This is a collection of short stories with the usual Haywood characters as they celebrate Halloween.  These stories have a tone that’s more like Halloween of the 1950s than the 1980s, when they were written.  In this neighborhood, everyone seems to know each other, and parents are unafraid to let even young children go out on Halloween without an adult along.  It isn’t even a problem when older children invite young trick-or-treaters into their Halloween party on a whim to participate in bobbing for apples.

The book is currently available online through Internet Archive.

Stories in the Book:

The Witch and the Balloon

Katie and Mark, a set of twins, believe that the old woman who lives next door is a witch.  She has a black cat and just seems odd, banging on the wall whenever she thinks the twins are being too noisy.  But, one Halloween, when they hear banging on the wall in the middle of the night, they realize that she needs help.

Anna Patricia’s Costume

Anna Patricia loves Halloween, and she especially loves planning new costumes.  By the time Halloween actually comes, she’s changed her mind about her costume many times over.  However, there is still one change more because a surprise invitation to a Halloween party while trick-or-treating causes her to change costumes once more.

The Two Halloween Bears

Penny (a boy) and Patsy (a girl) are best friends, and they have identical teddy bears.  On Halloween, the two of them think it would be fun to wear identical bear costumes to look like their teddy bears, but they’re so much alike, even their mother have trouble telling them apart.

Monkey Business

After Eddie buys an old grind organ at a second hand shop, he realizes that he has the basis for a great Halloween costume: he’ll be an organ grinder with a dancing monkey.  He manages to persuade the girl next door to dress up as his monkey, but the long tail on her costume causes them problems.

Trick or Treat

Eddie likes old Mr. Timkin, a retired sailor, but when Mr. Timkin forgets that it’s Halloween and has no treats for the kids, they feel obligated to play a prank on him. Eddie only hopes that Mr. Timkin won’t be too mad.

Billy’s Halloween Party

When Billy holds a Halloween party only for kids in his grade at school, the younger children in the neighborhood feel left out.  Eddie recruits Betsy’s younger sister and her friend to help him play a prank on the older kids that makes the party more memorable for everyone.

Jonathan and the Jack-o’-Lantern

Jonathan’s family has moved from the city to the country, and he’s excited that he can see all the pumpkins growing before Halloween.  Then, some dummies with jack-o’-lantern heads give him the idea for the best costume to wear for the Halloween parade.

Who Scared Who?

Donald and Ronald, another young set of twins, are fascinated by the scary Halloween masks in the stores.  Even though the masks scare them, they think it would be funny if they could buy some really ugly masks to scare the neighborhood policemen.  However, the policemen also think it would be fun to give some of the neighborhood kids a fright.

Pennies for UNICEF

There is a contest for children collecting pennies for UNICEF.  The child who collects the most will win a trip to New York to visit the UN.  As an avid coin collector, Eddie is eager to win the contest, and he makes a special discovery among the coins that he collected on Halloween night.