The Boxcar Children Mysteries: Books One through Twelve by Gertrude Chandler Warner

flower, Jessie, right in the sand,” said Benny.
    “Let’s save all the flowers we find, too,” said Jessie. “Put it in the kettle, Benny.”
    Just then Henry began to jump around on the sand. The others watched him in surprise.

    “What in the world is the matter with you?” asked Jessie, as Watch began to jump with him.
    “I have a great idea! Oh, boy!” cried Henry.
    “Tell us,” said Violet, as they all sat down on the sand.
    “Well,” began Henry, “you all know what a museum is—”
    “I don’t,” said Benny.
    “Oh, sure you do, Benny,” cried Henry. “You must have seen pictures of museums; places where they keep all kinds of birds and animals and flowers.”
    “And shells,” said Violet.
    “That’s it,” cried Henry, looking at his sister. “You know what my idea is already, don’t you?”
    “I think so,” said Violet. “And I think it is a perfectly wonderful idea.”
    “Oh, do you?” asked Henry. “I wasn’t sure.”
    “What is this idea?” asked Jessie.
    “Well,” answered Henry, “we are sure to find some interesting things on this island to keep. We found these things without looking at all. Maybe we shall find lots more—butterflies, birds, seaweed—”
    “We could clean out the upstairs in the barn,” said Jessie.
    “And have a museum,” said Benny.
    “I can’t think of anything I’d rather do!” said Jessie. “That will give us lots of things to do on rainy days. Violet could make little signs for everything, and you could make a table to go around the room. And I will dry the flowers between newspapers and put the shells in boxes.”
    “We wouldn’t have real birds, would we?” asked Violet, looking worried.
    “Oh, no!” cried Henry. “We could cut birds out of heavy paper and color them—every bird we see.”
    “Then we could cut down some small trees and put the birds on the branches,” said Jessie. “I’ve seen them in the museum.”
    “Good!” said Henry. “We might find old birds’ nests to put up in the trees. We will have plenty of fun this whole summer.”
    Violet began to write down in the little book:
    1. Birds
    2. Flowers
    3. Seaweed
    4. Shells
    5. Butterflies
    “That’s enough for a beginning,” said Henry, standing up. “We shall have to be on the watch every minute.”
    And so the exploring party set out once more, looking at the trees for birds, and dropping flowers and shells into the kettle.
    “How can I write the names of these shells when we don’t know their names?” asked Violet. She dropped a long, thin clam shell into the kettle, but nobody knew what it was.
    “I suppose we could get a book about shells from the library,” said Henry. “Grandfather said we could go across to the mainland with Captain Daniel if we wanted to, but I don’t want to leave this island for even a minute.”
    “Something will turn up,” said Jessie.
    Something did turn up. The very minute the explorers came back to their barn, they saw Joe getting into the motorboat.
    “Oh, wait!” called Jessie, running down to the dock.
    “Don’t hurry,” called Joe. “Plenty of time.”
    But all the children kept on running just the same.
    “Are you going to the stores now, Joe?” asked Jessie.
    “That’s just where I am going,” replied Joe. “I will get anything you want and I shall be back in an hour.”
    “Then you will go right by the library!” cried Jessie. “Would you be willing to get us some books?”
    “Yes, I can get all the books you want by signing for them,” he said.
    Joe took out a pen and a piece of paper and gave them to Jessie. “Write the names of the books you want and I will get them.”
    “I can’t,” answered Jessie, giving back the paper. “We don’t know the names of the books. But we want books with pictures in them to tell us the names of flowers, birds, shells, butterflies, and seaweed.”
    Joe smiled in a queer way and said, “I could ask the girl in the library to pick them out for