The Great Big Paw Print

by Poppy Green

  CONTENTS

  Chapter 1: Stolen Apples

  Chapter 2: A Visit with Pippa

  Chapter 3: A Great Big Paw Print

  Chapter 4: Following in Someone’s Footsteps

  Chapter 5: Mystery at the Library

  Chapter 6: Thief with a Sweet Tooth

  Chapter 7: The Nose Knows

  Chapter 8: Wooly Bear

  Chapter 9: Wooly Comes Clean

  ‘It’s Raining, It’s Pouring’ Excerpt

  About Poppy Green and Jennifer A. Bell

  Stolen Apples

  It was a Monday afternoon and school had just let out in Pine Needle Grove. Sophie Mouse and her little brother, Winston, ran together to their mother’s bakery.

  They knew that right around this time, Mrs. Mouse would have just baked something delicious. They also knew that she would let them try it!

  And they were right. Mrs. Mouse gave a warm apple fritter to both Sophie and Winston.

  “Thank you kids for coming to help out today,” Mrs. Mouse told them. “There’s always so much to do to get ready for winter!”

  Every fall Mrs. Mouse stocked up on ingredients to bake with over the winter. Already she had canned her summer fruits: strawberries, blueberries, peaches, and plums.

  But she still had lots of autumn fruits and vegetables to preserve: apples and pears, cranberries and beets, pumpkins and pomegranates. So she had asked Sophie and Winston for help. They could wash and peel and get everything ready.

  “Can we come every day this week?” Winston asked, taking a bite of fritter.

  Sophie smiled. She could guess why her brother wanted to come to the bakery every day!

  “That would be a huge help,” Mrs. Mouse said, winking at Sophie.

  So every day that week, Sophie and Winston hurried to the bakery just as soon as school let out.

  Before they got to work, they’d sit on stools at the counter. Mrs. Mouse would serve them a treat fresh from the oven. And Sophie and Winston would tell her about their day.

  On Tuesday, Mrs. Mouse made cranberry tarts. Sophie nibbled as she explained that her day was okay.

  “It was supposed to be library day,” Sophie said. “But Mrs. Wise said the library is closed. It needs some kind of ‘emergency fix-up.’”

  “Hmm,” said Mrs. Mouse. “I hadn’t heard. I wonder what happened.”

  On Wednesday, Mrs. Mouse served up pumpkin spice scones.

  Meanwhile, Winston gabbed about the secret code he and his friend James were making up and a strange rustling he’d heard in the woods near the school. Sophie told Winston he was probably just imagining it.

  On Thursday, Mrs. Mouse gave Sophie and Winston cinnamon doughnuts.

  “Tomorrow is Apple Math Day!” Winston announced to his mother.

  “We each bring in a couple of apples,” explained Sophie. “We’ll sort them by color. We’ll graph how many there are of each color. And then we’ll taste them all!”

  On Friday, Sophie and Winston arrived later than usual.

  They plopped down into the stools. Their shoulders drooped.

  Sophie looked down at the plate Mrs. Mouse had put out for them. On it were two pastries.

  “They’re called bear claws,” said Mrs. Mouse. “It’s a brand-new recipe.”

  The pastries did have the same shape as bear paw prints.

  But Sophie didn’t feel like eating. Not until they shared their news.

  “Our apples disappeared!” Winston blurted out.

  Sophie nodded. “We left them out on the picnic table while we had our morning lesson inside. But when we came out for Apple Math, they were gone.”

  “You can’t do Apple Math without apples!” Winston cried.

  Mrs. Mouse gave them each a hug. “How disappointing,” she said gently. “I know how excited you were about Apple Math Day.”

  Sophie was very disappointed. But she was also very confused. “We looked all over for them,” Sophie said. “But they were just gone. It’s almost like someone . . . took them.”

  A Visit with Pippa

  In the Mouse family’s house in the hollow of the big oak tree, Sophie was almost done with her Saturday morning chores.

