The Mystery of Mr. E
| Author | Valerie Tripp |
| Illustrator | Thu Thai |
| Originally Published | © 2017 American Girl |
| ISBN | 9781609588779 |
Wishing for Fun
The five WellieWishers stand inside their playhouse, staring out the windows at the snowy and sleety day. They’re bored out of their minds, being stuck playing inside again. Camille and Emerson both wish something exciting would happen.
Then Ashlyn has an idea. Maybe they can put on costumes and play a guessing game of who they’re pretending to be. They’ll each say a rhyming riddle, and the others have to fill in the ending. The WellieWishers all dive into their costume trunk and pull out an assortment of fabrics and toys.
Ashlyn goes first. She puts on a pair of wings, a headband with two antennae, and is holding a flower wand. She states her rhyme:
Who am I?
When you see me flutter by,
You say, “Hello, _____"
The girls echo “Butterfly” to finish the rhyme.
Then Willa goes. She wears a piece of fabric wrapped around both wrists like flying wings, and a mask that gives her a beak over her nose:
I fly at night, and when I do,
I spread my wings and hoot,
“Whoo-oo!"
Whoo-oo am I?
The girls answer that she’s an owl. Next is Emerson’s turn. She has a piece of fabric on her like a cape that glimmers in the lamplight. She also put on a headband with a cone with decorated moon and stars.
Moon on my hat,
Stars on my dress.
I’m a beautiful sight.
Who am I? Can you guess?
The girls respond that she must be the night sky.
Camille volunteers to go next. She put on a shell and starfish crown and a shimmery light blue and purple fabric poncho, and is holding a shell in her hand.
Shells and starfish live in me.
Who am I?
I am _____
“The sea!” the girls respond. She curtsies, and the poncho floats around her like plants in a gentle wave. Lastly, Kendall steps up. She wears a leaf crown, a red cape, and is holding a rose on her stick:
I have lots of green leaves.
I’m a treat for your nose.
I’m a beautiful flower,
I’m a pretty, red _____
The girls shout “Rose!” Camille sighs. She can’t wait until they have roses in the garden again. Ashlyn says the snow is pretty, but she wishes she could make it all melt away. The girls suggest they make up a song while they pretend Ashlyn can melt the snow with her wand. To the tune of “Old MacDonald Had a Farm,” Ashlyn sings:
We can go down to the pond
When the ice is gone.
Feed the ducklings and the geese,
Minnows, crayfish, swans.
With a duck, duck here,
And a duck, duck there,
Here a duck, there a duck,
Everywhere a duck, duck!
We can go down to the pond
When the ice is gone.
Emerson chips in:
We could dig a garden plot
And plant lots of seeds:
Carrots, pumpkins, melons, squash,
Lettuce beans, and peas.
Camille joins the fun:
We’ll walk barefoot
With the grass
Tickling our toes!
Wade in puddles, splash in mud,
Wash off with the hose.
With a splish-splash here,
And a splish-splash there,
Here a splish, there a splash
Everywhere a splish-splash.
We’ll walk barefoot with the grass
Tickling our toes.
Then, Aunt Miranda, Willa’s Aunt, pokes her head through the door. She introduces the girls to her friend, Mr. E. a big, hairy white dog bounds up to the door of the playhouse. Aunt Miranda explains that her friend, Shu Ping is traveling in China for a few weeks, so he’s asked Aunt Miranda to watch his dog.
The girls delightfully run outside to pet Mr. E. Ashlyn wonders if maybe her wand really is magic, because their wish for something new and fun just came true.
Taking Care of Mr. E
A few days later, the girls are taking Mr. E for a walk. They take turns holding the leash as they walk all around the wintery garden. Mr. E likes to stop to sniff every rock, tree stump, and pile of leaves, so the girls have to be patient.
When they get back to the playhouse, the girls make sure Mr. E is comfortable and dry. Emerson scratches the dog’s ears while Camille reads a story aloud. The dog’s tail goes thump, thump, thump happily on the ground.
When Aunt Miranda comes to check on them, she finds Willa making a popcorn string to feed the animals in the garden. She’s nervous they are having trouble finding food in the winter. Aunt Miranda offers to pop them more in the house.
After Aunt Miranda leaves, the girls talk about what they think the E in Mr. E stands for. They say it can’t be Energetic, as they look at Mr. E lying asleep on the ground. Emerson says it’s probably not Exciting or Elegant. Kendall pets Mr. E’s head. Maybe it stands for Extra lovable. Or Extremely sweet, adds Ashlyn.
When Willa is down stringing the popcorn they’ve got, Kendall suggests going outside to hang the popcorn on a tree. The girls get bundled up as quietly as possible, and step outside. But it seems like Mr. E doesn’t want to move. They leave the door open in case Mr. E wakes up and wants to join them later.
It takes them a while to find the right place to hang the popcorn string. But when Aunt Miranda joins them, they’ve found the perfect spot. Aunt Miranda asks where Mr. E is.
“We left Mr. E asleep in the playhouse,” says Willa. Aunt Miranda is confused. She says she was just there, bringing more popcorn, and Mr. E wasn’t there. Camille explains they left the door open. Mr. E probably woke up and came outside.
The girls and Aunt Miranda begin calling for Mr. E. But Mr. E doesn’t come running. Willa wants to search the garden, but Aunt Miranda says it’s nearly dusk. The girls have to go home. She’s sure Mr. E will join her at the house for dinner. Regretfully, the girls trudge back to the garden gate.
Where is Mr. E?
