Trick-or-Treat! began as a rhyme that went like this:

"One, two Two little feet Marching up and down the street. One, two Two little feet Up and down the street." I have no idea what gave me the idea for the rhyme; I made it up to use with my Story Hour group. The rhyme even has a little tune (which I will sing only with groups of young children!). I was intrigued with this idea of "two little feet" moving "up and down the street." So I wrote a counting story about children following along in a sort of parade, adding two feet with each child. The story lacked excitement, however, as several editors pointed out.

Ann at about age four, ready for trick-or-treating.

I sent the story to a writer friend of mine who also lives in an isolated area of Alaska. She and I exchange
stories sometimes to give each other comments and ideas. One of her off-hand comments suggested that it would be fun to have the kids in the story dressed up for Halloween. The idea jumped out at me and soon I was writing Trick-or-Treat!

One of the fun things about writing that story was coming up with all the different words for "going" up and
down the street. Words like tramping, stamping, scuffling, shuffling, creeping, crawling, and so on. It just goes to show that a writer should never be satisfied with a boring word when there's an interesting one to be found!

The original rhyme and tune appeared in Ladybug magazine, November 1999, as well as in a tape and CD
collection called Sing and Swing with Ladybug. That was even more fun! It all makes me wonder just where those feet might be headed next. Who-o-o-o knows?

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How do you want to dress up next Halloween? Draw a picture!

Trick-or-Treat! uses many different words to describe "going" up and down the street. Which one of those words is your favorite to say? Which is your favorite to do? Can you think of other words to describe "going"? (A few examples: running, hopping, marching, skipping.) Write a list -- then do them!

Trick-or-Treat! counts by twos up to ten and back down to zero. This time, count to twenty and back. Harder: count by threes to 21 and back. Harder still: count by fives to 25 and back. You can also illustrate your counting by drawing a shapes, symbols, or simple objects to match the numbers.

Trick-or-Treat! has many words that rhyme. How many words besides "street" and "treat" can you think of that rhyme with "feet"? Make a list. Write two to four short sentences that rhyme using words from your list.

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