Franklin's Halloween (2 page)

“That's good, Bear,” said Franklin. “You sound really scary.”

Franklin bobbed for an apple. Then he ran to the pumpkin toss. It was his favourite game because he always won a treat.

Franklin's bag was almost full by the time the judges announced the costume contest. While everyone lined up for the parade, Franklin tried to find more of his friends. He thought he recognized Beaver and Goose. But where was Fox?

They marched around the building twice.

Franklin made horrible monster sounds and shuffled with stiff, straight legs. He won a prize for being the best green monster.

There was only one more thing to do – go into the haunted house.

“You first,” said Beaver, pushing Franklin towards the door.

It creaked open. A skeleton rattled. Chains clanged. There were moans. Franklin stepped on something crunchy.

Suddenly, a big hairy hand reached out of the darkness.

Franklin's heart beat hard and fast. But before he could scream, a light was flicked on.

“Trick or treat!” shouted Mr. Mole.

Franklin looked around nervously. Then he laughed. The hairy hand was only Mr. Mole's mop.

“Here's a treat for braving the haunted house,” said Mr. Mole. “A ghost came before you. He got so scared he flew away.”

“But Bear can't fly,” said Franklin.

“It wasn't Bear,” explained Mr. Mole. “Bear is home sick with a nasty cold.”

Franklin shuddered. “If Bear wasn't the ghost, then who was?”

He ran back to his friends, who were waiting in line for the haunted house.

“Was it that scary?” asked Fox. “You look like you've seen a ghost.”

“Maybe I did,” said Franklin. He told them what Mr. Mole had said.

“You mean that Bear was never here?” asked Beaver.

Franklin shook his head.

The ghost flew over them. It swooped low and called, “Whooo!”

Rabbit twitched. “So what is white, says ‘Whooo' and flies?”

“A real ghost,” answered Goose. “Run!”

Franklin was about to follow when he saw a feather floating down.

“Stop!” he shouted. “I think I know
whooo
the ghost is.”

Franklin showed them the feather. “Look. It must be Mr. Owl.”

Even Rabbit giggled when he realized the trick their teacher had played.

By the end of the party, everyone's bag was full.

“Poor Bear,” said Raccoon. “No treats for him.”

“We could share our treats with Bear,” suggested Franklin.

All the friends agreed. They each put some treats into a bag. Then they walked to Bear's house and left the bag on the doorstep.

“Trick
and
treat!” they called.

On the way home, Franklin looked into his treat bag.

“Goodness!” said his mother. “You have enough there to last until next Halloween!”

“Maybe,” said Franklin, sampling a few. But secretly he hoped the treats would last until the end of the week.

Franklin is a trademark of Kids Can Press Ltd.

Text © 1996 Contextx

Illustrations © 1996 Brenda Clark Illustrator Inc.

Interior illustrations prepared with the assistance of Muriel Hughes Wood.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means without, the prior written permission of Kids Can Press Ltd. or, in case of photocopying or other reprographic copying or other reprographic copying, a license from CANCOPY (Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency), 1 Yonge Street, Suite 1900, Toronto, ON, M5E 1E5.

Kids Can Press acknowledges the financial support of the Ontario Arts Council, the Canada Council for the Arts and the Government of Canada, through the BPIDP, for our publishing activity.

Kids Can Press Ltd.

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Toronto, ON M4V 1E2

Printed in Hong Kong by Wing King Tong Company Limited

CDN PA 96 0 9 8

Canada Cataloguing in Publication Data

Bourgeois, Paulette

Franklin's Halloween

ISBN 978-1-4532-1955-3 (ePub)

I. Clark, Brenda . II. Title