![](\"http:\/\/blaine.org\/jules\/werewolves5.JPG\")
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I’m throwing a Halloween party tonight (wish you could come over for some hot cider and hot apple crisp with ice cream and orange cupcakes, mmmmm), so I’m in the mood for some Halloween poetry today. And, in honor of the children who will be in my house tonight, I’m going to share some Halloween children’s poetry. <\/p>\n
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Adam McCauley<\/strong><\/a> illustrated this title, and—since I love his work—I asked if he could share some of the art work from it, and he obliged as well.*<\/p>\n So, take a moment to enjoy a couple of Halloween poems, both told from the point-of-view of children on Halloween. (Could there be<\/em> a more exciting time of year for them?) If you are looking for the types of simple rhymes that will engage the very wee’est child at this time of year, this is a good title. Many, many thanks to Charles and Adam for sharing. Enjoy!<\/p>\n The year I dressed The year I dressed The year I dressed This year I know We drove out to the pumpkin patch My mom said, “Pick a shiny one My sister shouted, “Pick the one We came upon a little one My parents said she was too small, They placed her on the table top They handed me the carving knife, And so she sits just as she was The one, the only Kelly Herold has the Poetry Friday round-up today at Big A, little a<\/strong><\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n * Speaking of McCauley, another great Halloween picture book read for you and your favorite child is Richard Michelson’s<\/strong><\/a> Oh No, Not Ghosts!<\/strong><\/em><\/a> (Harcourt, 2006), which I reviewed back here<\/strong><\/a> at 7-Imp at the end of ’06 when our images were tragically<\/font> small. If you go here<\/strong><\/a> to McCauley’s site, you can see several spreads from the book. This one’s a winner in my household; my girls want to hear it all year long. It’s altogether possible I can recite it, and Adam’s art is spooktacularly creepy and great. Here’s but one spread: <\/p>\n “Beware of where you’re going, Beware of where you play, Beware of werewolves everywhere— Halloween is on the way!” I’m throwing a Halloween party tonight (wish you could come over for some hot cider and hot apple crisp with ice cream and orange cupcakes, mmmmm), so I’m in the mood for some Halloween poetry today. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-picture-books","category-poetry-friday"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1471\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blaine.org\/sevenimpossiblethings\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}I had the pleasure of hosting the session of children’s poet Charles Ghigna<\/strong><\/a> (a.k.a. “Father Goose”) at the recent Southern Festival of Books<\/strong><\/a>, and I got his permission to share some poems today from his Halloween Night: Twenty-One Spooktacular Poems<\/strong><\/a><\/em>, published in 2003 by Running Press Kids. That opening verse is the last one from his “Beware the Werewolf.” <\/p>\n
\nup as a witch,
\nMy ugly wig began to itch. <\/p>\n
\nup as a clown,
\nMy silly nose
\nkept falling down.<\/p>\n
\nup as a ghost,
\nI tripped and fell
\nand hit a post.<\/p>\n
\njust what I’ll be.
\nI’m dressing up
\nto go as me.<\/center><\/p>\n![](\"http:\/\/blaine.org\/jules\/CostumeCrazy.JPG\")
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\nTo see what we could find.
\nBut soon we found that each of us
\nHad something else in mind. <\/p>\n
\nThat’s ripe and rather round,”
\nMy dad said, “Pick the biggest one
\nThat we have ever found.”<\/p>\n
\nThat’s fatter than the rest!”
\nBut I knew if we looked around
\nWe’d find which one was best. <\/p>\n
\nThat sat there all alone
\nLooking like she needed us
\nTo please just take her home. <\/p>\n
\nHer color was not right.
\nBut when they saw me holding her,
\nThey took her home that night. <\/p>\n
\nAnd asked us to decide
\nWho would cut the eyes and mouth
\nAnd who would scoop inside. <\/p>\n
\nBut I just shook my head.
\nI couldn’t bear to cut her up
\nNo matter what they said. <\/p>\n
\nUpon the windowsill.
\nInstead of Jack-o’-Lantern now
\nThis year we have a Jill.<\/center><\/p>\n![](\"http:\/\/blaine.org\/jules\/PumpkinPatched.JPG\")
<\/p>\n![](\"http:\/\/blaine.org\/jules\/onng3.jpg\")
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