The First Rule of Climate Club, page 1
Also by Carrie Firestone
Dress Coded
G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS
An imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, New York
First published in the United States of America by G. P. Putnam’s Sons,
an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC, 2022
Copyright © 2022 by Carrie Firestone
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Firestone, Carrie, author.
Title: The first rule of Climate Club / Carrie Firestone.
Description: New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 2022. | Summary: When twelve-year-old Mary Kate joins a special science pilot program focused on climate change, she and her friends come up with big plans to bring lasting change to their community.
Identifiers: LCCN 2021049154 (print) | LCCN 2021049155 (ebook) | ISBN 9781984816467 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781984816474 (epub)
Subjects: CYAC: Schools—Fiction. | Podcasts—Fiction. | Environmental protection—Fiction. | Climatic changes—Fiction. | LCGFT: Fiction.
Classification: LCC PZ7.1.F55 Fi 2022 (print) | LCC PZ7.1.F55 (ebook) | DDC [Fic]—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021049154
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021049155
Ebook ISBN 9781984816474
Cover art © 2022 by Tyler Feder
Cover design by Danielle Ceccolini
Design by Suki Boynton & Cindy De la Cruz, adapted for ebook by Michelle Quintero
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
pid_prh_6.0_140374773_c0_r0
CONTENTS
Cover
Also by Carrie Firestone
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
The Letter That Starts It All
The Fairy-House Village
On the Bus
Failure to Launch
Lucy and the ’ologists
That Place
Climate Class Application Essay: Mary Kate Murphy
Third Period
The Hartford Kids
At Lunch
First Letter to Myself
Eighth Period
Climate Class Application Essay: Shawn Hill
All I Know About the People in Climate Class
The Hammock
Before Lucy Got Sick
Climate Class Application Essay: Lucy Perlman
The Diary with the Tiny Key
Why I’m a Twelve-Year-Old Aunt
Things About Having Older Parents
Letter to My Baby Niece on Her Christening Day
Signs
Climate Class Application Essay: Jay Mendes
Third Period
At Lunch
Eighth Period
Climate Class Application Essay: Elijah Campbell
Lovely People
Facetime with Shawn Hill
Texts with Lucy
Flyer on the Wall
Definition
On the Bus
At Lunch
Eighth Period
The Greenhouse
The Doctor at the End of the Rope
At Breakfast
The Email We Write to the Superintendent
The Fastest Email Response in Human History
When Your Favorite Neighbor Becomes Your Biggest Competition
Language
Ghost Bugs
Third Period
At Lunch
Eighth Period
The Proposal Pitches
The Winner
Sunflowers
The Big Tour
Things I Show Shawn Hill
Things I Don’t Show Shawn Hill
The Hornet Situation
Mark’s Band Room
At Lunch
How Parents Say No
Out of Pocket
Mary Kate and Lucy’s Life Goals
How Our Eco-Lodge Obsession Started
Lucy’s Last Will and Testament
The Thing About Lucy’s Last Will and Testament
And Now It’s a Club
The Mysterious Instagram Post
Texts from Shawn
Letter to My Baby Niece on Friendship and Other Important Things
On the Bus
Third Period
My Happy Place
Climate Class Application Essay: Rabia Mohammed
At Lunch
Eighth Period
When Life Gives You Leftover Muffins
When Nothing Matters More Than Lucy
Letter to My Baby Niece on the Important Role of Fairies
The Bearsville Climate Club Podcast
Pizza Night
The Appointment
Honey
On the Bus
At Lunch
Climate Class Application Essay: Rebecca Phelps
Eighth Period
In the Hammock
Applefest Checklist
Mysterious Instagram Post—Part Two
Swappable
Climate Class Application Essay: Hannah Small
Rotten Apples
The Little Scene (As Seen on Tiktok)
The Salad Man
Walls
Letter to My Baby Niece on My Biggest Hero
Clubs
When Lucy Meets Pea
When I Met Lucy
White Noise
My Letter to Mayor Stuffed Shirt
At the Bus Stop
Eighth Period
The Animal Graveyard
The Bearsville Climate Club Podcast
How to Make a Podcast Go Viral
Sarah Has Wisdom Nuggets Too
Eighth Period
Fabulous
Four Weeks Until Funfest Checklist
An Inconvenient Truth
Climate Class Application Essay: Ben Lettle
On the Bus
Third Period
October Letter to Myself
At Lunch
Eighth Period
The Facebook Post I Find on Mom’s Laptop When I Get Home
In the Tree House
The Revenge Tiktok
Letter to My Baby Niece on How to Deal with Stressful Situations
My Brother, Mark
The Bearsville Climate Club Meets the Murphys
Climate Class Application Essay: Andrew Limski
The Bearsville Climate Club Podcast
On the Bus
The Other Email in My Inbox
Molly’s Response to the Mayor’s Email
Why Do All Our Fights Happen on Fettucine Night?