  She had made her bed. She had swept the upstairs hallway.

  She had even helped her dad tidy up the root cellar. The shelves were packed with jars of jams, jellies, and sauces. The bins were full of carrots and potatoes. They would last a long while in the cellar.

  “I’d say we’re almost set for the winter,” George Mouse said. He stacked the pickles two jars high. Now there was space for a few more.

  Sophie finished putting the spice containers in alphabetical order.

  When she was done, Sophie asked her dad if she could go play. She and Hattie and Owen wanted to visit their friend Pippa the hedgehog. “Any day now, she’ll be going to sleep for the winter,” Sophie explained.

  Mr. Mouse agreed, and Sophie ran off to pick up her friends. Soon, the three of them were on their way to Hickory Hill, where Pippa lived with her family.

  “I hope we can find her house,” Hattie said.

  They hadn’t seen Pippa since the previous winter when they’d met her. Sophie had accidentally crashed into Pippa’s house with her sled! The noise had woken Pippa from her winter sleep.

  “Hickory Hill looks so different without snow,” Owen remarked when they got there. The grassy hill was covered with late-season wildflowers.

  They peeked into the underbrush at the edge of the woods. “Hello?” Sophie called out. “Pippa? It’s us! Sophie—”

  “And Owen!” cried Owen.

  “And Hattie!” Hattie added.

  They stood silently, listening for a reply.

  Then they heard a rustling. A small voice called back, “Hello? Hello! Where are you?”

  Sophie called out again. “Follow the sound of my voice!” she said.

  Moments later, a little head covered in spiky brown fur poked out of the underbrush.

  “Pippa!” Sophie, Hattie, and Owen shouted.

  “Haaa!” Pippa exclaimed. “Ooo! Mmm shh fro whood fru shee ooo!”

  Sophie looked at Owen and Hattie. “What did she say?”

  Hattie and Owen shrugged.

  Pippa ran up to them. “Ho hm frooo beh?” she said excitedly.

  Sophie forced a smile. She couldn’t understand Pippa. Was this some sort of hedgehog language they didn’t know?

  How could they all play together if they couldn’t understand one another?

  What was going on?

  A Great Big Paw Print

  For a moment, they stood in awkward silence.

  Then Sophie noticed Pippa was chewing. Her mouth was stuffed with berries.

  No wonder! thought Sophie. She was trying to talk with her mouth full!

  Pippa gulped them down and then giggled. “Let me try saying that again. I said, ‘It’s so good to see you! How have you been?’”

  Before Sophie could answer, Pippa added, “Oh! How rude of me. Would you like some berries?” She opened her paw to reveal a few more.

  The friends laughed.

  “Don’t be silly,” said Hattie. “You need it! You’re filling up for your winter sleep!”

  Sophie nodded. “We’re filling up at our house, too,” she said. “Except we’re filling up our pantry. You have to fill up your tummy!”

  Pippa ate her last few berries. Then she motioned for the others to follow her. “Come on! You have to meet my family!” Pippa said.

  The friends followed Pippa through the underbrush. Before long, they came to a mound of dry leaves and grass. Sophie remembered this: it was Pippa’s house!

  Six more hedgehogs sat eating together out front. At first, they seemed alarm
ed to see strangers. But Pippa said: “Everyone! These are the snow-day friends I told you about!”

  Pippa introduced her mother and father, and her sisters and brothers: Penny, Peter, Pearl, and Percy.

  Pearl, the youngest, tugged at Sophie’s leggings. “Can you really make a mouse out of snow?” she asked.

  Sophie, Hattie, and Owen laughed. Clearly Pippa had told Pearl all about their snow adventures.

  Sophie smiled. “I sure can!” she replied.

  Pippa’s parents invited the guests to join them for a snack.

  “Actually,” said Sophie, “we were hoping Pippa could come play for a little bit.”

  “Oh, can I?” Pippa asked her parents excitedly.

  “Of course,” Pippa’s mom said.

