Poppy and the Mane Mania (DreamWorks Trolls Chapter Book #1) Read online

  DreamWorks Trolls © 2017 DreamWorks Animation LLC. All Rights Reserved. Published in the United States by Random House Children’s Books, a division of Penguin Random House LLC, 1745 Broadway, New York, NY 10019, and in Canada by Penguin Random House Canada Limited, Toronto, in conjunction with DreamWorks Animation LLC. Random House and the colophon are registered trademarks of Penguin Random House LLC.

  rhcbooks.com

  Trade Paperback ISBN 9781524717056

  Ebook ISBN 9781524717070

  Random House Children’s Books supports the First Amendment and celebrates the right to read.

  v4.1

  a

  For Donna, who loves singing and hugging

  even more than Trolls do

  Contents

  Cover

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Dedication

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Early one bright, sunny morning, Poppy ran through Troll Village toward the Hair in the Air Salon. She didn’t want to be late for her appointment with Maddy, the Trolls’ expert hairstylist. Poppy’s pouf of pink hair had to be absolutely perfect for the big party that night!

  As she ran, Poppy sang a happy, bouncy song about getting her hair done. “This Troll feels like she’s floating on air…after Maddy styles her hair! Uh-huh! Yeah, yeah! C’mon! Get it, get it!”

  She’d purposely scheduled her appointment with Maddy for first thing in the morning so she’d be the only customer. Poppy loved the peace and quiet of the empty hair salon. She’d close her eyes and listen to the snip, snip, snip of Maddy’s scissors. Smell the shampoo and hair spray. Feel the comb running through her hair…

  But it didn’t turn out that way.

  When Poppy opened the door of the Hair in the Air Salon, the colorful pod was already bustling with customers! Maddy was running from station to station, working on several Trolls’ hair at the same time. She somehow managed to go from washing to trimming to drying to brushing without missing a beat.

  “Good morning, Poppy!” the Trolls shouted happily.

  “Here to get your hair done for the big party?” Cooper asked as Maddy worked on his blue dreadlocks.

  “You know it!” Poppy said enthusiastically. She giggled. “Looks like I’m not the only one!”

  Maddy paused for a second before she moved to another thick head of hair. “Don’t worry, Poppy,” she said, touching her arm. “I’ll get to you right away!” She looked at all the full chairs. “Well, as soon as a station opens up, anyway.”

  “No problem,” Poppy reassured the busy hairdresser. “I’ll just say hello to…Branch?”

  Poppy was surprised to see her friend sitting in a chair with curlers in his blue hair.

  “Hi, Poppy,” he muttered, shifting in his seat uncomfortably.

  She walked over to him. “So you’re going to the big party?”

  “Yup,” Branch said.

  “But I thought you didn’t like big loud parties,” Poppy said.

  “That was before we became friends with the Bergens,” he explained. “Now I guess parties are pretty safe. As long as they’re not too loud.”

  Poppy reached out to touch one of the curlers in Branch’s hair. “And you’re having your hair done for the party.”

  Branch drew back from Poppy’s hand, a little embarrassed. “Nothing wrong with looking your best, is there?” Secretly, he wanted to look good for Poppy.

  “Nothing at all!” Poppy agreed, nodding. She wanted to look good for Branch. “I think it’s great that you’re getting your hair done. It’s just that I don’t think I’ve ever seen you in here before.”

  “Well, this is my first time,” Branch admitted. He leaned forward and whispered, “Am I doing everything right?”

  “You’re doing everything perfectly!” Poppy said, laughing. “You’re sitting still, and you’re not squirming. When Maddy works on your hair, do you chat with her?”

  Branch looked puzzled. “About what?”

  “Oh, anything,” Poppy said. “The weather, her family, the party, scrapbooking…”

  Branch shrugged. “Not really. She’s so busy, she just runs over, does something to my hair, and runs off again.”

  Branch was certainly right about Maddy being super busy. She was moving around the salon constantly, her own swirl of blue hair bobbing with each step. She used a Trimmerbug to snip the ends of Guy Diamond’s long silvery hair. To reach the top tips, she had to climb onto a toadstool.

