Purple Penguin Club

By M L S Baisch

BOYS WILL BE BOYS--complete with rough-and-tumble games and mud-puddles. It's the way things are, or the way things were, until Mrs. Thompson decided the boys and girls alike in her 4th grade were to be called Purple Penguins. Something about that just didn't seem right to Norman Boone. Before any time at all Norman had Jesus Gonzalez, his best friend, and all the 4th grade boys--I mean Purple Penguins--engaged in a plan to make some changes.

THERE ARE SOME UNEXPECTED CONSEQUENCES FOR EVERYONE, and both Norman and Jesus find a certain satisfaction in their own particular brand of social activism. When kids get organized anything can happen!

• Language: English
• Publisher: M L S Baisch
• Release date: Oct 20, 2015
• ISBN: 9780986245831

M L S Baisch

M L S BAISCH writes for children because kids deserve a world with good stories. Her tales are fantastical, but also have messages for those of us who live in the real world. They may, and often do, highlight the importance of making good choices. Generally it's someone's bad choice that makes a good story. The story is in the difficulties that result and the circuitous route taken to undo what's been done. If there's a bit of fun along the way, so much the better! M L S BAISCH lives in rural Idaho with her husband, a Sphynx cat named Bugs, and a Doberman Pinscher named Harry.

Book preview

PURPLE PENGUIN CLUB

M L S BAISCH

Text Copyright © 2015 M L S Baisch

Illustrations Copyright © 2015 M L S Baisch

All rights reserved

ISBN-13: 978-0-9862458-3-1

ISBN-10: 0-9862458-3-6

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015914119

CONTENTS

Chapter 1. Stoopid! Norman mutters.

Chapter 2. They made a list.

Chapter 3. Every one of the fourth grade boys met in the park.

Chapter 4. Monday couldn't come fast enough.

Chapter 5. They went twirling and high-kicking.

Chapter 6. The bell rang them back from recess.

Chapter 7. By lunchtime the boys were feeling pretty good.

Chapter 8. Norman's mother was waiting for him; also his father.

Chapter 9. The Purple Penguins arrived early.

Chapter 10. Norman drew the long straw.

Chapter 11. Norman was suddenly tongue-tied.

Chapter 12. They descended on Central School.

Chapter 13. It's hard to plan when you don't know what is going to happen.

Chapter 14. There was one surprise after another.

About the Author

Also by M L S Baisch

1

STOOPID! Norman mutters.

STOOPID! Norman mutters. He’s at the city park with his friend Jesus, and he’s talking about the Purple Penguin Policy. Teachers are calling it a policy to make it official.

Real stupid, Norman’s friend, Jesus, agrees. Cheeze!

The friends walk on through the park, lost in their own thoughts, not in a hurry to get home from school.

"Boys will be boys, Norman says out loud, mincing the words. Can you believe she said that?"

Mrs. Thompson’s okay, Jesus defends their teacher.

I suppose. But everybody knows she means that some boy is in trouble for doing something he did that she didn’t like.

Umm, Jesus doesn’t disagree, but doesn’t want to go there. He stops at a picnic table and sits on top of it, feet on the bench.

Like that, Norman says, wanting to make a point. Using his sarcastic tone again, he says, "Sit down right, and move your dirty feet. People sit on that bench."

Got it, Jesus agrees. He’s getting more enthusiastic about the subject. Seems like boys get in more trouble. But what’s that got to do with the Purple Penguin thing?

That’s what it’s about.

Jesus squints one eye, trying to make the connection. Calling us Purple Penguins is about boys getting in more trouble?

Sure it is! Norman is emphatic. This is about boys being boys.

You saying girls never get in trouble? Jesus wants to know.

Don’t be stoopid. Norman is disgusted. Let me say it plain. No self-respecting boy is going to want to be called a Purple Penguin. That comment gets a don’t-you-know-it look from Jesus. Norman goes on, And girls will be girls, just like boys will be boys.

Come on, Jesus shouts. Make sense.

This thing is as big as not singing Christmas carols. One more thing to take away.

What?

Now we won’t be called boys or girls. Just Purple Penguins. This is about taking away our manhood!

I don’t like it either, Jesus says. But it’s not that big a deal.

Sure it is. Mrs. Thompson is doing a girl-thing. Girls like to mess with people’s minds—especially boy's. Even grown-up girls like Mrs. Thompson do it.

It’s not just Mrs. Thompson, Norman. It’s Mrs. Thor's fourth grade, too.

"But it is a girl-thing. No real guy would ever think of it."

Jesus has to agree with that.

My own mother! Norman complains. She’s all for it.

Jesus looks closely at his friend; he’s really getting worked up. To humor him, he says, Your mom means well. Jesus likes Norman’s mother. Just the same, he thinks Norman is right. It is a girl-thing. It’s hard to understand girls even when they’re our age, Jesus admits. "Grown-up girls are probably still a lot like they used to be when they were kids. Anyone who ever liked stuff like those kitty-cat purses—or whatever it was that girls played with in the olden days . . ." Jesus can’t think of anything else to say.

I know what you mean. Norman saves him, glad to see his friend is finally getting the point: girls are not a thing like boys.

But they mean well. Jesus usually has the last word in any serious discussion. For a kid, Jesus has very definite ideas. It’s just hard to wrap your mind around what girls think.

Says you. Norman is far from ready to excuse his mother. She proves how out-of-touch she is with the male universe—with him!—on a daily basis. If Norman did everything his mother wanted him to do, he’d have to call himself Norma. He kept that thought to himself. Out loud he said, I asked Mom what the Purple Penguins were going to do about bathrooms. I don’t think she’d thought about girls not wanting purple boy penguins in their bathrooms. STOOPID!

What’d she say? Jesus hadn’t thought about bathrooms either. I suppose you could have a picture of a purple penguin wearing a skirt.

Sort of defeats the purpose, don’t you think? Norman actually sneers, which isn’t like him. Jesus is a good friend. He doesn’t always get behind Norman’s projects, but he’s usually right. Jesus sort of tags along and keeps Norman out of trouble.

Purple Penguins can’t wear skirts, Norman says. He wags his head and rolls his eyes. "The idea is for boys and girls to be the same. Besides, do you know a girl who wears a skirt to