Samurai Scarecrow

This is our current Halloween favorite. 

Kashi and her older brother Yukio are walking home, talking about an old rhyme about scarecrows. 

Scaring themselves just a teeny bit for fun!

Love the pumpkins everywhere decor!

But even good brothers and sisters can get annoyed with each other. And Kashi did everything like Yukio did. 

On Halloween night, she came out to see his friends dressed like a bird, just like Yukio. 

Harsh words are said and Kashi's heart breaks. 

I love that his friends tell him his reaction was over the top. Sometimes we need friends that tell us we are being excessive.

Kashi stayed home, peeking out of an upstairs window while Yukio and his friends went trick-or-treating.

I really enjoy these illustrations! And if someone had told me you could make fun and cute illustrations using shades of purple, orange, black and white ONLY I would have raised my eyebrows at them. But here we are. Perfectly adorable.

When the trick-or-treaters here a noise, all kinds of dread possibilities come to mind. 

But... it is the scarecrow. 

Dressed as a bird, Yukio gets the brunt of the Scarecrow's wrath. 

The scarecrow reaches out for who knows what terrible deed, and....

All is well again with Kashi and Yukio.

I love the little hearts that break and are sewn back together with words. 

Tricky by Kari Rust

A good villain is so easy to be delightedly outraged by. 

Tricky, the dog, and his Duke a famous in their town.

Or rather, notorious. 

After all their bad behavior, they would go home and revel in their badness. 

Meeting the new baker, Duke and Tricky continued their devious behavior.

But for some reason, the new baker didn't know their reputation and repaid their badness with kindness. How could she? 

Her kindness confused things--it made tricky feel warm inside. 

When the Duke did his usual bad things at the bakery the next day, Duke did not approve. 

But he is just a dog, what can he do?

Besides stuff a loaf of bread in the toilet, oversoap the water and stuff dead fish under the furniture. 

Of course, Tricky had learned from the best, so he knew how to be wicked! 

The Duke had no mercy on his old pal.

But the mistreated baker did! 

The Duke found that badness wasn't possible or fun without Tricky. 

So he left town. To maybe turn over a new leaf in a new town. 

Meanwhile, Tricky and the baker got along beautifully!