Make Friends

by Sarah Dillard

  THIS IS A BORZOI BOOK PUBLISHED BY ALFRED A. KNOPF

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2018 by Sarah Dillard

  All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Yearling, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, New York.

  Yearling and the jumping horse design are registered trademarks of Penguin Random House LLC.

  Visit us on the Web! rhcbooks.com

  Educators and librarians, for a variety of teaching tools, visit us at RHTeachersLibrarians.com

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Names: Dillard, Sarah, author, illustrator.

  Title: Make friends / Sarah Dillard.

  Description: First edition. | New York : Alfred A. Knopf, [2018] | Series: Mouse Scouts ; 4 | Summary: “When Miss Poppy assigns the troop a new badge—Making Friends—the girls think it will be easy. They’re already friends, so what more is there to do?! But when the Acorn Scouts learn they will need to team up with the boys in the Maple Scouts as part of the badge, everything changes.” Provided by publisher

  Identifiers: LCCN 2017038097 (print) | LCCN 2017022506 (ebook) | ISBN 978-0-385-75612-9 (pbk.) | ISBN 978-0-385-75614-3 (ebook)

  Subjects: | CYAC: Scouting (Youth activity)—Fiction. | Friendship—Fiction. | Mice—Fiction. | BISAC: JUVENILE FICTION / Animals / General. | JUVENILE FICTION / Nature & the Natural World / General (see also headings under Animals). | JUVENILE FICTION / Family / General (see also headings under Social Issues).

  Classification: LCC PZ7.D57733 (print) | LCC PZ7.D57733 Man 2018 (ebook) | DDC [Fic]—dc23

  Ebook ISBN 9780385756143

  v5.1

  ep

  Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Chapter 1: The “Make Friends” Badge

  Chapter 2: Friendship Bracelets

  Chapter 3: Mini-Blinds

  Chapter 4: A Maple Scout!

  Chapter 5: Fractured Friendships

  Chapter 6: A Surprising Friend

  Chapter 7: Cheddar and Limburger

  Chapter 8: Daring Violet

  Chapter 9: Mouse Scouts to the Rescue!

  Chapter 10: A Celebration of Friendship

  Epilogue: The Badge Ceremony

  About the Author

  For Amy, Liza, and Tracey—some friends I’ve made

  One day, Violet and Tigerlily were walking to their Mouse Scout meeting. Well, Violet was walking. Tigerlily jumped up into the hedge next to the sidewalk and began swinging from branch to branch. Violet didn’t pay much attention. Tigerlily never walked if there was a more challenging route to take.

  “I wonder what badge we’ll be working on next,” Violet said. “I hope it’s flower fashions!” The night before, Violet had thought of a way to make a tutu out of dandelion petals. She couldn’t wait to try it. She did a little pirouette as she imagined how the dandelion petals would flutter.

  Tigerlily gave a final swing from a branch and let go. She soared through the air and landed right in front of Violet. “Maybe it will be something fun, like building canoes,” Tigerlily said.

  “Whatever badge it is, I hope we have a good snack today!” Violet said.

  “I’m in the mood-a for some Gouda!” Tigerlily said.

  “Be a smarty. Eat Havarti!” Violet said. They giggled together the rest of their walk.

  Violet and Tigerlily were the last Scouts to arrive at the meeting. They quickly joined the other girls in a circle on the floor. Soon they heard the shrill tweet of an emergency whistle. Miss Poppy had arrived. “QUIET, EVERYONE!” she bellowed. Then she looked at the Scouts and smiled.

  “Today we are going to talk about friendship! What could be more special than having a good friend? Someone to share your feelings with. Someone to laugh with, someone to cry with, someone to talk to when you are lonely. That is what friendship is.”

  Violet looked around the room and felt a warm glow for her fellow Acorn Scouts. She admired Junebug’s intelligence and Cricket’s kind heart. Petunia could always make her laugh, and even Hyacinth was nice when she wasn’t so busy being perfect. And of course, she couldn’t forget Tigerlily! There was no better friend in the world.

  Miss Poppy became dreamy-eyed. “Why, I remember MY best friend and all the escapades we had when WE were Scouts. In fact, there was this one time—” she chuckled, then stopped herself. “Well, we were young and silly. But the important thing is, we were good Scouts. That is all that matters.”

  The Mouse Scouts looked at their leader in awe. Miss Poppy—young? And the thought of her having a friend? It seemed impossible!

  Petunia narrowed her eyes. “How come we’ve never heard of this friend?” she asked.

  Miss Poppy smoothed her skirt and squared her shoulders. “That was another time and place,” she said. “Now, then. If you haven’t guessed, today we will start work on your ‘Make Friends’ badge!”

  Violet felt a quick stab of disappointment. She had her heart set on making a dandelion tutu. Oh well, she thought. I can always make it on my own.

  Tigerlily didn’t mind. She knew all about friendship already, so she would have plenty of time left over to do something fun.

  “This will be the easiest badge ever!” she said.

  Just then Miss Poppy leaned forward, and her expression became serious.

