The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle

by Bob Blaisdell, Thea Kliros (Illustrator), Washington Irving

Here are two favorite stories by “the father of American literature” exactly as Washington Irving wrote them, newly reset in easy-to-read type, with six handsome new illustrations. Once again in these pages, Ichabod Crane, the hapless schoolmaster of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, faces the terror of the Headless Horseman; and the henpecked husband of Rip van Winkle rises from a 20-year sleep to find a world vastly changed. Children and adults alike will enjoy the humor and suspense of these two beloved classics of American literature.

Genres: Classics, Fiction, Childrens, Literature, American

96 pages, Paperback

Published September 1, 1995

About the author

Bob Blaisdell is a published adapter, author, editor, and an illustrator of children's books and young adult books. He teaches English in Brooklyn at Kingsborough Community College. He is a reviewer for the San Francisco Chronicle and Christian Science Monitor and the editor of more than three dozen anthologies for Dover Publications. Email him at Robert.Blaisdell@Kingsborough.edu

Reviews

[Jaime · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love early American literature and Washington Irving's stories ar my favorites. Here, two of his best known tales are presented with commentary. Read them and go on a magical journey of fantasy. Rip comes across as a grumpy man who learns a lesson about separating himself from all and Ichabod Crane learns that one should always be flexible and cognizant of new places and the dangers within.

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I vaguely knew the story, may have read it as a child but don't remember. It was interesting to read now as an adult and pick up on some things a child wouldn't. Since it's old, I did have to look up some words here and there while reading. But it's an intriguing little legend.

[Vineet Raghav · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read different version of this book. But I guess the story is same. Just different cover and mine had pictures.

[Terry · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read these in the Penguin 60s edition from the 1990s 60th anniversary of Penguin, with a nice cover illustration by Arthur Rackham.

Loved the stories, and don't think I ever read them before.

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the Great Illustrated Classics version of this and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip VAN wINKLE APPEAR TO BE 2 SEPERATE STORIES. bUT FOR SOME WEIRD REASON THERE WERE 3,NOT 2, STORIES IN THE BOOK.(Oh sorry about Caps Lock, I didn't wanna type that all over again. Sooo...
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is about a schoolteacher dude who believes in the legend of sleepy hollow. The legend is that a headless guy looks for his head every night at sleepy hollow. The sad thing is that the schoolteacher has to get home through sleepy hollow at night time(uh-oh)
Ok, now, the schoolteacher(I forgot his name, it starts with an I) has an incredibly huge crush on this girl Katrina who is pretty and filthy rich. But Brom Bones, a tough dude likes her too. Basically the story is about him trying to impress her and stuff and Brom Bones doing bad stuff to him. But then one day the Ghost of Sleepy Hollow chases the schoolteacher and then he gets scared and was never seen of ahain. Oh yeah, and Brom Bones marrys Katrina. The End.
The second story, Rip Van Winkle is(let me make this very short and simple. The story was more detailed) A guy goes in the forest, meets these elve guys, drinks beer with them, wakes up in the morning and the beer made him sleep for 20 years so now hes old, then he goes back to the village, everyything changed, no one knows who he is, he is confused and sad, and then he sees his daughter, they reunite, The End.
And the last story is my fav out of the three. Ok (I gota take a deeep breath,)This dude is obsessed with money, dreames that he digs up gold in his cabbage feilds, so at night he digs up his whole feild, ruins the cabbages, turns very poor, his family thinks hes crazy, then he goes to a hotel inn and hears a story about buried treasure, tries to dig it up, and then the pirate catches him, then he gets knocked out, somebody saves him, he is about to die, everyone sad, then right before he dies someone tells him about the road about to be built in his cabbage patch and that he would of had been very rich, he suddenly jumps up, is healthy, is happy, and then he gets rich and him and his family live happily ever after.

I liked these stories. They were very interesting

[Tiffany · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow ⭐️⭐️:

I’m not even quite sure I know what I read. The story was too descriptive, although quite eloquent. This story is “supposedly” meant as children’s literature and there were both inappropriate words as well large words that even I had to look up. This story is for a much older audience. I found the story to surround Ichabod’s courtship mostly and only have the Headless Horseman in a few pages. I was hoping for more of a scare either throughout or at the end of the book.

Rip Van Winkle ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️:

I went in blind on this story having not known the plot. I was pleasantly surprised. It was a cute story that was well-written and easy to read. Moral of the story: appreciate what you have while you have it.

[Deborah]

I found this book to be boring and simplistic. I have enjoyed the Disney movie for years and found the book to be a disappointment. The story itself is easy to read and quite scary, however, it is the buildup that gets old fast. I agree with an earlier review that it is the "story of a very hungry skinny man"; Mr. Irving spent more time describing the food in the book than he did the actual climax of the story. By the time I got to the exciting part, I had almost decided to give up on the book several times. I actually found the Rip Van Winkle part of the book much easier to get through.

[Barbara Mahoney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprisingly good! Two famous stories by Washington Irving are presented in this book: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow & Rip Van Winkle. A local library was offering copies encouraging "everyone" to read this book over the summer. I picked it up not expecting much. I was pleasantly surprised. The writing was really good and the stories captured all the local color of the region and times.

I had been to visit Washington Irving's home and knew he was an interesting character and famous author. I'm glad I got the chance to read two of his most famous stories! I enjoyed them!

[Teressa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I fell in love with this story (The Legend of Sleepy Hollow) in the second grade and have yet to fall out of love with it. The only thing that could improve this story would be making it into a motion picture featuring one my favorite actors...oh, wait! They've done that already! Wow -- talk about mission complete!

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought it was ok. It is a prime example of the descriptive writing our teachers tried so hard to drill into our heads. However I felt that though it is considered a great book written by "the father of american literature." The story was often lost on those deep descriptions. I can however see why it was assinged reading in my junior high/ high school years.

[Anne]

Love his stories; taken from an historical perspective, these stories tell us about the time right around when colonial turned into america. Both are excellent tales and I love sleepy hollow.

Favorite interpretation in movie media is still the Disney version

[Rebekah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think these would be better "heard" rather then read but I did really enjoy them

[Annie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoy Washington Irving's writing style!