  “Remember to sprinkle on plenty of glitter,” Guy said in his shimmery voice, which sounded as though he were speaking through a microphone with reverb and other electronic effects.

  “Don’t worry,” Maddy replied. “I will!”

  “And if you run out of glitter,” said Guy, shaking off a cloud of the silver stuff, “there’s plenty more where that came from!”

  But Maddy had already moved on to her next clients. She grabbed a Blowbug and aimed it at Satin and Chenille’s damp pink and blue locks. WHOOOOSH! The Blowbug blew hot air right at the spot where the twins’ hair joined them together.

  “Is our hair almost dry?” Satin asked.

  “Almost!” Maddy answered, working the Blowbug back and forth.

  “Good!” Chenille said. “We have to get back to our dress shop soon!”

  “We need plenty of time to finish our outfits for tonight!” Satin explained.

  “You will!” Maddy promised. “Don’t worry.”

  Maddy set the Blowbug in a little basket and picked up a Brusherfly. As she held it over DJ Suki’s head, the Brusherfly dragged its long legs through her orange hair. “I think you’re going to have to take off your headphones,” Maddy told DJ Suki.

  “WHAT?” DJ Suki said loudly. “I CAN’T HEAR YOU WITH MY HEADPHONES ON.”

  Maddy gently lifted one side of the headphones from DJ Suki’s ear. “Please take these off so I can get to the hair around your ears.”

  DJ Suki laughed. “Oh, yeah! That makes total sense!” She took off her headphones and set them down. “How about some tunes? I brought my Wooferbug!”

  Next to DJ Suki was her funky Wooferbug. She scratched its back, and it started pumping out a thumpin’ dance tune! DJ Suki snapped her fingers. “That’s more like it! Yeah! This is my jam! Feel the beat!”

  Maddy smiled and nodded. The beat of the music inspired her to move around her salon even faster. She’d have all these Trolls ready for the party in no time!

  The first customer to be finished was Cooper. Since he wore a hat all the time, styling his hair was simple. Maddy just had to clean and trim his blue dreadlocks, add a little acorn oil, and…voilà! The giraffelike Troll was ready for the celebration!

  “Thanks, Maddy!” Cooper said, admiring his reflection in a mirror. “Terrific job, as always! You’re the best!”

  “Thanks, Cooper!” Maddy said. “Do you know what you’re going to wear to the party?”

  Cooper scrunched up his face, thinking. “I’m still not sure. But I’m leaning toward my green hat.”

  Maddy smiled and nodded. That made sense, since Cooper always wore his green hat.

  “Here, Poppy,” Cooper said, patting the chair he’d been sitting in. “You can take my seat. I’m all done!”

  “Thanks!” Poppy said, settling onto the poufy
cushion. “You look great!”

  “Aw, thanks,” Cooper said. He may have even blushed a little, but since his face was already pink, it was hard to tell. With the extra spring in his step, he practically danced out the door.

  “I’ll get started on you in just a second, Poppy,” Maddy promised. She rushed over to Fuzzbert, who was waiting patiently in a chair. “So—what are we doing today? Trim? New hairdo? Full cut? Perm?”

  “UNG GUNG HRM GRN!” Fuzzbert grunted in his own special language, his voice muffled by the long green hair that covered his mouth. In fact, Fuzzbert was completely covered in hair, except for his feet and toes.

  “Okay,” Maddy said a little uncertainly. “How about we start with a wash?”

  Making happy little sounds, Fuzzbert nodded with his whole hairy body. Maddy asked him to lean back into the sink, then got to work shampooing his long hair. It took a lot of shampoo, but luckily Maddy had bottles and bottles of it in her closet. When you worked on Trolls’ hair, you went through a lot of shampoo!

  While she waited her turn, Poppy reached down into the basket next to her chair and pulled out the latest issue of Troll Life. Just as she started to read an article called “Cupcakes: Can You Really Ever Have Too Many?” the front door of the Hair in the Air Salon banged open.

  A deep voice shouted, “HELP!”

