Teenager Halloween Literature

My creative and smart, giggly and girly teenagers created some fancy Halloween-themed stuff today.  Coral wrote a story and Jessalyn drew a picture and composed a poem.  These are presented now for your enjoyment!

An Ode to a Kiss - By Jessalyn

Oh chocolatey goodness!
Oh dewdrop divine!
You render me helpless
  in your silvery shine.

You melt on my tongue
  and make me sigh.
Like a beautiful song sung
  as I bid you goodbye.

The First Jack-O-Lantern - Written by Coral; Illustrated by Jessalyn

Jack was a brand-new, dark green pumpkin.  His mother vine took one look at him and said, "You, my son, will become a great pumpkin and your name will be remembered."  Her other children (she had five, including Jack) were jealous of the new, handsome pumpkin.  They decided to scare the weeds toward Jack so that he wouldn't grow.  But... the weeds took one look at little Jack and loved him so much they made a wide circle around him and let him grow.

And grow he did!  He got so big that on Halloween the people who planted the mother vine were excited.  They said, "We can't cook that one!  He is sooo big -- we should show him off to the neighbors."  And so, all of the mother vine's children were taken from her and made into pumpkin pie except Jack.

This made Jack sad, but the mother vine said, "It's what the people planted me for, and besides, I still have you."  Jack was happy that the mother vine wasn't lonely, but he secretly wondered what would happen to him.  He was about to find out!

The night before Halloween, the peple came into the garden and took Jack away from mother vine! As he was carried into the house, the mother vine called, "Have a fun time! I'm going to die soon because of the Frost, but you will be remembered forever!"

Inside the house, Jack was poked and prodded and even drawn on with a marker!  Then he saw a big knife!  "Oh, no!" he said. "Don't cut me!"  But the people took the knife and... thunk!!  Jack was scared, but then he realized that it didn't hurt one bit.   He thought, "Well, at least I won't be in pain while they eat me."  Instead, when they had finished carving out his head, they started cutting holes in his face!  For the final touch, they lit a candle in his head.

Jack was put on the steps outside the front door.   People walking past stared. "What is that pumpkin doing out here with that silly grin?" they whispered.  Jack was wondering that, too, but he didn't complain.  It was better than getting eaten or thrown away or even left to rot.

Lots of people came to ask what Jack was called.   They were told that he was a "Jack-o-lantern" half-jokingly.  But the name stuck.  Many people made Jack-o-lanterns of their own and the mother vine's prediction came true.  Jack's name is still remembered today, though we don't capitalize it anymore.

The End