The Berenstain Bears Trick or Treat

The Berenstain Bears Trick or Treat Electronic book published by ipicturebooks.com 24 W. 25th St. New York, NY 10010 For more ebooks, visit us at: http://www.ipicturebooks.com All rights reserved. Copyright (c) 1989 by Stan and Jan Berenstain Originally published by Random House in 1989 No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. e-ISBN: 1-59019-256-7 Ebook conversion by wTree.com The sights and sounds of autumn were all around as Mama Bear pushed her shopping cart along the path that led to the Bear family's tree house. The trees and shrubs were ablaze with color. Farmer Ben's pumpkins stood bright orange in the October sun. The crows cawed noisily as they searched the stubble for bits of corn. Wild geese in great V-formations honked high in the sky as they flew south. But the surest sign of the season was inside the tree house hiding behind Papa Bear's easy chair. It was Brother Bear waiting to try out his Halloween costume on Mama. It wasn't Halloween yet, but Brother and Sister couldn't wait to try on their new costumes. Sister was going to be a beautiful ballerina. "Well, what do you think?" she asked, taking the third position. "Shh!" said Brother. "Mama's coming!" Brother had chosen to be a spooky monster on Halloween. He had bought the spookiest monster mask he could find, and Mama made the rest of the costume. "Boo!" he shouted as Mama came in with the groceries. "Help! A monster!" she cried, pretending to be frightened. "It's only me. Mama," he said, showing his face. "So it is," said Mama. "Well, that just goes to show that appearances can be deceiving." "Appearances can be deceiving- what's that mean?" asked Sister. "It's just a grown-up way of saying that things aren't always what they look like," explained Mama as she unpacked the groceries. "Look! Goodies!" said Brother. "Hands off, please," said Mama. "Those are for trick or treaters, who come to our house tomorrow night." Brother and Sister were very excited about Halloween-and a little nervous, too. This was the first year they would be going trick or treating without a grownup along to supervise. "I'm not so sure I like the idea of them going by themselves," said Papa as he carved the pumpkin he got from Farmer Ben. "It's pretty spooky out there," he added, making a scary face at the cubs. "Now, Papa," said Mama. "If Brother and Sister want to accept the challenge of going out on their own, I think we should encourage them. "But remember," she continued, turning to the cubs, "there'll be strict rules: you'll stay in your own neighborhood and you won't eat any of the treats until you're back home." "Besides," said Brother, "we won't really be by ourselves. We made a trick-or-treat date with Cousin Freddy, Lizzy Bruin, and Queenie McBear." "There!" said Papa, putting the finishing touches on the jack-o'-lantern. Then he lit a candle inside it and turned out all the lights. It was pretty scary. The next day Brother and Sister began planning the trick-or-treat route they'd follow that night. Brother got a pencil and paper and made a map of the neighborhood. That way, he explained, they wouldn't miss anybody. "Let's see, now," he said, "we'll stop at our houses first-ours, Freddy's, Lizzy's, and Queenie's. Then we'll do Farmer Ben's and our sitter's- Mrs. Grizzle." "Mrs. Grizzle, for sure," agreed Sister. "She usually makes special Halloween cookies." "And Teacher Jane-she gives out good stuff. How about Dr. Grizzly?" asked Brother. "She's into health snacks." "I think so-just to be polite," said Sis. "Gramps and Gran, of course." "Of course." "I'll tell you one place we are going to miss," said Brother, folding his map. "What place is that?" asked Sister. "That one!" he answered, pointing out the window at the home of old Miz McGrizz. It was a spooky, twisted old tree house in a thicket at the end of Crooked Lane. "We're definitely not going there," he added with a shiver. "Whyever not?" asked Mama, who was listening. "Why not?" said the cubs. "Because she's a witch! That's why not!" "What utter