Looking for Winston

by Poppy Green

  Suddenly Sophie noticed an older toad sitting on the bank downstream. She was reading the newspaper. Sophie hurried over to her.

  “Excuse me,” Sophie said politely. “Have you seen a little spotted mouse this morning?”

  The toad looked up from her paper. She studied Sophie. “Seen one?” she said. “I’m looking at one right now!”

  Sophie laughed. “No, I mean smaller than me,” she said.

  The toad put her paper down. “Well, now. I do recall seeing a mouse earlier. I’m not sure, but I think he went that way.” The toad pointed downstream.

  Sophie gasped. “He did? Oh, thank you. Thank you so much!”

  She skipped along downstream, happy to have a lead. She’d catch up with Winston. She’d give him the good news. And she’d get him to come back to Butterfly Brook.

  A Few Clues

  At the next bend in the stream, Sophie had to slow down. The bank was muddy. She had to choose her path carefully. She looked down to plan her hops from rock to rock.

  That’s when she spotted them.

  Fresh tracks in the mud!

  Sophie stopped. She looked more closely. Yes! She was sure, now. They looked like mouse tracks!

  Now I’m definitely on the right path! thought Sophie. I will follow these mouse tracks wherever they lead. And at the end, I will find Winston!

  So Sophie followed the tracks. She followed them down the stream. They led to a spot where a log footbridge crossed the water. Muddy mouse footprints led across the bridge. So Sophie crossed the bridge too.

  On the other side, she found more tracks in the mud. And that wasn’t all. Sophie spotted a little pile of nut shells between two of the footprints. Acorn shells! Winston’s favorite!

  The footprints and the trail of acorn shells led upstream, so Sophie followed them along the stream bank. Finally, the tracks took a turn away from the water. They led out of the mud and into a thicket. On the firmer ground, Sophie couldn’t see the tracks anymore.

  But the trail of acorn shells led on. Sophie looked ahead into the dense underbrush. She saw a few more shells and made her way to them. Then she saw more farther on.

  What was Winston doing coming this way? Sophie wondered. It’s not easy getting through here. And it’s kind of far from home. Where was he going?

  Sophie kept following the trail of acorn shells. She ducked under thorny vines. She climbed over fallen branches. She squeezed through a tight space between two rocks. And she parted a curtain of ivy.

  Then she stopped. She was staring at a door—a wooden door in the side of a rocky mound. It was mouse-size. And it had a knocker.

  Sophie did what any adventurous mouse would do: She knocked on the door.

  Within seconds, it swung open. On the other side was an old gray mouse. He was wearing suspender trousers, a button-down shirt, and a wool cap. He was nibbling on an acorn. Bits of shell fell onto the doorstep.

  The mouse pulled a pair of glasses out of his shirt pocket. He put them on and peered through them at Sophie.

  “What do you want?” he said, a bit grumpily.

  For a moment Sophie was speechless. Then she blurted out, “You’re not Winston!”

  “Correct!” the old mouse said. “I’m not Winston!” And he shut the door firmly.

  Walking in Circles

  Sophie stood frozen to the spot. Her mouth hung open in surprise. She was too shocked to feel insulted.

  She thought back to the toad reading the paper near Hattie’s house. She said she’d seen a small gray mouse. And she had. It just wasn’t Winston!

  All this time, Sophie had been tracking the wrong mouse!

  Sophie was worried. She realized she had no idea where Winston was. She was the one who had sent him home. And now he was missing. What if he was lost? Winston wasn’t as good at finding his way around Silverlake Forest as she was.

  Sophie looked up toward the sky. She sniffed the air. She saw moss growing on the north side of a tree trunk. She did some figuring in her head. She’d gone all the way from Butterfly Brook, to her house, to the playground, to the stream. Then she had tracked the mouse to where she was now.

  She realized she’d walked in one big circle! That meant she was not far from Butterfly Brook now.

  Sophie made a decision. She had to tell her parents Winston was missing. Both of them were in town. The fastest way there would take her past Butterfly Brook. She’d stop on the way to tell Hattie and Owen what was going on.