The Climate Club’s Response to the Mayor’s Email
My Text to Shawn
On the Bus
Third Period
At Lunch
Between Periods
Eighth Period
Bat Mitzvah Day
Letter to My Baby Niece on Her Grandparents
Bat Mitzvah Night
Teatime
Midnight Facetime with Shawn
Thrifting
At Lunch
The Funfest Flyer
Eighth Period
Batteries Included
Politics
The Bearsville Climate Club Podcast
#inarelationship
The Shawn-Is-Really-Starting-A-Climate-Club Flyer
My Texts with Lucy
The Sandwich Board
Stinger Out
When Life Gives You Tick-Borne Illnesses
The Debate
Third Period
Eighth Period
The Halloween Dance Flyer
Letter to My Baby Niece on Good Days and Bad Days
The First Rule of the North End Climate Club
The Curse
The Secret Room
Bat People
The Brave Kid Who Isn’t in Climate Class but Shows Up Anyway
The Bearsville Climate Club Podcast
Email from Rebecca Phelps on Behalf of the Fisher Middle School Climate Class
Email from Carol Smith, Special Assistant to Mayor Grimley
Email from Rebecca Phelps on Behalf of the Fisher Middle School Climate Class
Email from Carol Smith, Special
The Frantic Last-Minute Funfest Checklist
Door Knocking with Jay
The Bearsville Climate Club Podcast
Oatmeal and Raisins with a Side of Actual Conversation
The Calm Before the Bearsville Climate Club Fall Funfest
How to Feed People in a Middle School Cafeteria Without Filling Up Your Trash Cans
The Pep Talk Mr. Lu Gives at 12:45
Go Time
Out of the Climate-Themed Book Lounge and into the Fire
The Thrifter Parade
That Dance
Text from Shawn from a Tent in Andrew Limski’s Backyard
November Letter to Myself
A Hundred Times in a Row
Molly’s (Pg-Rated) Text
Halloween
On the Bus
Third Period
Lucy’s November Letter to Herself
A Day in the Life of a Sick Tick by Lucy Perlman: Author’s Note
At Lunch
Eighth Period
All Souls’ Day
Charlotte Lane Wins in a Landslide
What It All Means
The Victory Party
The Letter That Continues It All
Acknowledgments
About the Author
For the unlikely problem solvers The ones who build community The ones who heal the planet
THE LETTER THAT STARTS IT ALL
Dear Parent or Guardian,
I am pleased to announce that Fisher Middle School has received a generous grant to fund a climate science pilot program this year. The class will explore how and why climate change is happening and how we can use community-based projects to take action.
Out of over a hundred application essays students submitted in March, the following rising eighth graders have been selected to participate:
Elijah Campbell
Shawn Hill
Benjamin Lettle
Andrew Limski
Jay Mendes
Rabia Mohammed
Mary Kate Murphy
Lucy Perlman
Rebecca Phelps
Hannah Small
Warning! This class will be a lot of work. Please talk to your child and make sure they’re ready to commit. We will still cover standard eighth-grade science concepts, but this class is not going to be “traditional.” If you and your child are on board, please sign and return the attached form. Congratulations to all the students!
I can’t wait to get started.
Scientifically yours,
Ed Lu
THE FAIRY-HOUSE VILLAGE
My climate-class acceptance letter is stuck to the refrigerator door with an E magnet, next to a picture of my new baby niece, Penelope, and a Post-it reminding Dad to buy more back-pain cream.
All the inspirational E magnet words aren’t working for me right now, because I’m not eager or enthusiastic or excited about school starting tomorrow. My best friend, Lucy, has been sick the whole summer, and nobody knows what’s wrong with her. I would have been eager, enthusiastic, and excited to be in the climate class with Lucy. Instead, I’m going to be sitting with a group of kids I barely know.
I text Lucy: Fairy village? But she doesn’t text back, which means she’s sleeping, having a really sick day, or mad at me for even asking.