nonsense!" protested Mama, "True, Miz McGrizz is old and bent and rather forbidding looking. But I can assure you she's a perfectly nice person." But the cubs didn't believe her. Not for a minute. They knew better. Everybody knew better. No doubt about it, Miz McGrizz was a witch, for sure. Just after dark, a pirate, a skeleton, and the Wicked Queen from Snow White came for Brother and Sister. They were Freddy, Lizzy, and Queenie, of course, and together they ventured out into the darkness with their trick-or-treat bags. Before they could get started collecting Halloween goodies, they were joined by some worrisome company: Too-Tall Grizzly and his gang, out for mischief. Too-Tall didn't waste any time trying to get Brother, Sister, and their friends to go along with him and his gang. "Come on. We'll show you goody-goodies how to have some real Halloween fun," he said, pulling Brother along with him. "What sort of fun?" asked Brother warily. "Oh, you might say we're gonna put the trick back in trick or treat," he said, chuckling. It was so dark that Brother and the others didn't notice where they were heading. "Hey!" said sister. "This is Crooked Lane!" "That's right," said Too-Tall, "We're gonna play a few tricks on old Witch McGrizz." "W-what sort of tricks?" asked Brother. Her gnarled, twisted old tree house loomed ahead. "First," whispered Too-Tall, taking a roll of toilet paper from his jacket, "we'll decorate her house with a little of this. Then maybe we'll tie a few knots in her clothesline. Then smear some honey on her broomstick so she'll stick to it when she tries to fly." But before Too-Tall and his gang could start their mischief, the front door opened and a bright yellow light stabbed the darkness. And there in the doorway stood the frightening figure of old Miz McGrizz! "Aha!" she said in a gravelly voice. "I'm ready for you!" She then led the terrified cubs into a cozy living room. To their great surprise, there was a big tray of beautiful candy apples all prepared for Halloween visitors. "Mama was right," whispered Sister to Brother. "Miz McGrizz really is a sweet, kind old person!" The cubs thanked her for the beautiful apples and went about the rest of their trick-or-treat business. Later that evening Brother and Sister were at home looking over all the treats they had collected. The beautiful candy apples stood out, and Papa asked where they came from. "From Miz McGrizz," answered Brother. "From that scary-looking old grouch-puss that lives down Crooked Lane?" said Papa. "That's right," said Brother, taking a delicious bite of his candy apple. "You must really try to remember, Papa," said Sister, giving her apple a little lick, "appearances can be quite deceiving." 00000___8b03ed2c2db939e3716794aec570f138 00001___9c877e4d40185af122e25698f269c5e5 00002___ea56ab00cb74dd87393ae6caebfa9d62 00003___205f6bab779ac0b8617c582a6c0d6148 00004___a63d1753d144c1078e39b5f5349b1a53 00005___c21c3fc997be3d77bf55cfad7117a321 00006___6f98e9e27e85607d01b79d569c1ee29a 00007___907e438091720990be849f5c13ac70fb 00008___4f7426dc57f42576ba6af4b152fca283 00009___7b7019e102626bf3809951952f7c03e6 00010___a292881be212776d17a5d5dbacc39d6e 00011___5e1dc7ee5acbaabd9eaa60c67bf73383 00012___4655864fbd72e1691abe18c73d51ffbc 00013___3422baf270d066330bb69282f1298f23 00014___2683d24564bb7772b188d6d76ba58c4e 00015___047b7161d32600a06a884b9e51a1d2eb 00016___2f4f06a9a4853ce245bca6fe37d74f25 00017___f0c438b5d1ef3c2b3dd880237dd225ea 00018___dce00c273274bb2cdf5e43e72b6eb068 00019___24eb7d98d9f58808beadb78b7c11f737 00020___d0bcbccd39f855ecdc093fdb7ab316be 00021___399a8cdef8dff0cd606db3a11fe71b94 00022___1b2f6a405eabd8a64d33676796fcb360 00023___29df11b6b6fe48dba4ad14958c276f4e 00024___a0fb43505a03bc3b747d2bdfa3a29b4a 00025___bbec95382502c6f72ff0fac1052b526f 00026___baa6c951d48dd7365ba6128b7eb2cdde 00027___03bfe102a328ef140ed25fda1f1fb21e 00028___1be4675aa6a2564ef7bf12ca96014a51 00029___ae5d21743979a66757bcd3e51a63b78b 00030___3b24d0c82042c0a124a9f079a4b037a4 00031___635c561e4e31b4e2168dc2853ae9ab37 00032___bc5a620341c501e8c9595e8b72680790