Spider Magazine Stories, Games, Activites and Puzzles for Children and Kids October 2015

Dear Spider, I love the comics at the bottom of the pages! I also like the “Doodlebug and Dandelion” stories. I liked the “Parents with Pizzazz” episode (May/June 2015). I have a joke: What do you call an alligator in a vest? An investigator! I hope you had a good summer! Tristan A., age 7 San Francisco, California Dear Everybuggy, I love your mags! Can you adopt Dearling? She can change colors, depending upon the season. Brown is winter, pink is spring, green is summer, and orange is fall. Caroline Hutchins, age 7 Washington, District of Columbia Dear Thistle, How are you? I can’t wait for Halloween. I’m going to be a witch. What are you going to be? You are so cute, just like my little sister, Millie. I’m…

“YOU’VE GOT PUNKY’S invitation, right?” Dandelion Pinkley asked her brother, Doodlebug. “We need it to get in.” She stared nervously at the sign draped over the garage door in their cousin Punky’s backyard. It read “Garage of Ghouls—Enter at Your Own Risk!” Doodlebug, Dandelion, and their friends Bog and Miko planned to go inside together. “There’s safety in numbers,” Dandelion kept repeating. Punky Pinkley was older than they were, and on Halloween he tried to scare the living daylights out of anyone he could—especially measly little cousins. Doodlebug held up a crookedly cut orange card. “Got it right here.” He looked sweaty in his alligator costume. “He says it’s going to be the freakiest night of our lives.” Dandelion smoothed down her little red riding hood, trying to shake off…

This beach at night is a haunted place when the moon begins its evening glide, as silent swarms of ghosts come sliding out of the sand, beneath the tide—hiding in the blue-black night, tiny specters with claws of white. They scurry in the salty foam, then flit into your flashlight beam. They scuttle across your sandy toes, then disappear before you scream. Don’t swipe your net—they’re out of reach. So walk, if you dare, on Ghost Crab Beach.…

1. If there is a ghost in your room, it is haunted. 2. If there are ghost peppers in your room, it is not haunted, but it is very, very spicy. 3. If there are ghost crabs in your room, it is not haunted, but watch your toes. 4. If something goes bump in the night, it’s probably just your little brother falling out of bed. 5. If a voice says, “Boo,” ask “Are you a ghost?” If the voice says, “Yes,” and your brother is downstairs getting a glass of milk because he just fell out of bed, run. 6. If there is a sign on your door that says, “This room is haunted,” it’s probably just your little brother messing with you.…

BILLY BALDERSNOOK LIVED with his mother and sister in a very small house. It was so small, in fact, that after his mother picked her room and his sister picked her room, there weren’t any rooms left for Billy—except for up, up in the attic. But Billy didn’t mind, because it was almost like sleeping in a tree house. (Almost.) One night, after Billy had put on his pj’s and brushed his teeth and had a goodnight kiss from Mom, he clump-clump-clumped up the stairs and got under the covers as usual. Then, right before he fell asleep— Thump. He sat up. “Mom? Did you hear that?” “Hear what?” said his mother, her voice muffled from downstairs. “That thump!” he shouted. “Are you thumping down there?” “No!” she yelled back.…

A KING ONCE hired an artist to draw in his palace. “I am curious,” said the King. “What is the hardest thing to draw?” “A dog or a horse,” the artist said at once. “And what is the easiest?” the King asked. “A ghost or a monster,” the artist replied. “Everyone knows what horses and dogs look like. But it is hard to draw them. Ghosts and monsters, however, are easy. No one has ever seen them, so I can draw them however I like.”…