The Legend of Sleepy Hollow

by Jane B. Mason, Washington Irving

Hold on to your head and ride along for an exciting rendition of this spooky classic!

Ichabod Crane loves nothing more than telling ghost stories. But Ichabod is terribly afraid of ghosts and would never want to meet one - especially the spooky Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow!
There are many scary spirits and ghosts who haunt Sleepy Hollow. But none is more frightening than the Headless Horseman. When Ichabod meets the Headless Horseman, will he live to tell his story?

Genres: Classics, Fiction

80 pages, Paperback

Published October 1, 2002

About the author

Jane B. Mason grew up in a large family in northern Minnesota. She has written books for kids of all ages under many names and on many subjects, among them ghosts, Jedi, detective duos, princesses, twins, mean girls, and slam books.

Jane has lived in the midwest and on both coasts, but appears to have settled in Oakland, California, and writes almost every day at either a friend's dining room table or a little studio in her back yard, where she has a purple loveseat, a whole lotta books, and an odd selection of trinkets she has unwittingly been collecting since she was a child.

Reviews

[Lenore Kuipers-Cummins]

This is a story I've heard of forever and forever, but had never read. Seemed like a good read for this time of year. It was originally written by Washington Irving and published 1819-1820. It is primarily about Ichabod Crane. He is said to be "odd" and "funny-looking", with a "small head, big ears, and glassy green eyes". "His feet were enormous. "His arms and legs were unbelievably long. In fact, his hands seemed to dangle a mile below his shirtsleeves!". He was the schoolmaster in Tarry Town in a one-room schoolhouse in the spooky valley of Sleepy Hollow. He was also in charge of the church choir.
He loved to eat, and moved to a different student's house each week to live. He also loved telling and listening to ghost stories. In particular, he loved hearing the tale of the Headless Horseman, who most believed was the ghost of a Revolutionary Soldier whose head had had been shot off by a cannonball in a battle. The Horseman rode at night, racing through the countryside to the place of his final battle, hoping to find his head. Many of Tarry Town claimed that he carried a pumpkin head wherever he went, to throw at anyone who got in his way.
Ichabod stayed with the Van Tassels who had a beautiful 18-year-old daughter named Katrina. Ichabod took a shine to her. So did Brom Bones who was very handsome, sturdy, and had "brute strength".
All was well in Tarry Town until the Van Tassel's dinner party began.

[Donnette · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this with a group of students who were totally unfamiliar with traditional literature of any kind. We dimmed the lights and put a big fire on our computer screen to create a worthy atmosphere. They loved it, learned a lot of good new vocabulary and went around the next week telling others about the book and encouraging them to read it because they thought it was such a great story. As a reading teacher, you can't ask for much more. They were excited about reading! We followed it up with a picture book version of Rip Van Winkle. Now they are all reading various tall tales, legends, fairy tales, and myths.

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good read for the classroom. I wanted a good book to read to my second grade class for Halloween, and this was perfect! It had a good balance of spooky and calm. The ghost stories are brief and lite. It provided just enough action and chill to entertain my class, and yet it also didn't scare any of them. My students all enjoyed this book!

[Dope Ghost Library · Rating 4 out of 5]

A retelling of the Washington Irving classic by author Jane B. Mason, this junior edition of The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow takes the classic tale of the Headless Horseman and makes it fit for young kids who've acquired a taste for reading. Splicing the story up into chapters makes it much easier to keep in sync with what's occuring in the story. Bravo!

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a decent retelling of the classic tale, although I have never actually read the original written by Washington Irving. I have only seen the movie version that was put out by Disney many years ago. All in all, not a bad read.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Grade wide reading.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think the kids will really love this book. It's great for an October read aloud.

[Linda]

After seeing a stage play version of the classic short story, I found this children's version. Cute. I have yet to read Washington Irving's original version.

[Vanessa Dargain · Rating 5 out of 5]

I usually find a retelling of this American classic to read every year during harvest time . This year I found this one .

[Bg Holmes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Honestly, you remember the theme of the story of the Headless Horseman and Ichabod Crane, but I don't remember how it ends. That should say something about the book.

[aem · Rating 4 out of 5]

entertaining

[Jabari Doyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is ok at least. There are 2 main characters. First there is Ichabod Crane he loves to tell these scary stories. He also likes to sing and sing psalms. Then there is The Headless Horseman. No one really knows what he does. They call him that because he has no head. His head got shot off during a war. So he comes at night to find his head but he always hiss to go back to his grave before sunrise. This story's plot is in New York. In the start of the story it explains pretty much everything. So much people heard about the ghost and all the stories about upstate and never wanted to go there. If anyone would come in contact with the HEADLESS HORSEMAN he would take his pumpkin head and throw it at them and kill them. SO Crane who loved to tell these stories was telling these kids about it. Then when he was walking home one night he wasn't scared until he started to hear galloping from a horse. he tried to keep his cool. He got on horse and started to ride away but the sound got closer. He went even faster. Then he saw that the person didn't have a head. So he was soon in contact with THE HEADLESS HORSEMAN. Knowing him he just started to sing psalms. But the HEADLESS HORSEMAN took his pumpkin head and threw it at him he tried to duck but it was to late. After that no one ever saw him ever again. In school there was no teacher even in church Ichabod Crane wasn't there. No one ever knows what happened to him.

[Lauren Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is a classic scary story that is told around every campfire and during every Halloween holiday. The book is written in large text, but in chapter form to help those who are in that transition stage to get used to the chapters. The vocabulary is on the harder side, but a beginning 4th grader will be able to get through this book with only a little struggle.

[Janey · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun, quick, little Halloween read. I tried reading it to my almost-6-yr-old son, but he didn't really pay attention, so maybe when he's a little older. Being that I could only find a retold Junior Scholastic edition at my library I kept picturing the Disney cartoon version which made the story charming and humorous. It would be a fun tradition to read it every October.

[Jahmarley Samuels]

Was not scary at all...

[Kristin · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorites from elementary school

[Deborah Harris]

AR Quiz No. 152231 EN Fiction
Accelerated Reader Quiz Information IL: LG - BL: 5.9 - AR Pts: 1.0
Accelerated Reader Quiz Type Information AR Quiz Types: RP

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was it just me or was the while thing so completely obvious it was a prank?

[Rose]

Michael Garland's beautifully illustrated rendition of the classic ghost story.

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read with my 5th grade class

[Secret · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cool

[Alta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Advanced beginner's chapter book- A good read.