  So the friends headed for Forget-Me-Not Lake.

  “Remember last time?” Sophie said as they walked.

  “The lake was frozen,” Hattie said.

  “We went ice skating!” Owen added. “Or tried to. Right, Pippa? Uh, Pippa?”

  They stopped and looked back. Pippa was way behind. She was nibbling on some seeds she’d found.

  Sophie, Hattie, and Owen waited patiently as Pippa chewed.

  “Sorry!” Pippa said, hurrying to catch up.

  They walked a dozen more steps—until Pippa spotted some mushrooms. She stopped for another mouthful.

  The others stopped too.

  It happened again and again. They walked a bit. Pippa stopped for a snack. They walked a bit more.

  All in all, there was more eating than walking.

  Hattie turned to whisper in Sophie’s ear as they walked. “This might take a while. I wonder—aah!”

  Hattie wasn’t looking where she was going and she fell right into a shallow ditch in the path!

  “Hattie!” Sophie cried. “Are you okay?” She climbed down to help her friend.

  Hattie stood up, brushing dirt off her skirt. “Oh, I’m fine,” she said. “But who dug this ditch right in the middle of the path?”

  Up on higher ground, Owen was looking at the full size of this “ditch.”

  “Actually,” Owen said, “I don’t think that’s a ditch. . . .”

  “What do you mean?” Sophie asked.

  “I think it’s a paw print,” Owen said. “Come look.”

  Sophie and Hattie scrambled up to stand next to Owen.

  Now Sophie could see the whole thing. “You’re right,” she told Owen. “That is a paw print. A great big paw print!”

  Sophie studied it. The shape looked so familiar.

  Sophie’s stomach suddenly grumbled. She gasped. That was it! The paw print looked like the pastry at her mom’s bakery.

  All of a sudden, Sophie knew!

  “A bear claw!” she cried.

  Following in Someone’s Footsteps

  “A bear claw?!” the other three animals asked at the same time.

  Bears lived in Silverlake Forest. Everyone knew that.

  But not everyone in Silverlake Forest had met one.

  Sophie nodded. “Definitely. I’ve never seen a bear paw print before but this looks exactly like the bear claw pastries my mom has been making.”

  “What—what should we do?” asked Hattie nervously.

  Suddenly, Pippa spoke up. “I just remembered! My dad said he’s met a bear family around here,” she told them. “I’m pretty sure he said they seemed friendly. And they hibernate for winter just like us, so maybe this bear is already sleeping!”

  That seemed to relieve Hattie a bit.

  “Well, let’s go to Forget-Me-Not Lake,” Sophie suggested. “And we can all keep an eye out . . . just in case,” she added.

  So the friends continued on. Finally, they arrived at the water’s edge. Pippa found a comfy spot to graze in a bed of lemon clover. Sophie picked up stones and tried to skip them on the water. Hattie hopscotched across lily pads.

  Owen dipped his tail into the lake and shivered. “Brrrr . . . ,” he said. “It’s already too cold to swim!”

  The friends were silent for a little while.

  Sophie was lost in thought, imagining what it might be like to run into a bear. Surely, there might be nice bears. After all, everyone was afraid of Owen when he arrived at Pine Needle Grove because he was a snake and they’d heard scary stories about snakes. But Owen was one of the nicest animals Sophie had ever met. But what if the bear came to Pine Needle Grove? What would they do?

  “Sophie? Sophie?”

  All three animals were looking at Sophie.

  “Oh—sorry!” Sophie said.

  “Daydreaming again?” Hattie asked with a knowing smile. Sophie nodded sheepishly.

  “We were asking if you want to play a game,” Pippa told her.

  So the friends played for a while. They looked for glittery rocks at the lake edge. They drew in the mud with sticks.

  Pippa would begin each activity with them. But after a few minutes, she would take a snack break.

  In the end, the friends just chatted, with Pippa snacking, and Sophie, Hattie, and Owen lazing on rocks nearby.

