

Dr. Prell smiled. “We raised a lot,” she said. “We have enough dimes to help pay for two skylights and a recycling bin.”

Mr. Day came back outside, pulling a wagon toward the flagpole. On the wagon was the large wooden box. Mr. Day and another teacher lifted the box onto the table.

“Let’s see those dimes,” Dr. Prell said.

Mr. Day took the lid off the box and looked in. He seemed surprised.

“Look,” he whispered to Dr. Prell.

Dr. Prell looked in the box. Cam and Eric looked in, too. Several bricks were in the box. But the dimes were gone.

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Registered Offices: Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
First published in the United States of America by Viking,
a division of Penguin Young Readers Group, 2008
Published by Puffin Books, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group, 2009

Text copyright © David A. Adler, 2008

Illustrations copyright © Penguin Young Readers Group, 2008
All rights reserved
THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS HAS CATALOGED THE VIKING EDITION AS FOLLOWS:
Adler, David A.
Cam Jansen and the green school mystery / by David A. Adler ; illustrated by Joy Allen.
p. cm.
Summary: On Green Day, Cam and her classmates discuss ways to protect the environment,
but after the disappearance of thousands of nickels collected by students recycling cans and
bottles, Cam uses her photographic memory to find the thief.

eISBN : 978-1-101-13630-0

 

The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume
any responsibility for author or third-party Web sites or their content.

For Jacob,
my sweet and very smart grandson

—D.A.

 

 

To my grandson Curt,
a real helper in keeping my yard green!

—J.A.

“Happy Green Day,” Cam Jansen said to her friend Eric Shelton.

Eric smiled and said, “Happy Green Day, Cam.”

Cam and Eric were walking to school.

“My sisters are going on the bus,” Eric told Cam. “Mom said it’s too far for them to walk. But it’s not too far for us.”

“I plan to do lots more walking,” Cam said. “It’s good exercise and it doesn’t use fossil fuels.”

Cam and her classmates had been studying what they could do to help the environment. Today there would be a Green Day assembly at Cam and Eric’s school.

Eric showed Cam the bag he was carrying. “I brought in six more empty soda cans,” he said.

Cam said, “I have four. I think we brought in more than anyone else.”

During the first week of school, Dr. Prell, the school’s principal, had visited Cam and Eric’s class. She’d asked the children to bring in empty soda cans and bottles.

Dr. Prell had said, “We’ll take them to the recycling center. Recycling is good for the environment. And there’s a bonus. For each can or bottle we bring in, we’ll get a nickel. I hope we bring in lots of cans and bottles and get lots of nickels. If we do, I’ll change every two nickels for a dime. Lots of nickels would be too heavy to bring back to school. Your nickels and dimes and the money we made at the book fair will be able to pay for skylights in the front hall. Then, on sunny days, we won’t need to turn lights on. That’s good for the environment, too.”

Children brought in lots of cans and bottles. At first, Mr. Day, the gym teacher, kept the dimes in a large glass bowl. He set the bowl in a locked display case near the gym. When there were too many dimes to fit in the bowl, he put them in paper rolls. He kept the rolls in the display case. Each roll held fifty dimes. It was near the end of the school year. There were lots of dimes in the case.

“We’re almost there,” Eric said, “and I’m not tired. We should walk to school every day.”

At the side of the school, two men were taking bricks and wood off a large truck.

“That must be for the skylights,” Eric said. “I’ll bet Dr. Prell tells us today that we raised enough money to pay for them.”

There were also milk and bread delivery trucks by the side of the school. The milk delivery man was leaving the school. He pushed an empty cart past Cam and Eric. A man walking toward the school was pushing a cart with a big, almost-empty bread box. In it were just a few wrapped loaves of bread.

Cam and Eric walked around to the front of the school. Lots of children had walked. There were buses, too, stopped by the entrance.

“Hey, look at me,” Danny Pace called to Cam and Eric. “At least
I
didn’t forget what today is.”