Free The Green School Mystery by David A. Adler

Chapter One
    “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.”
    Danny was wearing a green shirt and green pants. He had even painted his sneakers green.
    Cam and Eric waited for Danny at the corner.
    “Green Day doesn’t mean we should wear green,” Eric told Danny. “It means we should help keep our world green.”
    “Oh, he knows,” Cam said. “He’s just trying to be funny.”
    Danny stood real straight. He smiled and told Cam, “Take a picture of me. I want you to remember how great I look in green. You don’t use film, so that’s good for the environment.”
    Cam looked at Danny. She blinked her eyes and said, “Click!”
    Cam has an amazing memory. People call it a photographic memory because it’s as if she has a picture in her head of everything she’s seen. When Cam wants to remember something, she just looks at the pictures she has in her head.

    Cam says, “Click!” when she wants to remember something. She says “click!” is the sound her mental camera makes.
    Eric said, “I’ll also take your picture.”
    Eric looked at Danny. He blinked his eyes and said, “Click!”
    “Now close your eyes and turn around,” Danny said.
    Cam and Eric closed their eyes and turned.
    “What’s for lunch today?” Danny asked.
    “Hey, that’s not fair,” Eric