  Sophie set out at a quick pace. She really hoped her mom and dad knew what to do. As Sophie neared Butterfly Brook, she came to a mud puddle. A stick was standing straight up in the mud. Sophie hopped over the puddle and noticed some lines drawn in the mud. That kind of looks like an M, she thought as she hurried on.

  Three steps later, Sophie stopped suddenly. She turned around and hurried back to the mud.

  From this side, the M looked like . . . a W! A W for Winston!

  Could Winston have drawn it? Could he actually be nearby?

  “WIN-ston?” Sophie called out. “WINSTON!”

  But there was no answer. All Sophie heard were birds chattering above and her own voice echoing off the tree trunks all around.

  Sophie walked quickly on. She zipped through a tunnel of low-hanging branches. She darted around a briar patch. She sped along the edge of a gully. When her nose caught the scent of water, she knew she was almost at Butterfly Brook.

  Then, around a bend in the path, Sophie saw it. A square of white fabric stood out on the dark forest floor. She picked it up.

  It was her handkerchief! The one she had given Winston for his knee! Now Sophie was sure. He must have been here, Sophie thought. But . . . this isn’t the way home.

  Then a completely new idea came to her.

  What if Winston didn’t go home at all?

  Winston’s Surprise

  Sophie’s mind was racing. But before she could make sense of it all, she heard a sound. It was slow and steady. Knock, knock, knock. She listened, then followed the sound.

  The sound got louder as Sophie got closer to the source. Knock . . . knock . . . knock . . .

  Sophie came over a little rise. On the other side was a small gray mouse. He was holding a rock in one hand. He was using it like a hammer to pound a stick into the ground.

  “WINSTON!” Sophie cried.

  She ran to her brother. Winston stopped hammering. He looked up, startled, as Sophie plowed into him. She swept him up in a huge hug. Winston squirmed. But Sophie didn’t let go.

  “Oh Winston, you have no idea how glad I am to see you!”

  “What are you doing?” Winston asked when he was finally able to wriggle free. “What’s the big deal?”

  Sophie sighed with relief. Then she began talking very fast. “Winston, I’m so sorry I sent you home before. But I went home looking for you. Because we needed your help. And you weren’t at the house. Now I know it’s because you never went there. Hey . . . but that means you didn’t listen to me! Never mind. I’m not mad. I’ve been searching everywhere for you. And here you are! I’m so glad you’re okay!”

  Winston looked confused for a second. He was taking it all in. “Of course I’m okay,” he said. He put his hands on his hips. “But why did you need my help?”

  Sophie smiled. She opened her mouth to tell him how he could save the day with his knot-tying skills.

  But before any words came out, Sophie noticed something. Behind Winston was a big structure. The stick that Winston had been hammering was part of it—just one small part.

  Winston had built his own fort. And it was an amazing fort!

  Sophie gasped. “Winston, how did you do this?” she asked in wonder.

  Go, Team!

  Winston smiled proudly. “You like it?” he asked Sophie.

  Sophie nodded, speechless, as she studied the fort. Winston had used rocks as his building blocks. He had used wet mud to hold the rocks in place. This was how he had built up the walls. Then he had layered pine boug
hs on top to make the roof.

  “I’m adding a front porch,” said Winston. He picked up another stick. He hammered it into the ground with his rock.

  “It’s really, really cool,” Sophie said, admiring it. “Can we show Hattie and Owen?”

  Winston nodded. Sophie called down toward the brook. “Hattie! Owen! Are you down there?”

  Far off, Sophie heard their voices in reply. She called for them to come up. “You have to see this!” she shouted.

  While they waited for Hattie and Owen, Sophie had an idea. But she wasn’t sure what her brother would think of it.

  “Um, Winston,” she said timidly. “Do you need any help? Because . . . I mean . . . if you want, we could help you finish your fort. We could build one giant fort together.”

  Winston stopped hammering.

  “I don’t need any help,” he said.

  Sophie’s shoulders dropped. “Oh,” she said sadly. “Okay. I understand if you want to do it yourself—”

  Winston interrupted. “What I mean is, I could do it all by myself.” He paused. “But if you want to help me, I guess you can. We could make a bigger and better fort if we worked together.”

