This is a story I wrote for Halloween. I told it to children at the CFVegFest last weekend. I used a prop of a scarecrow, and a red cape. Maybe your family will enjoy it:
The Time a Superhero Scarecrow Saved our Garden
We were going to pick vegetables from our garden for dinner on Halloween. Right away we had bad luck.
A big caterpillar ate up our tomato plant overnight. We had no tomatoes for dinner.
In our corn patch the stalks of corn were knocked over and the corn ears chewed. Who did it? Most likely raccoons.
Then I saw that rabbits ate our row of carrots. Worse, the woodchuck ate the broccoli just when it was ready to be picked. The beetles ate our beans.
We had a pumpkin but it was gone too. Who took it? My brother. He had hollowed out the pumpkin and put it on his head for Halloween.
I didn’t think we’d have anything from the garden for dinner. I felt sad.
Then I walked to the part of the garden where the scarecrow stood. Around it were heads of cabbage, onions, turnips, potatoes, and onions. “Yay!” I shouted. We’d have good food after all. The scarecrow had protected our plants.
“But…how could it have kept the animals away so well?” I wondered. Ours was just an ordinary scarecrow. It was made of straw stuffed into old overalls and with a floppy hat on its head. It had never before done much to keep the animals away. Then I remembered what changed it into a scarecrow super hero.
I have a super hero costume with a big, red, crinkly cape. I tried it on yesterday. Then I ran around the yard feeling really strong. I looked at the poor scarecrow sagging down from the post. “He must be bored,” I thought. “I’ll cheer him up.” So I put the cape on him. I tied it across his straw neck and around the post.
Since last night it has been windy. The wind made his cape fly wildly around. It made odd sounds. It must have scared away the animals.
So our scarecrow really was a superhero. We had a great dinner with fresh vegetables. After we came back from treat or treating we gave a piece of our Halloween candy to the scarecrow.
