A new friend: Eight-year-old Sophie Mouse is excited to return to school after the long winter break, but there is a new student--a snake--and Sophie and the other animals are afraid to sit near him, much less ask him to play with them, because they have heard snakes are awful. The emerald berries: Eight-year-old Sophie learns about some special emerald berries that will make the perfect color for a painting she wants to do, so she asks her friend Hattie to go with her to Weedsnag Way, a part of the forest that is far from home and very frightening. Forget-Me-Not-Lake: Sophie Mouse wants to prove how wonderful mice are for a school project she's doing with her brother, Winston. She starts to have doubts when, even with Hattie and Owen's help, she is unable to learn to swim. Looking for Winston: Sophie Mouse's brother, Winston, wants to help her build a fort in the woods. She tells him to go home because he's too little, and then changes her mind; however by then, he's nowhere to be found.