  Sophie clapped in excitement. “Great!” she said. “It’ll be so fun!”

  Hattie and Owen came walking up. They were just as amazed by Winston’s fort as Sophie was. And they hadn’t gotten very far with their own fort, so they were happy to help Winston with his.

  Winston worked on finishing the front porch. Owen and Hattie used Winston’s extra rocks and mud to add another small room. Winston showed them how to tie the roof pieces together with super-strong knots! Sophie figured out how to put a skylight in the roof. Then they all worked together to add a front door.

  When they were done, they found rocks and bark pieces just the right size for seats. They set them inside the fort in a circle. Then they sat down together. Sophie shared the water and snacks she had in her satchel.

  “This is so cool!” said Winston. “Our own fort in the woods!”

  “Wait until we tell Dad at dinner!” said Sophie. “He’s going to be so proud of your building design, Winston!”

  Sophie imagined painting a picture of her day after dinner. It would be a painting of their fort at Butterfly Brook. There would be blue morpho butterflies fluttering around. And her brother, Winston, would be right in the middle of the scene.

  Here’s a peek at the next Adventures of Sophie Mouse book!

  Sophie Mouse tapped her pencil on her school desk. Her assignment was to write a math word-problem. Sophie wondered if Mrs. Wise would like hers.

  Lily Mouse had 100 maple tarts to sell at the Maple Festival. She sold 20 before lunch. She sold 30 after lunch. How many did she have left to take home to her family?

  Mmmm . . . thought Sophie as she reread the problem. Autumn was a very yummy time of year. It was when her mom made all kinds of maple treats at her bakery in Pine Needle Grove. And every year, Mrs. Mouse sold them at the big Maple Festival. Sophie couldn’t wait for this year’s festival. It was coming up next weekend!

  A cool breeze blew in through the window. It carried a few red leaves with it.

  “Okay, class!” Mrs. Wise called out. “Time for recess!”

  The whole class jumped up. Sophie joined her friends Hattie Frog and Owen Snake at the door. They headed out to the playground.

  “Are you both going to the Maple Festival this weekend?” Sophie asked them.

  Hattie nodded. “Of course!” she said. “I want to ride the Ferris wheel at least five times!”

  Owen gasped. “There will be a Ferris wheel?” His family had moved to Pine Needle Grove a few months before. He had never been to the Maple Festival.

  “Owen, there’s so much to do there!” Sophie cried. The three friends were nearing the swings. “There’s dragonfly racing. You can play games to win prizes, like cranberry necklaces and acorn-top yo-yos!”

  “There are ribbon-dancing grasshoppers!” added Zoe, a bluebird who was swinging on a swing.

  “And my mom’s bake stand!” said Winston, Sophie’s little brother. He ran between Sophie and Hattie and was gone in a flash.

  “Yummm,” said several students, rubbing their bellies.

  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, 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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  Simon & Schuster • New York

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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 August 2015 • Copyright © 2015 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 business@simonandschuster.com. 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.

  Designed by Laura Roode. The text of this book was set in Usherwood.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Green, Poppy. Looking for Winston / by Poppy Green ; illustrated by Jennifer A. Bell. — First Little Simon paperback edition. pages cm. — (The adventures of Sophie Mouse ; #4) Summary: “Sophie Mouse’s brother, Winston, wants to help her build a fort in the woods, but Sophie Mouse tells him he should go home because he’s too little. When she realizes that she could use his help, he’s nowhere to be found!”— Provided by publisher. [1. Brothers and sisters—Fiction. 2. Missing children—Fiction. 3. Mice—Fiction. 4. Animals—Fiction.] I. Bell, Jennifer (Jennifer A.), 1977- illustrator. II. Title. PZ7.G82616Lo 2015 [Fic]—dc23 2014043214

  ISBN 978-1-4814-3004-3 (hc)

  ISBN 978-1-4814-3003-6 (pbk)

  ISBN 978-1-4814-3005-0 (eBook)