It’s Time for Halloweensie and Picture Book Month!

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Knock, knock!

Who’s there?

Boo!

Boo, who?

Don’t cry! It’s time for Susanna Hill’s 5th Annual Halloweensie Contest!

friendly jackolanternCourtesy Google Images

That’s right—the contest runs from today till Friday…so there is still plenty of time to participate. Here are some of the rules from Susanna’s post.

The Contest: write a 100 word Halloween story appropriate for children (title not included in the 100 words), using the words costume, dark, and haunt.   Your story can be scary, funny or anything in between, poetry or prose, but it will only count for the contest if it includes those 3 words and is 100 words (you can go under, but not over!) Get it? Halloweensie – because it’s not very long and it’s for little people. 🙂 (And yes, I know 100 words is short but that’s part of the fun and the challenge! We got over 130 fantastic entries last year so I know you can do it!) Also, you may use the words in any form – e.g. haunt, haunts, haunted, darkness, darkening, costumed, whathaveyou 🙂 No illustration notes please!

For more details, please click here: http://susannahill.blogspot.com/2015/10/its-about-that-time.html

I love this contest—all of my previous entries have been rhyming, so I thought I would change it up a bit this year. I hope you enjoy my story. And when you finish reading it, please hop over to Susanna’s website where you will find many more Halloween tales.

 

Halloween Fever (99 words)

 

Philpot blew his nose. His eyes watered. His throat tickled. His skin flushed red with fever.

“Oh no!” he moaned. “Whoever heard of a red ghost?”

Never had Philpot missed going a-haunting on Halloween. Opening Wanda Witchner’s spell-book, he flipped to the ‘C’s’. Exploding CAKES. Flying CATS. Disappearing COLDS.

“Hocus Pocus Mucus Phlegm!”

Blink. No more watering.

Swallow. No more tickle.

Sniff. No more dripping snot. But his skin still glowed red.

“If magic won’t do the trick, I can use my imagination!”

And grabbing a white sheet as his costume, Philpot floated out into the dark night.

 

 I hope you enjoy my little Halloween tale…for many more incredible stories, please visit Susanna’s Halloweensie Contest page: http://susannahill.blogspot.com/2015/10/the-5th-annual-halloweensie-writing.html

MORE GOOD STUFF – Please keep reading!

On Friday, I mentioned that November is a great month because of the PiBoIdMo Challenge. Well, there is another awesome picture book event coming up…Picture Book Month. Organized by author and literacy advocate Dianne de las Casas, this event is supported by everyone who loves picture books. Visit her website http://picturebookmonth.com every day during November and be prepared to be inspired and informed with posts by: Sudipta Bardan-Quallen, David Biedrzycki, Paulette Bogan, Mike Curato, Matthew Gollub, Julie Gribble, Julie Hedlund, Carter Highins, Molly Idle, Joe Kulka, Jennifer Gray Olson, Kathryn Otoshi, Anne Marie Pace, Rukhsana Khan, Robin Newman, Penny Parker Klostermann, Eric Litwin, Loren Long, Deb Lund, LeUyen Pham, Matt Phelan, Stephen Shaskan, Trisha Speed Shaskan, TJ Shay, Whitney Stewart, Holly Stone-Barker, Mo Willems, Natasha Wing, Matthew Winner, and Paula Yoo.

PBMLOGO-COLOR_WEBRES

How lucky are we to have these incredible mentors sharing their love of picture books with us!

Thank you for stopping by. Your visit is much appreciated!

65 thoughts on “It’s Time for Halloweensie and Picture Book Month!”

    • So right, Stacy…I know I will get behind also…I’m trying to get the first bunch done today…but I know they will continue to pour in. I don’t know how Susanna maintains her sanity. 🙂 Glad you enjoyed my little story!

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  2. Hi Vivian, very cute story. I admire how you got all the words in and told a cute story, too. The idea of a cold turns the Halloweensie theme on its head- maybe to get out the mucus.

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    • Isn’t that the truth, Angela! And other times also. My sister and I always seemed to get sick for Easter vacation…one year we had measles, one year chicken pox, one year mumps…we’d be miserable…and then, by the time vacation was over, we were all better. Glad you like the story. 🙂

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    • Thank you so much…I’m glad you were entertained, Pat…the entries this year are fantastic…I’m trying to make my way through all the ones that are posted so far…I know it’s going to get unmanageable really quickly. 😉

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    • Yup, I thought about having him wear a different costume, but he’s a ghost and he’s always haunted as a ghost, so that’s all there was to it. 🙂 😉 🙂
      And yes, Jilanne, there is SO much going on in kid lit land…it’s hard to keep everything straight. 🙂

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    • Thank you so much, Amanda! And how clever of you to put your name in the comment…so many people don’t…and if their blog name is not their own name, I’m always hurrying to their blog to search for who they are. 😉 And lots of times, people don’t even put their name anywhere on their blog page.

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  17. Adorable, Vivian! Philpot is the perfect name for a ghost – especially one with a cold! I also love the twist at the end – a real ghost dressing up as a costumed ghost! Clever, and impressive that you could do all that in less than 100 words!

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  18. You have a great entry here, Vivian. I love Philpot’s name. so original and cute for a ghost with a cold. So creative.

    I am so impressed with the talent of these stories here on Susanna’s site. so many great ideas all in one hundred words. She is going to have a hard time judging that is for sure.

    I am blogging about Picture book month and PIboIdMo next Monday as well. See you there sweet friend! I saw your comments at Tara’s registration aand now see it here, too. Love this tight kidlit community. 🙂

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    • Glad you liked it, Susanna! I don’t think I will ever want to miss a Halloweensie Contest…but my heart goes out to you…I’ve only read about two dozen…and my eyes were blurry…I’m glad you have assistants…do they get virtual chocolates? 🙂

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    • Thanks so much, Joanna! I’m almost afraid to visit Susanna’s contest page…I know there will be dozens and dozens more entries…it’s kind of a love/hate relationship…I want to read them ALL…but don’t know if that means I won’t get to bed tonight. 😉

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  27. Vivian, I loved your ending and how Philpot solved his problem. And there’s nothing like a sheet to wipe your runny nose as you go from house to house in the cold, dark night! 🙂 Great use of 3’s in under 100 words!

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  29. Hey, Vivian, so great to see you and to read your clever story. Awesome job. Your story is complete. So proud of you. Genius. I do Picture Book Month every November right along with PiBoIdMo. I love that you added that in. You rock. Big squeezes.

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    • There is so much awesomeness going on right now, Robyn…it is hard to keep up with it…I’m barely holding my head above water with PiBoIdMo…but will look in on Picture Book Month also…Dianne has put together a fantastic lineup of guest posters. 😉

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