Chapter 1: Hattie Hides from the Spotlightchapter 1 Hattie Hides from the Spotlight
Sophie closed her eyes and stretched out on her raft.

The springtime sun was warm on her face. Her friends Hattie and Owen swam nearby, talking and laughing. The water lapped gently at the sides of the raft. All was peaceful on Forget-Me-Not Lake until--



Splash! Owen and Hattie splashed her from the water.

"Ah!" Sophie sat up and opened her eyes. She used her oar to splash Owen and Hattie back. "Water fight!"

Hattie ducked under the water. Like most frogs, she was an excellent swimmer. She resurfaced on the other side of the raft. Hattie splashed Sophie from that side. Owen splashed Sophie from the other.

"No fair!" Sophie called out. "Two against one!"

Owen used his long snake tail to splash Hattie. She dove underwater again.



"Where did she go?" Owen said.

He and Sophie scanned the water's surface.

Sophie heard a rustle in the reeds behind her. She whirled around, expecting to find Hattie. "Ah-ha!"

Instead, Sophie was staring down at two young ducks.

"Wah!" one of them quacked in surprise.



"Sorry!" the other duck said. "We weren't trying to spy on you. It just... looked like fun."

Sophie laughed. "That's okay!"

"Want to play?" Owen asked the ducks.

"Sure!" the first duck said eagerly. Her eyes focused on something over Sophie's shoulder. "But are you sure your friend doesn't mind?"



"Huh?" said Sophie. She turned around.

Behind some rocks, Sophie could make out a green nose and one eye. It peeked out at them through flower-rimmed eyeglasses.

"So that's where Hattie went!" Sophie cried. She leaned close to the ducks and whispered, "She's a little shy. But only at first." Then Sophie had an idea.

Sophie organized them in a game of leapfrog--Hattie's favorite. The more they played, the farther Hattie came out into the open.



"Hattie!" Sophie called out. "We could use one more to make our leapfrog line longer!"

Hattie hesitated for a moment. Then she smiled and leaped over to join in. Before long, Hattie was laughing loudest of all.

"They were nice," Hattie said later about the ducks.

She and Sophie and Owen were on the path back to Pine Needle Grove. Close to town, they came around a bend. Sophie could make out the brand-new roof of Oak Hollow Theater up ahead in the distance.



"Have either of you been inside the theater?" Owen asked.

Hattie shook her head.

"Not since they reopened," Sophie said.

Ever since they could remember, Oak Hollow Theater had been a rustic outdoor theater: log benches arranged on a slope in front of a simple stage.

But recently it had been redone. The Pine Needle Grove Arts Council had hired a great architect for the project--Sophie's dad, George Mouse! A huge group of volunteers had raised the new roof and decorated the inside.

Sophie had seen the plans on her dad's drafting table. But not the real thing. "Should we take a peek?" Sophie asked. Owen and Hattie nodded.



As they pushed open the front doors, Sophie could not believe her eyes.

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Excerpted from Hattie in the Spotlight by Poppy Green
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