Chapter 6 
Chapter 6 
Over the next few days, Pine Needle Grove bustled with activity.
On Tuesday afternoon, Sophie went all over town putting up posters for the art show.
And everywhere Sophie went, she saw classmates busy with the Community Challenge. She saw Willy pulling a wagon full of books.
“I’m doing a book drive for the library,” Willy told Sophie. “I’m starting with all the books I don’t need anymore.”
Sophie met Zoe coming out of the general store with her mom. They each had a full grocery bag.
“We’re taking these to Mr. Badger’s house,” Zoe told her. “And we’ll see if any of his neighbors need anything.”
Then in the distance, she spied Winston, James, and Ben heading toward the playground. Winston had some empty sacks thrown over his shoulder. The two bunny brothers were lugging paint cans. Sophie wondered what colors they had picked for the monkey bars.
After school on Wednesday, Sophie and Owen helped Hattie with her project. Hattie had dug up plants and flowers from her own garden. She was going to put them in the wooden planters around town.
They started by weeding the planter in front of the post office.
Piper zipped over carrying a bag of envelopes. She stopped to say hello. “I’m doing my mail carrier’s route this week,” Piper said. “Do you know she hasn’t taken a day off in years?”
Piper told Hattie she’d just seen her sister, Lydie.
“She was helping Malcolm with his project,” Piper said. “They’re digging a root cellar for the new hedgehog family.”
Later, Sophie skipped into the bakery to check the sign-up sheet. There were three more names: Ellie, Zoe, and Mrs. Follet, the bookstore owner!
On Thursday after school, Sophie and Hattie helped Owen with his project. He had a plan for making a walking path through the Buttercup Patch.
First, they collected lots of wide, flat stones. These would be the stepping stones.
Then they mapped out a good route for the path to take around the Buttercup Patch. And then they started clearing the route.
They moved sticks and pulled up grass and weeds. Some buttercups had to be dug up too. Hattie replanted a few, off the path. Sophie offered to take the rest home.
“Just think of all the buttercup yellow paint I can make,” she told them.
The work was hard and the day was warm. But by dinnertime, all the stepping stones were in place. The path was complete.
