Rip Van Winkle: The Strange Men of the Mountains, Legend of Sleepy Hollow: The Headless Horseman

by Washington Irving, Sandra Sanders (Editor), William Hogarth (Illustrator)

softcover book with great illustrations and story for youn reader

Genres: Classics

80 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1975

About the author

People remember American writer Washington Irving for the stories " Rip Van Winkle " and " The Legend of Sleepy Hollow ," contained in The Sketch Book (1820).

This author, essayist, biographer and historian of the early 19th century wrote newspaper articles under the pseudonym Jonathan Oldstyle to begin his literary career at the age of nineteen years.

In 1809, he published The History of New York under his most popular public persona, Diedrich Knickerbocker.

Historical works of Irving include a five volume biography of George Washington (after whom he was named) as well as biographies of Oliver Goldsmith, Muhammad, and several histories, dealing with subjects, such as Christopher Columbus, the Moors, and the Alhambra, of 15th-century Spain. John Tyler, president, appointed Irving to serve as the first Spanish speaking United States minister to Spain from 1842 to 1846.

Reviews

[Nathan Burton · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Rip Van Wrinkle: The Strange Men of the Mountains, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow: The Headless Horsemen” are two different stories that depict legends from a time before our own. “Rip Van Wrinkle: The Strange Men of the Mountains” is about a man with a nasty wife that always bosses him around. One day he went goes into the mountains to hunt for squirrels. While there he met some fantastic characters that gave him a drink. When he returns to his town nothing that he once knew is even there, and he’s for some reason an old man. “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow: The Headless Horsemen” is about a man named Ichabod Crane who falls in love with a wealthy farmers daughter. However he has competition from a neighborhood bully that also wants to compete for her love. While going home from her house Ichabod meets his real challenger, a bully of the supernatural kind. I would recommend this book to either a junior high or high school student because it does have some words and phrases that are used in olden days.