The young authors are:

Estonian group: Christina Anželika Meijel, Siim Sander Eru, Marlon Naan, Madli-Mai Konsa, Katariina Maria Levartovski, Henriette Nõmm

Italian group: Gaia Ascolani, Eleonora Bellezza, Rebecca Paolini, Den Hyseni

Polish group: Kamil Brenner, Michalina Skowron, Karol Kozyra, Franek Dziadek,

Amelia Marek, Magda Szczotkarz

Slovenian group: Ema Kokalj, Eva Potočnik, Zarja Krajnik, Larisa Benedičič

MEET THE HEROES OF THE STORY:

KEKEC from Slovenia

PAN KLEKS from Poland

COSIMO from Italy

MOSSBEARD, MUFF and HALFSHOE from Estonia

Kekec, Pan Kleks, Cosimo

Halfshoe, Mossbeard, Muff

It was a lovely sunny summer day. There was just a light breeze in the air and a group of young and old fellows were running along a sandy coast by the Adriatic sea. They were having great fun. Kekec, the youngest, was jumping high up in the air. Cosimo, the teenager, was trying to be more serious, but he hardly managed to hold back the laugh. Mossbeard, Halfshoe and Muff, the oldest ones, were still very fit and could easily catch up with the others. The day was just beautiful so they wanted to do something extraordinary.

They were thinking of some ideas about what they could do and they didn’t pay much attention to Kekec who was playfully running along the beach. Suddenly they heard a loud scream and realised that Kekec was nowhere to be seen. All of them were desperately searching the area for him. Cosimo started yelling out his name as loud as he could. At the same time they were moving along the beach and when all of the companions came around a huge rock they were shocked.

They saw Kekec sitting on the sand next to a pile of plastic and glass rubbish that was washed ashore. He was holding tight to his leg which was bleeding badly. He stepped on a shard of glass and he got a deep cut.

Mossbeard used the moss from his beard to put on Kekec's cut and stop the bleeding.The friends were sad to see so much trash that was thrown into the nature. They were looking at the pile of trash when suddenly something started moving under the trash. Muff got closer and he saw Baby turtles! He was desperate to help them.

“Oh no! We have to help them!” - shouted Muff. “We need to get them out!” Everyone started to search through the piles of rubbish. They were able to set the turtles free but the problem was still there. Loads of rubbish! What can we do with this? After a while they decided that they can’t clean up the beach on their own. “We need some help!” “Do you remember our old friend Mr. Kleks?” - asked Mossbeard. “He always has lots of great ideas!”. “Let’s go and pay him a visit.” They went to the school where he lived. They knocked on the door.

When Mr. Kleks opened the door he was really happy to see his old friends. “Hi Mr. Kleks” - said Mossbeard. We need your help”. “OK. What’s the problem?” They told him everything about the rubbish on the beach and about baby turtles. “So let’s go there and see what we can do” - said Mr. Kleks. When they reached the beach, they realised that the situation got even worse. The rubbish was everywhere! Both on the beach and in the sea! Mr. Kleks was terrified. “We must do something!” - he exclaimed “I have an idea! How about building a new colourful playground out of the rubbish?” “But how will we collect it all?” - asked Muff..

Mr. Kleks said: “Let’s go back to my school in Chocolate Street! There I have the solution for the problem!” “Come in friends! Let’s talk about you.” Mossbeard replied “Thanks but we have no time: some little turtles are on the beach and there’s a lot of rubbish!” “Oh, I see, come with me!” Pan Kleks exclaimed worried. They followed him to the biggest classroom of the school. He said to his students, “You will come with me and clean up the beach.” 

Then, he guided his friends to the third floor, the prohibited floor. He went to a very big table with lots of bottles on it. He took one of them and said, “Ok, now we can go to the beach.” So they went there. When they arrived, they saw some men putting the baby turtles in a very big bag. “Shhfriends, hide!” said Cosimo. They ran behind some trees. “I can save baby turtles if you help me” said Mr Kleks to Cosimo. “Ok but take my flute, and use it only in case of danger” said Kekec to his friends.

The two friends went to the beach and nobody was there so Pan Kleks took the bottle and spread it out on the rubbish that became biodegradable. The only problem was that there were no more baby turtles!

Kekec and Cosimo promised to start  looking for the baby turtles while the others started to clean the beach and make plans, how to build the playground. 

Kekec and Cosimo started the search for the baby turtles. Muff went to get his red car so he could take the rubbish to the park, where they had decided to build the playground. Mossbeard and Halfshoe started to gather the rubbish from the beach. By the time Muff came back, Mossbeard and Halfshoe had managed to pick up most of the rubbish from the beach.

Muff took the rubbish bags into the car and took them to the park. Kekec and Cosimo were still looking for the turtles. There was no sign of them. When the rubbish was in the park, they started to think about the playground design. 

When Muff went to the beach to check if all the rubbish had been cleaned up, he saw the  men who had stolen the turtles. Muff went up to them and asked angrily where the baby turtles were. The men looked at him with confusion and started to laugh.

One of the men started to explain, ''Sorry, but we’re from the Animal Protection Act and we took the turtles away because we wanted to remove the rubbish, and after that bring the turtles back''. Muff felt embarrassed and was quiet. Then he  replied, ''Excuse me too, me and my friends have misunderstood you''. Muff explained them everything and invited them to the park. 

When they reached the park, Muff  told his friends what had happened. The men from the Animal Protection Act were enthusiastic about helping Muff, Halfshoe, Mossbeard, Mr Kleks, Cosimo and Kekec with the playground. When the playground was ready they together went to fetch the baby turtles. They took the turtles to the beach and saw how happily they splashed and swam in the clean water. Later in the evening they walked through the park where jolly children were swaying and enjoying themselves on the slides. 

What an amazing day it had been! All our friends were tired but very happy. It had been the best holiday ever.

THE END