Jaclyn D. Crawford Author

 Do you hear those scary sounds? A werewolf howling in the night, The rustling gives me quite a fright. Could it be a pack of hounds? Something creeping in the shadow, Four little paws out in the dark. The wind is howling cold and stark, From far away I hear birds crow. Not a monster, not a fiend, A tail, two ears and glowing eyes, A black cat to my surprise, A little kitten left unseen. Small and soft and full of pluck, It doesn't look at all vicious I wouldn't call me superstitious, But oh no-bad luck!

 Everything is blooming, Spring is in the air. Two soft bunnies, Hop from here to there. They taste leaves, young and green. They graze upon the tender bean. Nibbing flowers white, purple, and yellow. Above the robins call Call "Good Morning" and "Hello." Moving from flower, Grass and seed. The bunnies feast On Everything. Over here is something tasty. Come and try with me. Hurry over quickly and you will see. Hip hop Nibble nibble Tender strawberry. YUMMMY! That's my jam. 

  Skelly Bone World Tour is coming to a graveyard near you!  Have you ever wanted to mamba with a monster? Salsa with a skelly? Waltz with a witch?   Boogie with the Boogieman? You can do all that and more at the annual Skelly-bone World Tour. If dancing’s not for you- come and enjoy the smorgasbord feast.   The finest foods from ofrendas, all the candy a ghoul can eat, and enough apple cider to satisfy a sea monster. Games include bobbing for apples, pin the legs on the spider and a costume contest for all ages.   One night only- Sunset on All Hallow’s Eve to sunrise on All Saint’s Day.   Come and party with the spirits.   It’s a concert to die for.

  Romeo’s True Love   Juliet has the most beautiful- Cookie. It is shaped like a heart- Be still my heart. ---------------- Romeo, Romeo- What are you looking at? -------------- Run! Cannot talk to her, she is a girl. Even for a beautiful cookie. ------------- What a strange boy, Aren’t they all? ------------- Peeking out from teacher’s desk, Romeo watches Juliet open her cards. Maybe if I ask, she will share, he thought. All the other cookies are boring and plain- Unlike Juliet’s It is frosted to perfection. A cookie by any other name would taste as sweet. ------------------ What does that boy want, Juliet thought? She saw him staring from behind the desk. Maybe he wants to be my Valentine, Maybe he is too shy. Juliet walks up to Romeo and hands him a dainty red Valentine. “This is for you,” she blushed. ----------- Now is my time to be brave- Romeo told himself. “Thank you, my lady. Will you be my Valentine? ...

  Holly, Jolly and Sarah were packing the last gifts in the sled.   Only one last thing to do. Pick the elf who will present Santa with his special Christmas Eve cookies. The elves played rock, paper, scissors to see who would get to help delivery the special plate. Sarah won, this would be her first time. She rushed to the kitchen.   “How exciting, you’re our special helper,” Cook grinned. “I’m a little nervous.” Sarah smiled back. “Don’t you worry, just go slowly and everything will be fine.” Sarah gently took the plate and started off for Santa’s office. Carefully she went. Everything seemed fine when- Crash The plate bounced and the cookies broke.   “Oh no, what can I do now?” Sarah wailed. “I’ll ask Cook for some icing and I’ll glue them back together.” Sarah went back to the kitchen and got extra icing from Cook. Carefully she glued the pieces back together and rearranged them on the plate. Knocking on Santa’s door, she carefully balan...

  Little Bones he did creep Up to the door to trick or treat His mask was loose Oops, put it on quick Don’t want to scare anyone I don’t want to spook   I don’t want to fright I want to have fun on Halloween night. The door opened wide A man peeped outside With a bowl full of treats And a smile wide. Trick-or-treat Bones squeaked. “Ahhh! A real skeleton!” The man cried. “No, I’m a black cat. See,” he straightened his mask. “Well, ha-happy ha-Halloween” the man shivered. “Thanks.” Bones smiled. Little Bones the skeleton Loves his candy sweets.

"You’re too chicken to do it,” Sean sneered. The harvest moon shone bright on the two boys.     “I am not.” Jack paused. “Give it here.”   “Remember, you gotta leave it on long enough for me to take lots of good pictures.” Jack rolled his eyes and sighed, “Yeah, Yeah, I know.   Just hand it here.   I can’t believe I lost a stupid bet to you.” Sean picked up a giant pumpkin, “Here you go.” The hole was just big enough for a head to squeeze through. Jack looked hilarious. He peered through the carved-out eyes.   “Hurry so I can get out of here.   Pumpkin guts stink.” Sean took several photos, making sure to try all different angles.   “Alright, that’s enough, help me out.” Jack started tearing at the pumpkin. “Really dude! Help me!” his voice filled with panic. Sean set down the camera and started assisting.   “This isn’t funny man. Get it off.” “I’m trying.” Sean yelled, fear resonating in his voice. They struggl...

All winter long The sheep were bored. Their coats grew Long Heavy And stinky One fine day, The grass began to grow The flowers bloom The trees bud. The sheep get a wash And trim. So neat. The sheep grew excited Now is their favorite time The pull out their Fancy footwear And Bounce. They frolic and play. "Spring has sprung" The sheep all cheer As they spring forth.

I Can Do Hard Things On Monday Lizzie did a cartwheel.  On Tuesday I tried and failed. On Wednesday I asked for help.  On Thursday I practiced all afternoon.  On Friday I did a perfect donkey kick. I'm halfway there. On Saturday Lizzie helped me. On Sunday I did it. I did a perfect cartwheel. 