  “Remember: Friendship isn’t all sunshine and giggles. It takes understanding, compassion, and respect. Sometimes you will have to think of your friend before you think of yourself. Sometimes you will disagree. Sometimes you might wonder why you were ever friends in the first place. Some friendships last forever, while others don’t stand the test of time. To have a good friend, you have to be a good friend. And that can be hard work!”

  Miss Poppy stopped and looked around the room. The Scouts looked at each other. Then Tigerlily laughed. “Don’t worry about us, Miss Poppy. We are going to be friends forever!”

  “I hope so,” said Miss Poppy. “For the next few weeks, we will work on our ‘Make Friends’ badges. Every day you will strive not only to be a good friend to those you know, but also to be friendly to someone you do not know. During this time, you will keep a friendship journal in which you will record your thoughts on friends and your efforts to be friendly. We will start today by making friendship bracelets, and at the end of the month, we will have a Celebration of Friendship.”

  The Scouts were beaming. Tigerlily was right; this badge was going to be a piece of cake! Then Miss Poppy cleared her throat.

  “Oh, there is one more thing I forgot to mention,” Miss Poppy said. “We will not be working on this badge on our own. The Maple Scouts are also working on their ‘Make Friends’ badges. They will be joining us at our next meeting to begin planning our Celebration of Friendship event…which we’ll be doing together.”

  “The Maple Scouts?” Violet gasped. “But they’re boys!”

  An Introduction to the “Make Friends” Badge

  There is nothing more important to a Mouse Scout than being a good friend. In fact, without friendship, there would be no Mouse Scouts! The organization was founded as a result of the lifelong friendship between Daisy and Hydrangea. As you will remember, their friendship began when Daisy, an intrepid field mouse, nursed Hydrangea, a house mouse who had been trapped and released in the wild, back to health.

  Through the example set by Daisy and Hydrangea, Mouse Scouts strive to find common ground in friendships while also delighting in the diffe
rences that make each one of us unique.

  Every Mouse Scout knows that if she approaches a new mouse as a potential friend, she will have few enemies.

  Violet’s nose twitched, and she grabbed her tail. She did not want anything to do with the Maple Scouts. “We CAN’T be friends with the Maple Scouts!” she cried.

  The other Scouts nodded in agreement.

  “I’ve heard they eat worms,” said Cricket.

  “They are very unsanitary,” said Junebug.

  “They have no social niceties,” said Hyacinth.

  “They are mean, horrible mice,” said Petunia.

  “We don’t need any new friends!” said Tigerlily. “We have each other!”

  Miss Poppy sighed. “Just try to keep an open mind, Acorns. They might surprise you. Now—let’s get started on our friendship bracelets.”

  Miss Poppy handed out different-colored pieces of string. Each Scout got twelve pieces.

  Miss Poppy cleared her throat and said, “You will make two bracelets. One to give to an old friend and one to give to a new friend.”

  “I’m not giving one to a Maple Scout!” Petunia said. The other Scouts giggled.

  Miss Poppy narrowed her eyes and then went on. “The six pieces of string represent loyalty, trust, honesty, acceptance, generosity, and love—the six most important ingredients in friendship. The bracelets are made by twisting the six pieces of string together.”

  Miss Poppy smiled at the Scouts, and they all smiled back. Violet even forgot about the Maple Scouts for a moment. She couldn’t wait to get started on her bracelets. She pulled her strings out straight and tied a knot in one end. Then she twisted the six strings together until they formed one string. It’s just like us, she thought. Six different friends, all together in one troop! She was glad that she got to make a second bracelet, even though she couldn’t imagine who she would give it to.

  Tigerlily was having a hard time with her bracelet. She tied a knot at the end, but when she tried to twist the strings together, they just got tangled up. Some strands were loose, while others seemed to be too tight. I don’t know about friendship, she thought, but making this bracelet is not easy. She spent more time on the second bracelet, but it was no better.

  When they were finished, Miss Poppy told them to trade one of their bracelets with a friend. “The bracelet will always be a reminder to you that your friend is with you.”

  It was easy for Violet to decide who to give her bracelet to. She turned to Tigerlily and tied it around her wrist.

  Tigerlily looked at Violet’s bracelet. It was perfect. Tigerlily tied the one she had made around Violet’s wrist. It was a little bit loose, and there were stray pieces of string hanging out of it. Tigerlily blushed. “Your bracelet turned out better,” she said.

  “That’s okay,” Violet said as she looked at the bracelet. “It’s the friendship behind it that counts.” The bracelet she had made for Tigerlily was much nicer. She wished Tigerlily had tried a little harder on the bracelet.

  Hyacinth and Petunia were admiring their bracelets. “They look exactly alike!” Petunia said.

  “Almost,” said Hyacinth as she pulled at a loose string on the bracelet that Petunia had given her.

  Junebug tied her bracelet around Cricket’s wrist, but when Cricket went to tie hers around Junebug’s wrist, Junebug asked her to put it on her sash instead. “Synthetic fibers give me a rash,” she explained.