  When Pippa started to yawn, the animals decided it was time to go home.

  “I’ve been getting tired earlier and earlier every day,” Pippa said, as she got up and stretched. “So I know it must almost be hibernation time!”

  As the friends said good-bye, Sophie promised they’d come visit Pippa in the spring.

  “Bye, everyone!” Pippa called as she walked toward her home.

  Sophie, Hattie, and Owen waved good-bye until they couldn’t see Pippa anymore.

  It was still early in the afternoon. The friends decided to take a different route home—the long way around the lake.

  They kept the water in sight the whole way. They tromped through a bunch of white birch trees. They balanced on log bridges across streams.

  Then they walked up a little hill. Sophie suddenly stopped at the top. Hattie and Owen did, too.

  Down below, on the other side of the hill, was another bear track. It was partially hidden by leaves. But Sophie recognized it immediately.

  “Should—should we keep going?” Hattie asked.

  Sophie was less confident this time, but she knew she had to be brave for Hattie. “I guess we were bound to see another one,” she said. “Right?”

  Owen nodded. The three friends walked on.

  A dozen paces later, they saw another bear track.

  And then another.

  And then another.

  “Okaaaay,” said Hattie. “So a bear definitely came this way.”

  “But we don’t know when,” Sophie pointed out. “It could have been a long time ago.”

  The friends walked and they walked. And every so often, they saw another paw print. It was almost as if they were following the bear!

  Then they came around a bend. In the distance Sophie could make out Oak Hollow Theater through the trees. That meant they were getting close to town.

  And so were the bear tracks.

  “Do you think . . . ?” Hattie began.

  Sophie knew what her friend was thinking. “There’s a bear in town?”

  Mystery at the Library

  Somewhere between the theater and the library, Sophie, Hattie, and Owen lost the paw prints. The bear tracks had been getting fainter each time, and soon the friends could not find any more.

  Sophie shrugged. “Oh well.”

  “Maybe the bear turned off in another direction?” Hattie suggested.

  “You know what?” Owen said. “If there were a bear in town, I’m sure we’d know. I mean, I think it would be obvious.”

  Sophie laughed. “Yeah,” she said. “I think the bear would probably be hard to miss!”

  “So that solves it!” cried Hattie happily. “No bear in town!”

  They weren’t far from the library. Sophie wanted to check to see if it had reopened yet. But Owen had to get home. So the friends said good-bye and parted ways.

  An OPEN sign was hanging on the door of the librar
y! “Yay!” Sophie cheered as she pushed on the door.

  Inside, the library looked just as it usually did. The books lined the floor-to-ceiling shelves. The chairs at the reading tables were neatly pushed in. The wooden floors gleamed.

  Sophie and Hattie browsed the young reader section. They didn’t seem to have the newest Mystery Mouse book. But Sophie found a novel about a pirate squirrel that sounded good. Hattie chose a fantasy story set in a floating city.

  “Oooh,” said Sophie, peeking at Hattie’s book. “Not at all a practical choice. Good for you, Hattie!”

  Hattie laughed. “You’re rubbing off on me, Sophie Mouse.”

  They took their books to the counter. The librarian, Ms. Reeve, checked them out. She stamped the due date onto a card on the inside back cover. Then she handed the books to Sophie and Hattie.

  Sophie turned to go, but then she suddenly wheeled back around. “Oh, Ms. Reeve! What was the ‘emergency cleanup’ for?”

  Ms. Reeve leaned over the counter. “It was the strangest thing,” she said. “I was the first one here that morning. I noticed that the back door was already open. And when I walked in, the place was a mess! The trash cans were knocked over, some of the trash had blown into other parts of the library, and some of the bookshelves had even been knocked over.”

  Sophie and Hattie exchanged puzzled looks.

  “That’s odd,” Hattie said. “What do you think happened?”

  Ms. Reeve shrugged. “I still don’t know. But the only thing missing was some leftover cake from the party we’d had for another librarian’s birthday that day!”