The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

Publisher Marketing: From the listless repose of the place, and the peculiar character of its inhabitants, who are descendants from the original Dutch settlers, this sequestered glen has long been known by name of Sleepy Hollow ... A drowsy, dreamy influence seems to hang over the land, and to pervade the very atmosphere. -Washington Irving, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow The story is set in 1790 in the countryside around the Dutch settlement of Tarry Town (historical Tarrytown, NY), in a secluded glen called Sleepy Hollow. Sleepy Hollow is renowned for its ghosts and the haunting atmosphere that pervades the imaginations of its inhabitants and visitors. Some residents say this town was bewitched during the early days of the Dutch settlement. Other residents say an old Native American chief held his powwows here before the country was discovered by Master Hendrick Hudson. The most infamous spectre in the Hollow is the Headless Horseman, said to be 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." The "Legend" relates the tale 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, Baltus Van Tassel. Crane, a Yankee and an outsider, sees marriage to Katrina as a means of procuring Van Tassel's extravagant wealth. Bones, the local hero, vies with Ichabod for Katrina's hand, playing a series of pranks on the jittery schoolmaster, and the fate of Sleepy Hollow's fortune weighs in the balance for some time. The tension between the three is soon brought to a head. On a placid autumn night, the ambitious Crane attends a harvest party at the Van Tassels' homestead. He dances, partakes in the feast, and listens to ghostly legends told by Brom and the locals, but his true aim is to propose to Katrina after the guests leave. His intentions, however, are ill-fated. After having failed to secure Katrina's hand, Ichabod rides home "heavy-hearted and crestfallen" through the woods between Van Tassel's farmstead and the Sleepy Hollow settlement. As he passes several purportedly haunted spots, his active imagination is engorged by the ghost stories told at Baltus' harvest party. After nervously passing under a lightning-stricken tulip tree purportedly haunted by the ghost of British spy Major Andre, Ichabod encounters a cloaked rider at an intersection in a menacing swamp. Unsettled by his fellow traveler's eerie size and silence, the teacher is horrified to discover that his companion's head is not on his shoulders, but on his saddle. In a frenzied race to the bridge adjacent to the Old Dutch Burying Ground, where the Hessian is said to "vanish, according to rule, in a flash of fire and brimstone" upon crossing it, Ichabod rides for his life, desperately goading his temperamental plow horse down the Hollow. However, to the pedagogue's horror, the ghoul clambers over the bridge, rears his horse, and hurls his severed head into Ichabod's terrified face. The next morning, Ichabod has mysteriously disappeared from town, leaving Katrina to marry Brom Bones, who was said "to look exceedingly knowing whenever the story of Ichabod was related." Indeed, the only relics of the schoolmaster's flight are his wandering horse, trampled saddle, discarded hat, and a mysterious shattered pumpkin. Although the nature of the Headless Horseman is left open to interpretation, the story implies that the ghost was really Brom (an agile stunt rider) in disguise. Irving's narrator concludes, however, by stating that the old Dutch wives continue to promote the belief that Ichabod was "spirited away by supernatural means," and a legend develops around his disappearance and sightings of his melancholy spirit" Review Citations: Booklist 03/15/2008 pg. 69 (EAN 9781602700604, Library Binding) School Library Journal 05/01/2008 pg. 154 (EAN 9781602700604, Library Binding) Hornbook Guide to Children 10/01/2008 pg. 342 (EAN 9781602700604, Library Binding) Hornbook Guide to Children 