Happy Halloweensie! It’s that time of year again when children’s writers gather ’round the cauldron to craft a story in 100 words or less. Author Susanna Hill is the gracious founder of the contest. She and her assistants deserve tons of treats for reading all the contest entries.
This year, each 100-word or less entry must contain the words spider, ghost and moon. Variations of the words are allowed. Stories should be kid-friendly and contain no illustration notes. Here are the rules, if you want to participate. You have until the strike of 11:59 p.m. EDT.
Here’s my 2016 entry:
Halloween Tracks
By Stacy S. Jensen
Oliver saw the tracks every Halloween.
They were colorful with a sweet aroma and looked like scat. Oliver never ate it, but other owls did.
“Who?” he wondered made them. He flew over the streets in the moonlight searching
High,
Low,
And, in circles for the critter.
He saw bunnies, coyotes, and spiders and almost gave up.
Until, he heard …
SCRITCH.
SCRATCH.
SPLAT.
Oliver followed the noises to a little ghost.
“Your tracks!” Oliver screeched.
“My candy,” Ghost cried.
Oliver helped Ghost collect his spilled loot.
“Here’s a treat!” Ghost tossed a candy to Oliver. “Happy Halloween!”
Word tells me I’m at 98 words!
There will be plenty of entries at Susanna’s blog. I am always impressed by the very talented work created in this contest and also how similar our thought process can be. I’ve been a happy Halloweensie participant since 2011 — 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011.
I hope you all have a spooky, fun-filled Halloween!
P.S. I’ve been re-working my website in recent weeks between other projects. It’s not “done,” but decided Halloweensie is more important than “done.”
Haha! Like dat fat scat! I could sense Oliver’s delight!
I was thinking spilled candy must look like scat to an animal.
Very cool story, Stacy! I wondered who was leaving the tracks….glad Oliver got some candy out of his detective work. 🙂
Thanks!
Stacy,
This is cute, fun story. and…it’s unique! Loved it. 🙂
Thank you.
Nice story. =)
Thank you.
Stacy,
I love the use of scat. very clever. And a very nice owl!
I wanted Oliver to be a nice owl. Ignoring his prey for the mystery tracks.
So cute! I loved that we were following a trail that was almost as delicious as scat!! (Did you redo your site Stacy? It looks great!)
I’ve made a few changes. I need to do more! Thanks Lauri.
I picture a trail of candy corn! What a fun and creative story, Stacy!
I enjoy candy corn on Halloween and thanksgiving!
Teehee. Ghost scat. :). Good luck!
I hadn’t thought of it like that — ghost scat!
We’re never “done” are we?! Hooray for Halloweensie owls and ghost scat!
No, we never are! 🙂
Great! Glad that Ghost had help and that Oliver finally solved the mystery.
Is a Halloween mystery ever solved?
Hahaha! It never occurred to me that candy might look like scat! But I think you’re right – an owl might well think that! Thanks for a creative and original entry, Stacy!
Fun Halloween tale Stacy, and I loved all the critters along the way!