I’m almost thirteen years old, and I’m going to build a fairy house by myself. But Lucy and I promised each other we would do it every year the day before school starts, for good luck, and we really need the good luck right now. So I put on my shoes, call my dogs, Murphy and Claudia, to come with me, grab my backpack, and walk out the side door.
My backyard and Lucy’s backyard are separated by a huge nature preserve, which was donated to our town by a family who must have had a crystal ball and seen that if you don’t specifically say This piece of land can never be used for anything but enjoying nature, it will eventually turn into a Dunkin’ Donuts, a car dealership, or a nail salon.
Not many people visit the preserve, probably because there aren’t really trails. It’s one huge chunk of beautiful land, with a sledding hill, and a meadow, and a pond, and a vernal pool in spring, and crumbling old stone walls, and woods surrounding it all.
I walk around our barn, which is now a big garage with an upstairs room, follow the path through the woods to the top of the sledding hill, and cut through the sunflowers at the edge of the meadow.
Most people wouldn’t notice the fairy village if they made their way into the woods. It looks like some creature randomly dropped piles of bark and twigs. But we know. Lucy and I and the fairies have a lot of secrets hidden here.
When we were younger, we spent entire days collecting pine cones, and lost feathers, and interesting stones, and acorns, and fallen flower petals. We built fancy fairy houses and did all kinds of fairy-summoning rituals I can’t remember anymore. But I don’t feel like doing any of that. Right now, I want to build a house, get the good luck, and go home.
I pick up a few sturdy sticks and lean them against a fallen trunk that’s covered in moss. I leave a space for the fairies to come and go, and cover the little lean-to with soft pine needles. I drop stones around the house and scatter handfuls of leaves on the roof.
It’s not our best house, but it’s good enough.
Sleep well, fairies, I wish. And please bring us luck.
ON THE BUS
My neighbor Molly and I have been sitting together on the bus since I was in kindergarten and she was in first grade. We used to get harassed by Molly’s older brother, Danny, who calls us Frog and Toad for some reason, but Danny is living with his grandma in New York, so Frog and Toad have a break this year.
“Do you like my tank top?” I ask, sliding into the seat across from my other neighbor Will.
“I love your tank top,” Molly says. “It really emphasizes those shoulders.”
“Thank you, my queen,” I say, because I’m very grateful that Molly and her friends started a protest against our school’s dress code this past June, which ended with the school district letting us wear pretty much whatever we want.
“Remember how scared you were when school started last year?” Molly says, eating a granola bar. “I thought you were going to throw up.”
“I wasn’t looking forward to seventh grade.”
What Molly doesn’t know is that I wasn’t scared. I was annoyed. I didn’t know how I was going to go from an entire summer of frogging and tree climbing to being pushed down a crowded hallway eight times a day.
“I’m going to miss seeing you,” Molly says. “Now I’m the one about to throw up. The high school has way too many people I don’t know. Say something to distract me.”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know. Tell me about the podcast. Are you still going to do it?”
“I doubt it.”
“Why not? It was really good.”
I don’t feel like talking about Bearsville with Molly. It’s embarrassing.
Will shoves his phone in our faces to show us his summer-camp girlfriend, and Molly spends the rest of the bus ride asking him questions he doesn’t know the answers to.
“Do you think you’ll see her before next summer?”
“I don’t know.”
“Is she going to camp next summer?”
“I don’t know.”
The bus stops in front of the high school, and Molly makes an ughhh sound.
“You’ve got this, Molls,” I say. “You’re a queen, remember?”
Will and Molly jump off the bus, and Molly runs over to her friends Navya and Bea. I watch them go into the high school as the bus rolls out of the circle toward the first day of eighth grade.
FAILURE TO LAUNCH
I tried to start a podcast this summer. It was called All’s Well in Bearville, but I changed it to All’s Well in Bearsville after the first episode because there’s a lot more than one bear in this town. It was supposed to be about why bear hunting in our state is inhumane, and how to deal with climate change, and interesting nature stories.
The Bearsville idea came from Molly, who used a podcast to start the dress-code protest, and then Dress Coded: A Podcast ended up inspiring people all over the country to fight their school dress codes.
Bearsville, on the other hand, never really went anywhere.
Maybe it was because the state had already passed a law banning bear hunting, or because the people I interviewed used a lot of science words. My cousin in Florida said the interview with the professor about climate change and frogs was “kind of boring.” My other cousin said the questions I asked the tree expert were “too smart.” Molly said, “It’s really well done, Mary Kate, but people have a lot going on in the summer.”
