“Uncle Ereth,” Mariposa whispered, “why don’t you come back a little later? Poppy is—”
“What?”
“She wants to be alone. Quiet. I’m sure you can understand.”
“But . . .”
“Uncle Ereth, please.”
Ereth began to say something but instead wheeled about and started back through the snow. Halfway home he paused. “Maybe I shouldn’t have been so loud, so—” He did not finish the thought.
Back in his log, Ereth shook off the snow and retreated to the far end. “I suppose I should have been softer,” he muttered as he hunkered down. “Or expressed more sympathy with . . . some . . . niceness. Dying . . . it’s so . . . stupid.” He closed his eyes and sighed.
Five days passed before Ereth went back outside. He searched and scratched about the snowy forest until he found an old pinecone that had a few remaining seeds. Clutching it in his chattering teeth, he lumbered to Poppy’s snag.
“Poppy!” he called. “Poppy!”
Though no answer came, Ereth waited until he could no longer bear the cold. Leaving the pinecone at the entryway to the snag, he stumbled home. Two days later, he returned. The pinecone was gone. But when he called for Poppy, there was still no reply.
Ereth waited a whole week before making his next visit. When he called for Poppy, still no one answered. This time Ereth did something he had never done before: he left a bit of his favorite food, salt, by her snag.
Two weeks later Ereth went back. The salt was exactly where he had left it. Ereth, who was quite capable of passing the whole of winter without speaking to another creature, was anxious.
“Poppy!” he bellowed. “I have to see you!”
Poppy appeared. Ereth stared at his friend. She was thin. Her whiskers drooped. Her eyes seemed dull. She kept rubbing her forepaws together as if they were cold. “Yes, Ereth,” she said, speaking softly. “Can I help you?”
“I just wanted . . . to . . . say . . . I’m really sorry. About Rye.”
“Yes. Thank you. It’s . . . hard.”
“I left . . . some things.”
“The pinecone. That was very kind. As for the salt . . . I’m afraid I don’t really care for salt. Why don’t you take it back? I know how much you love it.” Poppy’s voice was so low, Ereth could barely hear her words.
“I just . . . thought,” Ereth stammered, “we might do . . . something to—”
“Ereth,” said Poppy, “I need to be alone for a while.”
“How come?”
“I’d . . . like to spend some time reading Rye’s poetry,” she said. Eyes welling with tears, she hastily turned and disappeared from view.
Ereth stared at the salt. Though just to look at it made him salivate, he was not going to take it back. As far as he was concerned, it belonged to Poppy. But otherwise the porcupine had no choice. He felt compelled to respect Poppy’s wishes.
“Dancing doorknobs,” he muttered as he trudged back home to his log. “I’m supposed to be her best friend! How can she not want to see me? It’s as if she’s gone away—permanently.”
It was not the cold that made Ereth shiver: it was the thought.
About the Author and Illustrator
AVI is the author of the Newbery Medal–winning CRISPIN: The Cross of Lead and the Newbery Honor Books NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH and THE TRUE CONFESSIONS OF CHARLOTTE DOYLE. He also writes the beloved Poppy stories, an animal adventure series that includes RAGWEED; POPPY, winner of the Boston Globe–Horn Book Award; POPPY AND RYE; ERETH’S BIRTHDAY; POPPY’S RETURN; and POPPY AND ERETH. His many other critically acclaimed books include DON’T YOU KNOW THERE’S A WAR ON?, the hilarious animal fantasy THE MAYOR OF CENTRAL PARK, and the Victorian ghost story THE SEER OF SHADOWS. Avi lives in Denver, Colorado. You can visit him online at www.avi-writer.com.
BRIAN FLOCA’s illustrations have appeared in several books by Avi, including the six volumes of the Poppy stories and the graphic novel CITY OF LIGHT, CITY OF DARK. For younger readers, he is the author and illustrator of MOONSHOT: The Flight of Apollo II as well as the highly praised books LIGHTSHIP, a Robert F. Sibert Honor Book and ALA Notable Book; THE RACECAR ALPHABET, also an ALA Notable Book; and FIVE TRUCKS. You can visit him online at www.brianfloca.com.
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Praise for the Poppy Books
RAGWEED
“A crackerjack tale that’s pure delight from start to finish.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
POPPY
A Boston Globe–Horn Book Award Winner
An SLJ Best Book
A Booklist Editors’ Choice
An ALA Notable Book
“IRRESISTIBLE!” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
POPPY AND RYE
“A sequel worthy of its predecessor.” —The Horn Book
ERETH’S BIRTHDAY
“A must-read for fans of the series.” —ALA Booklist
POPPY’S RETURN
“A heartwarming tale of friends, family, and home.”
—Chicago Tribune
Books by Avi
Ragweed
Poppy
Poppy and Rye
Ereth’s Birthday
Poppy’s Return
Poppy and Ereth
Credits
Cover art © 2005 by Brian Floca
Cover design by Jennifer Bankenstein
Copyright
POPPY’S RETURN. Text copyright © 2005 by Avi. Illustrations copyright © 2005 by Brian Floca. The illustrations are drawn with Eberhard Faber Design Ebony pencils on Stonehenge paper. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
www.harpercollinschildrens.com
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Avi, 1937-
Poppy’s return / by Avi ; illustrated by Brian Floca.— 1st ed.
p. cm.
Summary: Poppy, accompanied by her troublesome son Junior, his skunk friend, and Uncle Ereth the porcupine, responds to a summons to return to her ancestral home, Gray House, to save the mice there from destruction by a bulldozer.
ISBN-10: 0-06-000014-7 — ISBN-13: 978-0-06-000014-1
EPub Edition © March 2018 ISBN 9780062696366
[1. Family problems—Fiction. 2. Prejudices—Fiction. 3. Mothers and sons—Fiction. 4. Mice—Fiction. 5. Skunks—Fiction. 6. Porcupines—Fiction.] I. Floca, Brian, ill. II. Title.
PZ7.A928Pop 2005
2004030054
[Fic]—dc22
CIP
AC
First Harper edition, 2006
About the Publisher
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