Calling All Kids #22

Marco Polar Bear is determined to stay awake and catch Santa Claus in the act—but the clever old fellow has his own rules about visiting friends who refuse to fall asleep. When Marco and his companions prepare their trailer for Christmas with a makeshift fireplace and chimney, the polar bear sets up an elaborate plan with pots and pans to alert them the moment Santa arrives. Will Marco's scheme work, or does Santa have other ideas?

When Mayor Paddy Penguin brushes off the grown-ups of Animal Town as long-winded chatterboxes, a pair of citizens demand a town meeting to replace him with a mayor who will actually listen. Paddy and his young friends cook up a clever scheme to teach the talkative townsfolk a lesson about what they really value in their leader, illustrated by Marty Taras in this 1948 story from *Calling All Kids* #22.

When Mom asks Pop and Junior to help clean house by giving away old things they don't need, the two discover that the line between trash and treasure is a lot blurrier than they thought. As boxes of clothes get mixed up during their cleanup efforts, Pop and Junior find themselves scrambling to rescue their own cherished belongings before Mom catches on—only to learn a lesson about what "not needing" really means.

Bobo and his friend Whitey attempt to settle a friendly competition over who can blow the biggest soap bubble in Blunderland, but their creation has other plans—carrying both of them skyward and into an unexpected race against Dolly the wind-up dragon. When the bubble meets its inevitable end against the Wishing Lady's roof, the three friends find themselves tumbling into an adventure that ends with magical wishing tea and wishes come true.

When the water hole dries up during a harsh winter, Pug and Curly set out to refill it, but their first attempts to haul water prove messy and exhausting. The two friends keep trying different approaches until they stumble onto a solution that works far better than any of their earlier schemes.