  The deep voice belonged to Smidge, one of the smallest Trolls around. Though her body was little, her voice was big. And she was strong, too, able to lift heavy weights with her long blue hair. Right now, she looked scared.

  Poppy rushed over to her friend. “What’s the matter, Smidge?”

  “It’s Karma!” Smidge told Poppy in an even deeper voice than usual. “She’s missing!”

  “Missing?” Poppy asked. “What do you mean? Since when?”

  Everyone in the salon was quiet, listening to Smidge. DJ Suki tapped her Wooferbug, signaling the critter to stop playing music. You could hear a pin drop. In fact, Guy Diamond actually dropped a hairpin, and everyone turned to say “Shhh!”

  “Sorry,” Guy whispered, carefully picking up the pin and holding it gently in both hands.

  “I went out into the woods with Karma,” Smidge explained. “She wanted to pick an extra-special flower to put in her hair for the big party tonight.”

  Everyone nodded. They knew Karma loved to weave all kinds of natural things into her hair—flowers, leaves, shells…even sticks. Once, Poppy had seen Karma try to balance a boulder in her hair, but it kept falling out.

  “She led the way, since she knows all the secret paths through the forest,” Smidge continued. “After a while, we found a field full of flowers that were different from any we’d ever seen before. They were so beautiful! And they smelled wonderful—almost as good as a fresh batch of spiced cupcakes!”

  Several of the Trolls licked their lips. They could go for a warm cupcake right now! But then they’d miss the rest of Smidge’s tale….

  “Karma decided to pick one of the strange flowers for her hair. But she wanted just the right one, the one that would look the best. She wandered deep into the field of flowers. They were so tall, I lost sight of her!” Smidge looked upset.

  “That’s all right, Smidge,” Poppy said reassuringly. “Go on. Tell us what happened to Karma.”

  “I really don’t know!” Smidge cried. “All I know is I heard this loud buzzing sound. It came, and then it went away. And when I looked for Karma, I couldn’t find her anywhere! I shouted her name as loudly as I could, but she didn’t answer!”

  The Trolls looked concerned. When Smidge shouted, you answered. She was a very good shouter.

  “Finally,” Smidge said, “I ran back here to the village to get help!”

  Poppy took Smidge’s tiny hand. “You did the right thing. We’ve got to find Karma. She may be in trouble!”

  “But your hair isn’t done yet!” Maddy protested. “In fact, I haven’t even started on it. And I know you want it to be perfect for the party tonight.”

  “That’s true, but some things are even more important than hair,” Poppy said.

  “Really?” Guy Diamond asked, amazed. “Are you sure about that?”

  “Poppy’s right,” Maddy said, nodding. “I’ll close the salon, and we’ll go find Karma.”

  Poppy thought about it. “I don’t think we all need to go. Just a small group. That way we’ll travel faster, and it’ll be easier to stick together.”

  With curlers still in his hair, Branch stood up. “I’ll go,” he said firmly.

  “No,” Poppy said, gently pushing him back into his chair. “You stay. It’s your very first time in Maddy’s salon! Maddy, you stay open and keep working on everyone’s hair. It’s what you do best! I’ll go back into the forest with Smidge. DJ Suki, will you come with us? And Satin and Chenille?”

  “Us two, too!” the twins agreed.

  “Let’s go!” DJ Suki cried. “I’m ready to drop the beat on this search!”

  Poppy turned to her small friend. “Lead the way, Smidge!”

  At first, the five Trolls made good time through the woods. They were worried about Karma, and since it was a fine, sunny morning, there was nothing to slow them down. Tunebugs and Critterchords sang happy melodies in the sunshine.

  But then the Trolls came to a fork in the path. Smidge, leading the way, stopped and stared at the two paths in front of her.

  “What’s wrong?” Poppy asked.

  “I’m not sure which way to go,” Smidge admitted. “When Karma and I were here before, I just followed her. You know how good she is at finding her way through the forest. She loves to explore.”

  “I know,” Poppy said. “Nobody loves nature more than Karma.”