  Miss Poppy called the Scouts to get their snacks. There were small squares of cheddar cheese, and raisins for Junebug, who was lactose-intolerant. The troop enjoyed the snacks and tried not to think about the worms that they would most likely have for snacks at the next meeting with the Maple Scouts.

  Tigerlily looked over to make sure Miss Poppy wasn’t paying attention. Then she leaned in and whispered, “The Maple Scouts may be coming to our next meeting, but we don’t have to make it easy for them.”

  “What can we do?” asked Violet. “If we don’t work with them, we won’t earn our badge, and Miss Poppy might send us back to Buttercups!”

  “It might be better than having to work with the Maple Scouts!” said Petunia.

  “I don’t have a plan yet,” said Tigerlily, “but let’s all think about it tonight. Tomorrow we can meet in the park and decide what to do.”

  Friendship Bracelets

  A friendship bracelet is a lovely token that one friend gives to another to commemorate their friendship. While you can buy a friendship bracelet, making them is fun, easy, and so much more meaningful.

  There are many ways to make friendship bracelets. They may be woven, beaded, crocheted, knotted, or twisted. Here are instructions for a simple twisted bracelet.

  1. Take six strands of string and lay them together.

  2. Tie a knot in one end. Hold the knotted end with one hand.

  3. Grasp the unknotted ends of the strings with your other hand.

  4. Slowly and tightly twist the strands together until they form a single rope.

  5. Tie a knot in the unknotted end of the single rope.

  6. Tie your bracelet around the wrist of a friend.

  Remember, the bracelet itself is far less important than the sentiment that it is given with. One glance at a friendship bracelet around your wrist, and fond thoughts of the friend who gave it to you are sure to follow.

  As they walked home from the meeting together, Violet thought about how lucky she was to have Tigerlily as her best friend. Tigerlily was exciting and daring, and Violet always felt braver around her.

  She looked at her friendship bracelet and tucked in another loose string.

  “Tigerlily,” she said, “I don’t need another friend, and I especially don’t need to be friends with a Maple Scout.”

  “Me neither,” said Tigerlily. “What do you want to do now?”

  What Violet really wanted to do was get started on her friendship journal, but then she remembered that friendship is about give-and-take. And anyway, if she did something with Tigerlily now, she would have that much more to write in her journal later!

  “I don’t know,” said Violet. “How about you?”

  Tigerlily smiled. That’s what she liked about Violet. She would almost always go along with whatever Tigerlily wanted to do.

  “Let’s go do something fun!” she said, and scampered off. Violet followed after her.

  When Tigerlily came to the house where Violet lived, she didn’t enter the small hole in the siding that led to Violet’s home. Instead, she darted under the front door and into the humans’ living room.

  Violet was nervous. She didn’t like being in the people part of the house during the day. Tigerlily didn’t mind, though. She loved the feeling of carpet under her feet.

  She climbed up the sofa and ran along the top of it. Then she took a flying leap to the window and landed on the slat of a mini-blind. “Come on up, Violet!” she shouted.

  Violet looked up at Tigerlily. She was so high above the ground, Violet wasn’t sure how to get herself up there. But as Tigerlily swung back and forth on the blind, Violet had to admit that it did look like fun. She looked around the room and listened. There was no sign of any people.

  Violet’s nose twitched, but she gritted her teeth and climbed up the sofa, then ran across the top. The mini-blind still looked very far away. But taking a deep breath, Violet leaped as hard as she could and just barely managed to grab on to the blind. She was shaking all over as she crawled along the slat to sit next to Tigerlily.

  Violet was afraid to look down. It was a long way to the floor. How in the world were they going to get down again? They might have to spend the rest of their lives sitting on this blind!

  Tigerlily did not seem uncomfortable at all. She sat humming the Acorn Scout song and swinging her legs back and forth in time to the music. That made the whole blind sway. Violet began to feel seasick.

  “What do you think Miss Poppy and her best friend used to do for fun?” Violet asked Tigerlily. “Do you think they ever
played on mini-blinds?”

  The thought of Miss Poppy doing anything of the sort made Violet laugh and forget where she was for a moment.

  “She would probably get tangled up in the string!” Violet giggled. The blind shook with their laughter, but Violet didn’t mind. She was starting to like it up here. Suddenly she heard the creak of a door opening.

  “Human!” she squeaked.

  Tigerlily reached for the blind’s control wand and swung to a nearby lamp. She grabbed on to the lampshade, then leaped to the chair next to the lamp and scurried down to the floor. She looked behind her for Violet, but Violet was nowhere to be seen. “Hurry, Violet!” she hissed.

  “Help!” Violet squeaked. Tigerlily had accidentally closed the blinds and Violet was trapped between the slats.

  Tigerlily ran back to the window and jumped up to grab the wand. She twisted and twisted until the slats began to open. Violet tumbled out and bounced down the slats all the way to the windowsill. She landed for a moment, but then lost her balance and bounced to the floor.