BY RAY ROUTHIER

Portland Press Herald

It's one thing for a youngster to be told to eat his or her vegetables.

It's quite another, it seems, for a youngster to learn that Cookie Monster -- that furry muncher of sweet treats with the manners and grammar of a caveman -- is being forced to eat his vegetables.

"I've been watching 'Sesame Street' since I was little, and I like to see Cookie Monster eating cookies," said Abbie Murrell, 10, of Scarborough. "He shouldn't be changed to a veggie monster, he should eat cookies."

Abbie and two other fifth-graders, Lucca Sterrer and Zoie Campbell, are upset at what they perceive to be several major changes to their beloved "Sesame Street." The iconic children's TV show celebrated its 40th anniversary last week.

The girls, who attend Wentworth Intermediate School in Scarborough, have been persuading schoolmates, teachers and parents to sign petitions asking "Sesame Street" producers to reverse the changes.

They hope to keep gathering signatures until early or mid- December, when they'll ask a more specific version of this question: "Can you tell me how to get, how to get to Sesame Street?"

"My mom and I are going to go online and find the address that we can send (the petitions) to," said Lucca, also 10.

Abbie, Lucca and Zoie say they dislike the fact that Cookie Monster now spends much of his time eating vegetables on the show, instead of cookies. They're also upset that the giant, fuzzy brown character known as Snuffleupagus seems to have been dropped from show, and that the little Muppet Zoe is becoming scarce as well.

To advance their cause, the girls have created an online component, with adults' help. At www.snuffleupagus.org, you'll see they have posted their Snuffy petition online, for people to read and sign. They have hard-copy petitions for Cookie Monster and Zoe.

The girls have made posters to hang in their school to draw attention to their protest. Abbie said that, working separately, they have collected about 250 signatures. They're not sure yet how many are duplicates.

Abbie said she and the others know that rumors about Cookie Monster's name being changed to Veggie Monster -- circulated for years on the Internet -- aren't true. Still, they don't like the change in his character.

A few seasons ago, the show began referring to cookies as Cookie Monster's "sometimes food," while vegetables are some of his "anytime foods."

As for the girls' concerns that Snuffy and Zoe aren't seen much, both characters are still listed in the show's Muppet cast. No one at Sesame Workshop, the PBS show's production company, could be reached for comment on the girls' concerns.

The girls' petition drive began with Lucca, who had heard about the use of petitions to lodge protests and started hers specifically addressing the changes to Cookie Monster. Zoie and Abbie heard about her efforts and decided to add Snuffy and the Muppet Zoe to the mix.

The girls have learned some basic lessons of civic action: They found something they felt was wrong, and they found a constructive way to address it.

They also have learned about the powers of persuasion, as they have sought signatures by convincing people of the merits of their cause.

What they will learn about their own power to change a major TV show remains to be seen. We may all have to pull up a seat on one of Sesame Street's red-brick stoops and wait to see how that one turns out.