Mouth Watering Mini Tales and Recipes to help you have a Spooktacular Halloween

Leaves turned gold and orange and red.  The air was crisp.  People started to prepare for Halloween.  Candy appeared in stores.  Cheesecloth ghosts hung from trees, and scarecrows stood sentry in front yards. The pumpkin patch was ready for picking, and you could get apple cider there fresh from the press.  October makes everyone want to believe in magic.     

 ~ Chelsea Sedoti, YA author: The Hundred Lies of Lizzie Lovett

I love Halloween! I can’t wait for wee ghosts and goblins to visit our house, eager to show their costumes and get treats. Inspired by the season, I penned three mini-tales that are fun for all; won't scare kids. 

Hope you enjoy them AND also enjoy yummy Halloween recipes from my friend and colleague James Milson.  This Ozark-based author of The Tales of Little Red Bear finds THE most mouth-watering treats. I can’t bake, but his recipes make me want to try. 

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​Halloween Mini-Tale Trio
for Young Readers
by Cat Michaels

​

Berry Conundrum
by Cat Michaels
I pass the beautiful garden every day walking home from school. Brimming with pumpkins and still-ripe autumn bounty. Surely, the old woman who lives there won't mind if I sample a teeny juicy berry from her garden.  She won't miss just one.

Reaching to pluck the fruit, a black cat slides next to me. 

"Are you certain my mistress won’t mine?" it purrs.

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The Stack
by Cat Michaels

OOOOOOOooooo! 
The little boy and his mother are coming to see us! 
Maybe they'll  pick me!  I'm perfectly orange, firm and ready for carving. 
Please, please, please take ME home.  
 
Harumph ... No way!  I'm the biggest in the stack.  Surely they'll take ME!
 
Bah!  Mom wants a petite-sized ME for her office.

"Decision time, Jake,” Mom asks after the third time circling the stack.  “Which is to be our jack-o-lantern?"
 
"Let's keep looking, mom,” the boy sighs.  “No pumpkins in this stack will do."
 
"OK, sweetie,” she says.  “We'll search more.  But it's starting to shower, so let's hurry back to the car."

Not a rain shower <sob>.  You didn't pick US!
We're shedding Pumpkin Tears.

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​Watchers
by Cat Michaels 

Dusk steals the last sparkle of autumn sun.  She's running late.  Missed the last bus.  Taking the shortcut to reach home by nightfall. 
 
But that brings her past the old house at the edge of town. 
 
Dry leaves crunch underfoot as she approaches. The dark house looms large in a graying sky, and a sudden wind cuts the air. She shivers and grips her coat tight, but it's more than cold making her quake. 

Hurrying, she glances at the rickety front porch.  Is that a light in the window? 

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Nonsense! she tells herself.  Nobody's lived here for years. 
 Then why is a shadow moving behind the curtain???  
 And is that a face glaring at me?!?

Running now, she leaves the house behind and slips gratefully into the safety of  street lights beyond.
 
"Aw, ma, why couldn't I have me a taste of that one?" the shadow cries.
 
"Behave yourself, boy!  As long as there's a breath in me, I'll be protecting all innocents on who pass by my house on Halloween from your witless hunger."
 
"But ma," the shadow protests.  "You don't have a breath.  We're dead."
 
"No matter. Don't talk back to your mother!"

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Spooktacularly Good
Halloween Recipes 
curated by James Wilson
​

I can't decide which I like better: choco-spider cookies or ghost pretzels.

No matter which one, you can't go wrong with the awesome recipes James Milson curated on his blog, Writing and Things.  Pop over to his blog for kid-alicious Halloween treats, but be warned: you WILL become hungry HERE

Hey, can you choose just ONE?

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Your Turn
What Halloween traditions do you remember as a child?  Enjoy with your kids today?  What's your fave fall food treat?  Please share in the comment section.

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