by Poppy Green
Sophie and Winston arrived at the schoolhouse a little bit late. Winston parked his boat outside. Then they hurried up the front steps.
“Good morning,” Mrs. Wise greeted them. “Boats can go on the back table. Then please take your seats.”
Sophie placed her boat on the table. She paused a moment to look at all the others already sitting there. Each one was completely unique.
Sophie hurried to her desk.
“Now, class,” Mrs. Wise was saying, “I can see you’ve all worked very hard on your boats. And I’m sure you’re excited to test them in the pond. But I’m afraid I have bad news.”
The students groaned. Mrs. Wise waited for them to quiet down. Then she went on.
“I walked by the pond on the way to school. The water is almost completely dried up.”
Oh no! thought Sophie. First Butterfly Brook, and now this!
“I’m very sorry,” Mrs. Wise told them. “We’ll have to wait for it to rain. Then we can reschedule our boat test.”
Sophie had an uneasy feeling. She was disappointed that their plans were ruined. But it was more than that. She was really starting to worry about there not being any rain. Sophie had heard about droughts. The word made her think of deserts she had read about in books.
Was Silverlake Forest having a drought?
The classroom was abuzz with questions for Mrs. Wise.
“When do you think it will rain again, Mrs. Wise?” Zoe asked.
“What if it doesn’t?” Ellie asked with a gasp.
“Could all the lakes and ponds dry up?” Willy asked. “Even Forget-Me-Not Lake?”
Mrs. Wise held up her wing. “Now, now,” she said calmly. “Please, everyone. Let’s not panic. Take a deep breath.”
The class went silent. Mrs. Wise smiled, opened her mouth to speak, and—
BOOOOM!
A loud, sudden clap of thunder shook the schoolhouse.
Everyone jumped—even Mrs. Wise.
A second later, all the students were at the window. They looked up at the sky. Dark storm clouds were rolling in!
Sophie felt a telltale tingle in her whiskers.
“Rain!” she cried. “It’s going to rain! I can feel it!”
When It Rains, It Pours
The next day Sophie, Hattie, and Owen sang as the whole class marched to the pond.
It’s raining, it’s pouring,
The old bear is snoring.
She went to bed and bumped her head,
And she couldn’t get up in the morning.
It wasn’t raining anymore, but it had poured all night. And now the boat test was back on!
The animals were singing and splashing in huge puddles the whole way to the pond. No one seemed to mind that they were getting muddy!
But Winston was having an extra hard time pulling his boat wagon along the muddy path. Ben and Ellie pitched in to help him pull.
“Your boat is amazing!” cried Ben. “It’s big enough to hold one of us!”
“It is going to hold one of us,” Winston replied. “Me!”
“Really?” said Ellie. “Cool!”
Up ahead, Mrs. Wise stopped. “Look, class!” she announced, gesturing at the pond. “We have an actual pond again.”
The students cheered.
“Can we put our boats in?” Winston asked.
Mrs. Wise smiled and nodded.
The students cheered and hurried down to the water’s edge. Within seconds, there was a whole fleet of model boats in the water.
It took Winston a little longer to get his boat off the wagon and into the water. But soon enough he was aboard, raising the mast and getting ready to hoist the sail.
All the model boats seemed to be floating pretty well. Zoe’s boat was maybe sitting a little low in the water. And Malcolm kept having to reattach his boat’s keel. But none of them had sunk!
“Hey, everybody!” called a voice from offshore. “Out here!”
Sophie looked up. It was Winston, waving from his boat. He was sailing along at a speedy clip.
Everyone waved back excitedly.
“Go, Winston!” Sophie cheered, jumping up and down.
Then suddenly, Sophie froze.
A huge rock had come loose from the slippery mud and was rolling into the water on the far side of the pond. And a huge rock meant . . . a huge wave.
Sophie’s mouth fell open as the rock splashed into the water and a wave began to rise. The wave was rolling across the pond and picking up speed.
Winston didn’t see it. He was sailing with his back to the wave. But it was gaining on him. And fast!
“Winston!” Sophie called out at the top of her lungs. “Look out!”
Sophie’s Plan
The wave swept up everything in its path—all the model boats and Winston’s boat too! Winston rose up, up, up and was carried along on the crest.
Winston’s boat was surfing the wave!
Sophie saw him look around in panic, wondering what was happening. He clutched the mast so he wouldn’t fall overboard.
“Mrs. Wise!” Sophie cried. “What do we do?!”
But everything was happening so fast. All they could do was watch, unable to help. The wave carried Winston’s boat right into a tangle of driftwood. The boat got snagged and the wave rolled on without it.
“Winston!” Mrs. Wise called. “Are you okay?”
“Yes!” Winston called back. “But I’m not sure my boat is!”