The next afternoon, the girls arrive and go straight to Aunt Miranda’s house. She explains she left out some water and food outside the door. It was gone in the morning. She thinks Mr. E came to eat it, based on the pawprints left in the snow. But Mr. E didn’t bark to be let inside. The girls nervously wonder where Mr. E is.
Aunt Miranda says she already went by Shu Ping’s house, and Mr. E wasn’t there. Next, she’ll make signs and they’ll put them up over the neighborhood and ask them to give Aunt Miranda a call if they see Mr. E. She already notified the police and all the animal shelters in town.
The girls spend the whole day searching for Mr. E in the garden. But nobody finds her. Two days pass, and still Mr. E is gone. Every night, Aunt Miranda leaves food and water outside the house. And each morning, the food and water is gone, and there’s fresh pawprints on the ground. Aunt Miranda is sure the dog is still in the garden somewhere, at least some of the time.
On the fourth day, as always, the girls search the garden high and low. Their feet slip on the snowy ground, and the snow falls into their wellington boots and melts and makes their toes cold. Snow falls off branches and trickles down their necks. They shout and yell for Mr. E until their throats are sore. But yet, no matter how hard they search, they still can’t find Mr. E. Wherever Mr. E has gone, it’s a mystery.
The next day, they find another mystery. The girls come to the playhouse, and see a big mess of spilled popcorn and fabric and costumes that have been torn and are missing.
As the girls tidy up the playhouse, they realize the snow is finally beginning to melt. As they look outside the door, Emerson sings to the tune “Old MacDonald Had a Farm”:
With a drip, drip here,
And a drip, drip there,
Here a drip, there a drip,
Everywhere a drip, drip!
Ashlyn, who always loves a good party, suggests having a party to celebrate the snow melting. Kendall says she doesn’t think anyone is in the mood for a party with Mr. E still missing. And soon, Shu Ping will be coming home from China, and Aunt Miranda will have to tell him that they lost his dog.
Ashlyn says that they cannot give up looking for Mr. E. Willa is already putting on her coat and hat and mittens. They’ve got to go out looking for Mr. E again.
Mr. E Mystery
Camille scoops Carrot up into her arms, and the girls take off in a new direction to search for Mr. E. The air is getting warmer, so as they climb up the hill, they get so hot and sweaty they have to take off their hats and mittens and unzip their coats. When they finally reach the top, they’re all sweaty.
They sit down on a big rock to take a break, while Camille lets Carrot out of her arms. Willa exclaims this is the first time since they’ve been searching that everything hasn’t been covered with snow.
The girls turn around to find Carrot, and they see the bunny has hopped to the other side of the big rock. The girls slide down the rock and follow the bunny. When they lean down, they see a little cave under the overhanging rock. And inside, is Mr. E, surrounded by a litter of puppies!
Ashlyn says that it all makes sense now. Mr. E came back for food and water and to get warm fabrics, but always had to come back to the cave to watch over her puppies! Kendall explains that they probably passed this rock a hundred times, but it was always covered with snow.
Emerson runs off to get Aunt Miranda. She promises to keep the puppy discovery a secret. In just a little while, Aunt Miranda and Emerson come running up the path. Aunt Miranda’s hair is windblown and she’s not wearing a coat. As she squats down, she sees the puppies, gasps, and sits down on the ground. She’s astonished, to say the least.
Then Willa realizes. How did Mr. E have puppies? Isn’t Mr. E a boy? Aunt Miranda grins. “Did you say Mr. E?” she asks. The girls nod their heads. Aunt Miranda clarifies: “Her name is Mystery, not Mr. E.” Shu Ping named her that because she mysteriously appeared one day, and he never could find her owner.
The girls realize that this solves all the mysteries! They find the empty bag of popcorn and the costumes in the cave. Very carefully, each of the girls picks up a puppy, and they take the animals back to Aunt Miranda’s house. Mystery seems nervous about the girls carrying the puppies, but once they’re inside and settled in Mystery’s bed, she calms down.
The girls ask Aunt Miranda if they can keep the puppies in the garden. Aunt Miranda shakes her head, and says that five puppies in the garden is too much. They’ll dig up the flowers and vegetables and scare the animals. All of the girls are heartbroken about the idea of the puppies leaving them.
Puppy Party
The girls all decide to have a puppy celebration sleepover party on Friday. They make Aunt Miranda a triple-decker cake, and they put on their nighties and slippers and tuck into their sleeping bags. Mystery and her puppies sleep inside the tent.
The girls wonder if Shu Ping will let Mystery and the puppies come visit in the springtime, when all the snow finishes melting. Soon, all the girls and all the dogs fall asleep, dreaming about springtime in the garden.
The next morning, Aunt Miranda’s phone rings. She says it’s Shu Ping, who’s arrived back from China, and is ready to come pick up his dog. The girls hug the puppies close.
Aunt Miranda then explains that she talked to Shu Ping and their parents on the phone last night. She explained how hard each of the girls worked to find Mystery when she disappeared, and how careful they’ve all been with the puppies. Shu Ping can’t take care of Mystery and the puppies long-term. But, Mystery would trust the girls with her puppies. So maybe the girls should take them.
And all of the girls’ parents agree! When the puppies are big enough to be separated from Mystery, they’ll each get to take one home!
The girls excitedly hug Aunt Miranda. Mystery’s tail wags when they hug her, too. And then, gently and carefully, they each pick up their own puppy, that they’ll get to love forever and ever.
For Parents
Discusses how to beat boredom. Topics include:
- Putting on a talent show
- Exploring the changing seasons outside
Discusses potential ways to deal with your daughter wanting a pet. Topics include:
- Understanding animal behavior, and what it means when behavior changes
- Discussing how to care for pets and practice responsibility for one