07/01/2008 pg. 342 (EAN 9781602700604, Library Binding) Wilson Middle/Junior Hi Catalo 01/01/2009 pg. 418 (EAN 9781602700604, Library Binding) Wilson Children's Catalog 01/01/2010 pg. 584 (EAN 9781602700604, Library Binding) Kirkus Review - Children 07/01/2007 pg. 667 (EAN 9781416906254, Hardcover) Booklist 09/15/2007 pg. 65 (EAN 9781416906254, Hardcover) Horn Book Magazine 11/01/2007 pg. 681 (EAN 9781416906254, Hardcover) School Library Journal 02/01/2008 pg. 116 (EAN 9781416906254, Hardcover) Wilson Middle/Junior Hi Catalo 01/01/2008 pg. 152 (EAN 9781416906254, Hardcover) Wilson Middle/Junior Hi Catalo 01/01/2009 pg. 881 (EAN 9781416906254, Hardcover) Wilson Children's Catalog 01/01/2010 pg. 1049 (EAN 9781416906254, Hardcover) Publishers Weekly 09/16/1996 (EAN 9781563976056, Paperback) Booklist 11/01/1992 pg. 513 (EAN 9781563970276, Hardcover) School Library Journal 11/01/1992 pg. 94 (EAN 9781563970276, Hardcover) Hornbook Guide to Children 01/01/1992 (EAN 9781563970276, Hardcover) Hornbook Guide to Children 01/01/1990 (EAN 9780816718696, Hardcover) Hornbook Guide to Children 01/01/1990 (EAN 9781556700460, Hardcover) Hornbook Guide to Children 07/01/2002 pg. 68 (EAN 9781568461458, Hardcover) Hornbook Guide to Children 01/01/2003 pg. 68 (EAN 9781568461458, Hardcover) Hornbook Guide to Children 01/01/1991 (EAN 9780824981624, Hardcover) School Library Journal 12/01/1991 (EAN 9780824981624, Hardcover) Hornbook Guide to Children 01/01/1990 (EAN 9780816718702, Paperback) Publishers Weekly 09/11/1987 (EAN 9780688065324, Hardcover) School Library Journal 11/01/1987 (EAN 9780688065324, Hardcover) Hornbook Guide to Children 01/01/1990 (EAN 9780688052768, Hardcover) Publishers Weekly 07/19/1999 pg. 197 (EAN 9780824941604, Hardcover) Booklist 10/01/1999 pg. 358 (EAN 9780824941604, Hardcover) Publishers Weekly 07/24/1995 pg. 65 (EAN 9780399226878, Hardcover) Booklist 10/01/1995 pg. 316 (EAN 9780399226878, Hardcover) School Library Journal 10/01/1995 pg. 134 (EAN 9780399226878, Hardcover) Hornbook Guide to Children 07/01/1995 pg. 56 (EAN 9780399226878, Hardcover) Kirkus Review - Children 08/01/1995 pg. 1112 (EAN 9780399226878, Hardcover) Audio File 02/01/2011 pg. 65 (EAN 9781441780898, Compact Disc) Contributor Bio:  Irving, Washington One of the first American writers to gain acclaim in Europe, Washington Irving was also an essayist, a biographer, an historian, and a diplomat. He is best known for having written the short stories The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle, both of which appeared in the collection The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. Though he is best known for his short stories, Irving s written works include social and political commentary for the literary magazine Salmagundi, which he helped found, as well as biographies of a number of historical figures including George Washington and the prophet Muhammad. Irving died in 1859 at the age of 76. Contributor Bio:  Classics, 510 John Griffith "Jack" London (born John Griffith Chaney, January 12, 1876 - November 22, 1916) was an American author, journalist, and social activist. A pioneer in the then-burgeoning world of commercial magazine fiction, he was one of the first fiction writers to obtain worldwide celebrity and a large fortune from his fiction alone. Some of his most famous works include The Call of the Wild and White Fang, both set in the Klondike Gold Rush, as well as the short stories "To Build a Fire," "An Odyssey of the North," and "Love of Life." He also wrote of the South Pacific in such stories as "The Pearls of Parlay" and "The Heathen," and of the San Francisco Bay area in The Sea Wolf. London was part of the radical literary group, "The Crowd," in San Francisco, and a passionate advocate of unionization, socialism, and the rights of workers. He wrote several powerful works dealing with these topics, such as his dystopian novel The Iron Heel, his non-fiction expose The People of the Abyss, and The War of the Classes.