A Valentine's Day Mystery On Valentine's day when I got to school  I saw a card on my desk- it looked cool. I wonder who left it. Who could it be? I have a Valentine made just for me. Couldn't be Skunk- it smells fragrant and sweet Couldn't be Dog, the handwriting's too neat. Couldn't be Cat- glitter scares her Maybe Badger- here is some fur. Its grey and its black  and glued to the back. Happy Valentine's day to you it said, From your special friend. Written all in red. I can't wait to find out who it can be The wait is practically killing me.  My classmates come in one by one From outside play and having fun Who could be my special friend? Maybe I should think again. All my friends are special, true Could my special friend, be you? Badger came up- her face blushed pink  Do you like it? What do you think? I think its great and you are...

Halloween Potion  by Jaclyn Crawford Luna dreams of becoming human, Not a wicked witch. Tonight, is her only chance to change. A Halloween potion will help. She drops in cobwebs and fishbones, Toad sighs, he likes Witch Luna, She cannot make a drastic switch. As the brew changes color; he hops away. Luna makes popcorn and calls to Toad. Her trick works when he sighs. Toad’s breath, the final ingredient. Done before Halloween was over. She drinks--changes fast, “We’ll always be friends Toad.” Together they make rope out of the popcorn and cobwebs. Luna is still Luna and Toad is still her friend.

Little Acorn Acorn was playing in the soft green grass when something bumped her head. Looking up, Acorn noticed that there were leaves falling from every tree.  Red, orange, yellow and green leaves gently fell.  While she watched, another bonked her nose.  Acorn felt afraid.  “The leaves are falling! The leaves are falling,” She screamed, as she ran home. Mother Squirrel sat on the porch, sipping tea.  “Mother, Mother, the leaves are falling.” Acorn yelled, flying up the steps. “Yes, I know it's Autumn.” Mother said, blowing at her brew. “Go play. Soon the weather will turn cold.” Acorn skipped back down the path.  As she stepped off onto the grass, she heard an unusual sound.  Crunch Crunch. “What is that sound?” There was only one explanation, “The ground is breaking, the ground is breaking!” Acorn screamed, running back towards home. Mom was still sipping her tea. “The ground is breaking...

Birdies Spring Wish Winter is too long for me, Down south with my family. The food is good, The company fine, But for my home tree I did pine. In spring I can build a nest, Sing the song that I love best. Pick up little bits of flowers, Weave them tightly in an hour. Spring is coming! One bird sings. Time to go home- Pack your things! I fly as fast as my wings can go, Following the sun’s warm glow. Finally, I’m back, Sitting on my branch. Home at last.

Sitting sadly in the dark Wishing to go to the park To run and play And be loved all day. Will you adopt me? Big brown eyes look to see Blue eyes looking back Will you be my dog? Adopted at last. Time to go home With my forever family.

Nathanial enters the classroom early on Valentine’s Day.   A plate of heart shaped cookies stares at him from the teacher’s desk. “Those cookies look good. I did miss breakfast this morning. No one will miss one cookie.” he quickly scarfs one down.   “Wow that was good,” he says sitting at his desk. His classmates start to come in the room. Nathanial looks around at everyone and, his stomach starts to hurt. “Someone is going to know I stole a cookie,” he thinks.   “Hi Nathanial, Happy Valentine’s Day,” Hannah says. “Um yeah, Happy Valentine’s Day,” Nathanial replies. “Are you okay? Your face is red.” “Yeah, I’m fine why do you ask? I didn’t do anything wrong.” “Guilty conscious?” She says turning around. “She knows,” he thought. “She’ll tell the teacher.”   Sweat starts to drip down his forehead. “Good morning class.” Teacher says.   “We’re going to pass out our Valentine’s and then we’ll do some classwork before snacks. Everyone, pull out ...

The big spooky house looms nearby.  “Halloween is too scary, I just have to get past the haunted house and I’m home free,” Little Kitty shivers. He slinks through the grass. “Is that a witch?  Is that a caldron? Full of evil potion?  This is much too scary,” Little Kitty howls, breaking into a run. “Hi Kitty, don’t you want a treat?” The witch calls. Little kitty stops interested, “A treat?” “Come see.” Little Kitty walks cautiously to the cauldron and peeks in. “It’s not filled with scary witch’s brew at all,” “Trick or Treat,” she grins. “Happy Halloween!”

Chicken waited for her egg to hatch. She saw Henrietta’s hatch; cute, fluffy and sweet. Chicken was anxious to see her baby’s cute yellow feathers, soft and downy. Shake, crack, pop. Chicken’s baby hatches. Wait, green skin, hard shell? You’re not a chicken.   I still love you, my baby turtle.  

Sally loves Valentine’s day.  Her favorite colors are red and pink and her favorite pastime is making cards for her friends.  This year she sits down at her craft table with pink, red and white construction paper, markers and some glue. She cuts out heart shapes and glues them together to make a cute bird face and inside writes “You’re TWEET.” She makes cards for her friends Suzy and Rachel, she makes cards for the kids that sit near her in class, John and Matt.  When she got to Scott’s card she felt the urge to add extra hearts inside. Scott is the new kid in class and he is kind and sweet.  Sally hopes he’ll notice that his card is extra special. Sally hopes Scott thinks she’s extra special too.  Maybe he’ll ask her to be his Valentine this year. The next day Sally brings her bag of Valentines to class. She made one for each kid in class and the extra special one for Scott.  She passes out the cards to all her friends, they all tell her how cute they...