Free Bookworm Buddies by Judy Delton Page B

we do in school is
read
!”
    A hush came over the Pee Wees. They could already read. Why did they need a badge in reading?
    “It’s library cards!” said Mrs. Peters triumphantly. “All the Pee Wees are going to get library cards in order to earn this badge! We’ll all be bookworm buddies!”
    Molly thought their leader sounded as if she was trying a little too hard to be excited. No one seemed to care about library cards. And bookworms sounded disgusting.
    “Won’t that be fun?” said Mrs. Peters. “All grown-ups have library cards! And it will help you in school, and introduce you to a whole new world of information.”

    Finally Ashley said, “I already have a library card, Mrs. Peters.”
    “My mom says we have a whole new world of information on our computer,” said Tracy.
    All the Pee Wees nodded.
    “We have a whole encyclopedia on ours,” said Kevin. “There’s nothing in the whole world that isn’t on CD-ROM.”
    “Computers are fine,” said Mrs. Peters in a voice that sounded as if she didn’t think they were fine at all. “But with books you can curl up in bed and read. Books stretch your imagination, and they don’t need batteries.”
    The Pee Wees did not look convinced.
    “I can take my laptop computer to bed,” said Kenny.
    Mrs. Peters acted as if she didn’t hear him.
    “After we all get our very own librarycards, we are going to have a reading contest,” Mrs. Peters said. “There will be a wonderful prize for the one of you who reads the most books and reports on them!”
    There was a low murmur among the Pee Wees. Molly could not believe her ears. Mrs. Peters was sweetening the pot with a prize! To get the Pee Wees excited about her badge project, she had to offer a reward. They had to be paid to read!
    “We write book reports in school,” grumbled Lisa.
    “What’s the prize?” asked Patty suspiciously.
    “It will be a surprise,” said their leader. “At our next meeting we’re going to talk about library rules and the responsibility of taking care of the books we check out.”
    The Pee Wees groaned.
Rules
and
responsibility
were not fun Pee Wee words. They were boring school words.
    Mrs. Peters tapped her pencil on her pile of books. Then she held them up and said what fun everyone would have checking out books just like this on their very own card.
    The books she held up were books Molly had already read. One of them Molly wanted to read again. It was about how to camp in the woods.
    As Mrs. Peters talked about books, the Pee Wees were restless. When Mrs. Stone came down the steps with a plate of chocolate cupcakes, they cheered and forgot about library cards altogether.
    By the time the meeting was over and the Pee Wee song had been sung and the Pee Wee pledge recited, the only one who looked happy about the new badge was Mrs. Peters.

CHAPTER 3
No Books in
the Bathtub
    “ I t might be fun,” said Lisa on the way home. “Once I read a book about how to make jewelry boxes out of egg cartons. I gave my mom one for her birthday.”
    “Winning a prize might be okay,” said Tim.
    “I don’t need a prize to get me to read,” said Jody. “I like to read.”
    “Well, so do I,” said Rachel. “But I alreadyhave a library card. And I know the rules.”
    Molly loved to read. And she loved to write about the books she read. Or even talk about them. Jody was right. It was fun to read. But if she wanted that prize she’d have to begin reading right away. She knew Jody and Rachel would read lots and lots of books.
    “I wonder if we can count books we’ve already read,” said Mary Beth. “I mean, then I’d have a million!”
    “So would I!” said Kenny. “I’d have trillions!”
    “I’d have zillions!” said Roger, reaching up high to show the imaginary stack of books he had read.
    “You would not,” said Sonny. “You didn’t read a zillion books!”
    The boys scuffled in the leaves. The others walked around them and left them tumbling on the ground,