Spooky Fun for Middle Grade Readers

Halloween on the Butterfield Trail

    Published October 2025 by TCU Press

     Hardback, 123 pages, $19.99. 

When eleven-year-old twins Bird and Wiley join their father and mother on a stagecoach ride along the Butterfield Trail, they expect adventure but feel very differently about it. Bird is the kind of boy who craves it. He loves being in on the action and is always moving, always doing, and usually getting himself into trouble. He wants to sit up top in the driver's seat with his father. Wiley is just the opposite; he likes to read about adventure, but doesn't like to experience any hardships. Wiley is happy to stay in the cab, although even that is a little bouncier and dust-choked than he would like. 

An encounter with Zeb at a river crossing makes Bird think about fairness and equality. Zeb is a slave boy doing a man's work of poling the ferry across the Red River into Texas under the heavy-handed discipline of another slave. It's no surprise he wants to be free. That night, Zeb steals a horse and crosses the river in search of the $500 that will buy his freedom.

But then things get spooky. A freak storm separates the twins from the coach and they find themselves in a dark woods filled with howling wolves, flapping bats, and rattlesnakes. Spooks appear, too, including ghostly bells, glowing tombstones, headless horsemen, wailing ghostly women, and old forked-tail himself. 

In the middle of all this terror they run across Zeb and help him find a hidden treasure only to discover that it's been stolen from hardworking folks.

When they finally reconnect with the stagecoach, they find that their father's been injured and cannot drive the team. Although only a child, Bird must step up and do his father's job. But can he drive the team through a bison stampede? 

Dearen peppers the thrills with laugh-out-loud dialog and humorous turns of phrase that will keep readers smiling. I won't say it (an inside joke you will understand if you read the book), but you will be amused.

This may all sound like a rollicking, exciting story, but it will make readers think about deep and important issues. Throughout the book Bird grapples with questions like why he and Zeb can't be friends and which is the greater good: returning stolen money or using it to free a slave. And although this book takes the moral high ground, it does so in a way that's not preachy. Bird, Wiley and Zeb are left to make their own decisions, and so is the reader. 

Set in 1860, Dearen has filled this story with words and phrases that were used at the time but feel remarkably fresh to the modern reader. He does a good job of explaining things that modern readers might not understand. The closing chapter tells the history and folklore behind the story and offers suggestions for further reading. 

Spooky enough to raise the hair on a young head, yet clean and nonviolent enough to keep parents and teachers happy, this would be a great book for October read alouds in upper elementary and middle school classrooms and is a great read for ages 9-13. 

I have one hardbound copy to give away. If you'd like to receive it, leave a comment on this blog. 

About the Author

Patrick Dearen grew up in a small town in West Texas. He is the author of twenty-nine books, eighteen of which are adult fiction and ten are adult nonfiction. This is his first book for children. He is a member of the Texas Literary Hall of Fame and has been honored by Western Fictioneers, Academy of Western Artists, San Antonio Conservation Society, West Texas Historical Association, and New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards . His books have been finalists for or won the Peacemaker Award, the Elmer Kelton Award, the Will Rogers Gold Medallion and WWA's Spur Award.

The Best Little Maple Farm in Vermont

This past October my husband and I took a road trip to New England. We wanted to visit family and participate in the Mount Desert Island marathon and half marathon near Acadia National Park. But we also wanted to see the fall colors and experience life in the northeastern part of the country. 

While planning my itinerary, I scrolled along the roads of New England using google maps. I was delighted when I ran across reviews for Coutures October maple farm and bed and breakfast. Their website said they offered "a true Vermont farm Bed and Breakfast experience with an atmosphere of a small family farm with cows that might even wake you up in the morning!" and I was intrigued. This sounded like the singular experience I wanted.

Couture's is located along Vermont Route 100 in Westfield, Vermont, close to the Canadian border. Trails on the property wind through the woods and can be hiked in the summer and cross country skied in the winter. In addition, there is hiking, fishing, biking, canoeing and hunting nearby. It is close to Jay Peak Ski Resort, which is the reason they began the B&B because there was not enough accommodations in the area to meet demand.

If you want modern luxury and a fancy dancy atmosphere, this isn't the place for you. But if you want homey, warm and comfortable, this is it! Jacques and Pauline Couture began farming as teenage newlyweds in 1970, and their whole house, which dates back to 1892, is filled with family mementos. The queen size beds in the comfortable rooms are spread with home-made quilts. More quilts grace the walls and hang on quilt racks. Guests in the three rooms share a bathroom. There is a larger room that can accomodate a family of six that has its own bath.

Staying with the Coutures wasn't like staying at a bed and breakfast; it was like spending a night with your favorite aunt and uncle's house. The Coutures were warm and welcoming, and very proud of their maple products, their family, and their faith. They shared even more of their lives when they sat with us over a delicious homemade breakfast at the kitchen table. Of course, their own maple syrup was the star of the meal.

Staying with the Coutures is a great way to learn about farming in Vermont. The first thing the Coutures did when we arrived was sit us down for a video on the process of maple sugaring. Their brochure says that guests, young and old alike, are welcome to tour their barn, which houses cows, calves, chickens, and cats. In addition too a lot of different maple sugar products, there was a selection of their beef frozen and ready for sale in their shop. 

 We drove away with the warm feeling that we'd found family we didn't know we had, plus a box full of maple products to share with the family we already had. We would go back in a heartbeat.

 

Want to know more about the Coutures and their farm? Visit their website and online store.