Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle

by Washington Irving

Overview

"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" is set circa 1790 in the Dutch settlement of Tarry Town, New York, in a secluded glen called Sleepy Hollow. It tells the story of Ichabod Crane, a lean, lanky, and extremely superstitious schoolmaster from Connecticut, who competes with Abraham "Brom Bones" Van Brunt, the town rowdy, for the hand of 18-year-old Katrina Van Tassel, the daughter and sole child of a wealthy farmer. As Crane leaves a party, he is pursued by the Headless Horseman, who is supposedly the ghost of a Hessian trooper who had his head shot off by a stray cannonball during "some nameless battle" of the American Revolutionary War, and who "rides forth to the scene of battle in nightly quest of his head."

Also includes "Rip Van Winkle."

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781479445646
Publisher:	Agog! Press
Publication date:	06/01/2009
Pages:	86
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.38(d)
Age Range:	9 - 10 Years

About the Author

Washington Irving, the first American writer to make his living by his profession, was born April 3, 1783. At the age of six he was introduced to his namesake, George Washington. He studied law but then was sent to Europe because of his health and was to spend 17 years abroad. When he was thirty-five his family's business went bankrupt. It was then that he began to support himself by writing. He wrote letters, essays and short fiction. Washington Irving died in 1859.

Editorial Reviews

THE LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW Washington Irving, illus. by Michael Garland. Boyds Mills, $8.95 ISBN 1-56397-605-6. Full-page oil paintings illustrate this unabridged edition of the classic spine-tingler. All ages. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Gr 5-8-- An unabridged version of the classic tale of Ichabod Crane, his affection for the wealthy and beautiful Katrina Van Tassel, and his confrontation with the Headless Horseman. Despite Irving's outmoded narrative style, this is still an excellent ghost story that combines appropriate amounts of humor and terror while integrating Germanic legend with New England folklore, specifically that of New York State. Garland's realistic oil paintings are either portraitures or landscapes. The former are reminiscent of Barry Moser's work, while the latter resemble those by Thomas Locker. While these illustrations act as a sophisticated balance to Irving's wordy narrative, they do not consistently evoke the mood of Arthur Rackham's interpretation (1990). In her retelling for younger children (1987, both Morrow), Diane Wolkstein avoids the African-American stereotypes that Irving used for ``comic relief'' and concentrates on telling a good story, eliminating the complicated and archaic language of the period. All in all, this new version is useful where additional copies of the unabridged edition are needed. --Andrew W. Hunter, Public Library of Charlotte and Mecklenburg, Charlotte, NC

School Library Journal

Many folk-art paintings illustrate this simplified retelling of Washington Irving's "Legend of Sleepy Hollow". Varied in size from small vignettes to double-page spreads, the colorful paintings are reminiscent of the works of Moses' great-grandmother, better known as Grandma Moses. A large-format picture book that will fill a need in some libraries.

Carolyn Phelan

George Vafiadis narrates these two early American classics skillfully, changing pace and pitch to bring out the nuances of Irving's storytelling. Vafiadis builds tension by drawing out Ichabod Crane's encounter with the Headless Horseman, then strikes a wry tone to highlight the social satire woven through both works. He lingers on the details of the social changes that occurred while Rip Van Winkle napped, thus showing modern listeners the many social changes that accompanied the American Revolution. The stories were written as if they were documents passed down through several handlers, but through shifts in tone Vafiadis easily differentiates between each layer of distance constructed by Irving. G.B. © AudioFile 2002, Portland, Maine

APR/MAY 02 - AudioFile