The sail was ripped. The mast had snapped in half.
Winston was stranded out in the middle of the pond.
“Don’t worry,” Mrs. Wise called. “I’ll fly over there and get you. You can ride on my back.” She spread her powerful wings.
“Wait!” Sophie cried. “I have a hunch Winston won’t want to leave his boat behind.”
Sophie looked around and spotted some cattails.
Would one be long enough to reach Winston? Maybe one wouldn’t, but a bunch would.
Sophie began plucking them and tying the ends together to form a long rope. Then she tied a loop at one end of the rope. She handed it to Mrs. Wise.
“Could you fly this end over to Winston?” Sophie asked. “Then the rest of us can hold the other end and pull his boat back to shore.”
Mrs. Wise nodded. She clutched the loop in her beak. Then she took off. With three mighty flaps of her wings, Mrs. Wise covered the distance to Winston. She circled overhead, dropped the loop, and lassoed Winston’s broken mast. Then she fluttered down so Winston could climb onto her back.
“She did it!” Sophie called out to her classmates. “Now let’s pull! Slowly! So the rope doesn’t snap.”
The whole class lined up behind Sophie to help. They pulled together like a tug-of-war team. Slowly, inch by inch, Winston’s boat crept closer to shore.
Finally, it hit land. At the same time, Winston hopped off Mrs. Wise’s back. He ran over and hugged Sophie.
Sophie patted Winston on the back as she hugged him. “Good thing you built such a sturdy boat, Winston!”
Winston pulled away. He looked his boat over and frowned. “It needs some repairs,” he said. Then his face brightened. “But I’ll fix it up as good as new!”
Sophie laughed. “I know you will!” she said.
In the end, the class was able to find every one of the model boats. They had washed up on the far side of the pond.
Some of them were a little banged up, but all of them were still afloat!
At home, Mr. and Mrs. Mouse were in good moods! Mrs. Mouse reported that the well near the bakery was nearly full again. Then she described the scene in the village when it began to rain.
“Everyone came outside and started dancing in the puddles!” Mrs. Mouse said with a laugh. “Mr. Handy of Handy’s Hardware was waltzing with Ms. Reeve, the librarian.”
Mr. Mouse laughed too. “Everyone is so relieved,” he said. “A few more rainy days like this and we’ll be just about back to normal.”
Up in her room, S
ophie found a special spot for her acorn-cap boat. She placed it in the corner near her easel.
Then Sophie got out a blank canvas. She mixed up some paints. And she began to paint a scene from her day. She painted a mouse on a boat surfing an enormous wave.
The painting called for a lot of gray. And Sophie did not mind one bit.
Here’s a peek at the next Adventures of Sophie Mouse book!
Mrs. Wise flung the school door open wide. Standing there was a well-dressed squirrel. Sophie blinked. It was Ellie’s father. And he was holding a big plate of cupcakes!
“Happy birthday, Ellie!” Mr. Squirrel called out to his daughter.
Ellie hurried over to her dad and gave him a quick hug. “Thanks for bringing them in, Dad!” Ellie said. Then she turned to the class. “Surprise, everybody! Mrs. Wise said I could bring in a birthday treat!”
Sophie and the other students cheered.
Ellie walked around, placing a card on each student’s desk.
Sophie glanced down. It was an invitation!
“Sunday is my actual birthday,” Ellie explained. “I hope all of you can come to my party.”
Sophie wiggled happily in her seat.
Forget the math quiz, she told herself. It’s party time!
Poppy Green can talk to animals! Unfortunately, they never talk back to her. So she started writing in order to imagine what they might say and do when humans aren’t watching. Poppy lives on the edge of the woods in Connecticut, where her backyard is often a playground for all kinds of wildlife: birds, rabbits, squirrels, voles, skunks, deer, and the occasional wild turkey.
Jennifer A. Bell is an illustrator whose work can be found on greeting cards, in magazines, and in more than a dozen children’s books. She lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota, with her husband, son, and cranky cat.
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
LITTLE SIMON
An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division • 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10020 • www.SimonandSchuster.com • First Little Simon hardcover edition March 2017 • Copyright © 2017 by Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form. LITTLE SIMON is a registered trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc., and associated colophon is a trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc. For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Simon & Schuster Special Sales at 1-866-506-1949 or [email protected]. The Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau can bring authors to your live event. For more information or to book an event contact the Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau at 1-866-248-3049 or visit our website at www.simonspeakers.com. Series designed by Laura Roode. Book designed by Hannah Frece. The text of this book was set in Usherwood.
Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available from the Library of Congress.
ISBN 978-1-4814-8590-6 (hc)
ISBN 978-1-4814-8589-0 (pbk)
ISBN 978-1-4814-8591-3 (eBook)