  “Well, do you have a feeling—” Satin began.

  “—about which path might be the right one?” Chenille finished.

  Smidge thought hard. Then she pointed to the path on the left. “I think the field of flowers might be this way, but I’m really not sure.”

  “That’s okay,” Poppy said. “Let’s try it! And if at some point you realize we’re going in the wrong direction, we’ll just turn around, come back, and try the other path. Okay? Come on!”

  Poppy strode confidently down the left path. Smidge, Satin, Chenille, and DJ Suki followed her deeper and deeper into the forest.

  Soon they found themselves in a part of the woods that was full of twigs. There were twigs on the ground. Twigs covering the path. Twigs hanging off branches. Twigs falling from the trees. It seemed to be raining twigs!

  “There sure are a lot of twigs in this forest,” Satin said.

  DJ Suki jumped over a pile of twigs in the path. “Don’t all forests have twigs?” she asked.

  “Sure,” Chenille agreed. “But this has got to be the twiggiest forest I’ve ever seen!”

  In no time at all, the Trolls’ hair was full of twigs. As fast as they reached up to pluck them out, more twigs fell down and got tangled up in their locks.

  “I’ve heard of sticky hair,” Poppy said, trying to make a joke, “but this is ridiculous.”

  Suddenly, Smidge yelped, “Something just flew into my hair!”

  “Let me guess,” Satin said. “A twig?”

  “No!” Smidge said. “Something ALIVE!”

  Poppy ran over and parted Smidge’s thick blue hair. Deep inside, she could see an odd little striped bird with a long beak and a short tail. “I see it!” she cried. “It looks like some kind of bird! But I’ve never seen one like it before.”

  “What’s it doing in my hair?” Smidge cried. “Building a nest?”

  Just then, the tiny bird flew out with a twig in its mouth. “It may be building a nest,” Poppy said, “but not in your hair. It pulled out a twig!”

  “That’s good, I guess,” Smidge said. “I wish it would pull them all out!”

  DJ Suki squeaked. A little bird had flown into her hair, too! And another swept into Poppy’s hair! When the birds emerged, they all had twigs in their mouths.


  “It’s okay,” Poppy said, trying to calm down the other Trolls. “They just want to clean the twigs out of our hair. We should thank them!”

  “I would,” Chenille said, “but I don’t speak Bird.”

  “I don’t think this is the way Karma and I came,” Smidge said, pulling another twig from her hair. “Maybe we should go back and try the other path.”

  Before Poppy could answer, a dark shadow passed over the trail. A bigger bird swooped down and grabbed a twig that was stuck in Satin and Chenille’s joined hair. The big bird tried to yank the twig free, but the Trolls’ hair was too thick. The twig was stuck. So the bird flew off with the twig in its mouth—carrying the twins high into the air!

  “POPPY!” they screamed as they rose into the sky. “SAVE US!”

  “WE’RE COMING!” Poppy shouted, racing off in the direction the bird had flown with the twins. Smidge and DJ Suki ran after her, leaping over piles of twigs, trying to keep up as best they could.

  The twins’ cries for help grew fainter and fainter.

  Poppy kept looking up, trying to spot the bird. More than once, she tripped over a twig and fell. But she got right back up and kept running.

  Breathing hard, Poppy stopped for a moment and stared up at the tops of the tall trees. Where was the bird? And where were Satin and Chenille? Had the bird dropped them?

  “There!” Smidge cried, pointing with her long blue hair. Poppy and DJ Suki looked to where the sharp-eyed little Troll was pointing, and they spotted the bird heading for the top of the tallest tree in the woods. They could just make out its nest, perched at the very pinnacle of the tree. The big bird landed in the nest and folded its wings.

  “What’s that bird doing with Satin and Chenille?” DJ Suki asked.

  “I think she wanted the twig in their hair, not them,” Poppy said. “It’s hard to tell from down here, but I bet she’s built her nest with twigs.”

  “I just hope she isn’t planning to feed Satin and Chenille to her young,” Smidge said. DJ Suki and Poppy stared at her with their mouths hanging open. What an awful thought!