Books with title Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is a gothic story by American author Washington Irving, contained in his collection of 34 essays and short stories entitled The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.. Written while Irving was living abroad in Birmingham, England, "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" was first published in 1820. Along with Irving's companion piece "Rip Van Winkle", "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" is among the earliest examples of American fiction with enduring popularity, especially during Halloween because of a character known as the Headless Horseman believed to be a Hessian soldier who lost his head to a cannonball in battle.

First penned in 1820, Washington Irving's humorous, yet haunting, narrative tells of a local schoolmaster whose lonely trot home turns into a night of fright when he is met on the road by the Headless Horseman. Adapted here for younger readers and accompanied by rich acrylics, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow endures as the finest of American ghost stories.

One of the most popular pieces of American fiction is Washington Irving's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," originally published in 1820 in Irving's short story collection The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. Set in New York's Hudson River valley after the American Revolution, it is rich with Dutch culture, regional history, and ghost stories. In schoolmaster Ichabod Crane and his adversary the Headless Horseman, Irving created two of the most unforgettable characters in American literature. This short work is part of Applewood's American Roots series, tactile mementos of American passions by some of America's most famous writers and thinkers.

In a secluded glen called Sleepy Hollow, Ichabod Crane, an extremely superstitious schoolmaster from Connecticut, competes with Abraham Van Brunt, for the hand of 18-year-old Katrina Van Tassel. As Crane leaves a party he attended at the Van Tassel home on an autumn night, he is pursued by the Headless Horseman. The Headless Horseman, is said to be the ghost of a Hessian trooper who had his head shot off by a stray cannonball, and "rides forth to the scene of battle in nightly quest of his head.

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle are classic works of American historical fiction, with the vivid words of Washington Irving brought to life with the inclusion of 16 original illustrations by Andrew Kress Joanis. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow follows the adventures of Icabod Crane, a recently-arrived schoolteacher in a small, historically Dutch, New England town. He faces rival Brom Bones for the affection of the town beauty, but fears only ghosts, goblins, and other creatures of the netherworld, the most terrifying of which is the town legend... the Headless Horseman.Rip Van Winkle is set before the Revolutionary War, as a gentle soul takes a nap under a tree, meets some ghostly characters, and awakes to find the world has gone on without him.Both stories feature vivid illustrations by Andrew Kress Joanis.

This selection includes two world-famous children's tales by American author, Washington Irving, well known for his ability to bring humor to the silly vanities that characterize human nature. In the first story, Rip Van Winkle falls asleep only to wake up 20 years later, finding he has literally slept his life away. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow tells the tale of the gawky schoolmaster, Ichabod Crane, and his rival Brom Bones, who each woo pretty Katrina Van Tassel until a Headless Horseman makes his ghostly ride. Washington Irving was one of America's earliest and most popular writers. Famous for his short stories, Irving was also a chronicler of the frontier, a folklorist and a noted political satirist and essayist. In The Sketch Book, of which these two selections are a part, Irving drew upon the myths and legends of local and European folklore. His original creations of characters like Ichabod Crane and Rip Van Winkle have become lasting contributions to our national literary heritage, as distinctly American as Natty Bumppo, Captain Ahab, and Huckleberry Finn.