Continuing in the Halloween “spirit,” the next book on my October reading list has also been in my collection since high school. In fact, like Great Ghost Stories (reviewed last week), The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Wan Winkle was purchased from the Scholastic Book Club.

Washington Irving’s stories are classics of American literature. Both are set in the Catskill Mountains of southeastern New York state where Irving was born and raised.

In the quaint, isolated village of Sleepy Hollow—where fables and superstitions abound—locals are all too happy to regale newcomers with the legend of a Hessian soldier who lost his head to a cannon ball during the Revolutionary War. Ever since, he prowls the woods atop his steed in search of his head. When meek but socially ambitious schoolmaster Ichabod Crane comes to the village, he courts Katrina Van Wessel, the daughter of a wealthy farmer. This immediately puts him at odds with local ruffian, “Bram Bones” Van Brunt. After Katrina turns down Crane during a party at her family home, he storms out, but his disappointment turns to fear when he confronts the Headless Horseman along a dark country road…

Hen-pecked husband Rip Van Winkle avoids gainful employment—and his wife’s nagging—through daytime jaunts in the woods with his dog, Wolf, and helping his fellow villagers with odd jobs. One morning, Rip ventures a bit farther up the mountain than usual and begins to hear thunder. He is soon beckoned by a man in outdated Dutch clothing struggling to carry a keg. Rip lends a hand and together, they enter a nearby cave where other such men are playing nine-pins (bowling). After drinking heavily from the keg, Rip falls asleep and awakens 20 years later, having completely missed the Revolutionary War…