Sophie Mouse is excited about her friends coming over for a dinner party.  All is going well until dessert when Sophie drops the beautiful trifle she had made all by herself.  The next day as her family goes off for their day’s activities, Sophie remains home planning her next trifle and daydreaming about flying in the blue sky.  She’s startled out of her daydream by a unfamiliar chirp.  She follows the sound until she finds an unfamiliar bird sitting on the roof outside her bedroom window.  Finch got lost while playing a game of hide-and-seek and hurt his wing before he found his way home.  Sophie helps him down and invites him inside.  Sophie realizes that having a surprise visitor is a perfect reason another trifle.  Just as Sophie and Finch are finishing up, 3 of finch’s friends come looking for him, turning the afternoon into a party.  When it is time to go home, Finch and his friends realize that he has no way to make it home with a sore wing.  Sophie shows them how to use a blanket to carry Finch between them.  Finch’s friends make Sophie’s daydream of flying a reality when Finch is reluctant to ride in the blanket, Sophie volunteers to take the first ride to show it is safe.  After Finch and his friends leave, Sophie hears her mom and brother returning and tells them of her stay at home adventure.

Black and white illustrations.  A Surprise Visitor is the eighth book in the Sophie Mouse series.