cover image The Legend of Sleepy Hollow the Legend of Sleepy Hollow

The Legend of Sleepy Hollow the Legend of Sleepy Hollow

Will Moses, Washington Irving. Philomel Books, $18.99 (48pp) ISBN 978-0-399-22687-8

Paintings by Grandma Moses's great-grandson make a striking match for Irving's classic story of strange goings-on in a small town in the Hudson Valley. Though greatly condensed, the plot remains intact; Ichabod Crane, the gangly schoolteacher, is driven out of Sleepy Hollow by a pumpkin-headed horseman who may (or may not) have been his flesh-and-blood rival to the affections of Katrina, a well-off young beauty. The paintings-naive, bright and straightforward in the tradition associated with Moses's illustrious forebear-suit the story stylistically although they do not fully enter into its spirit; they do not vary to plumb the moods of the story, which range from low country comedy to romance to suspense and terror. But the illustrations are well placed, either as two-page set pieces of the churchyard or Katrina's family farm (these are strikingly similar in composition to the work of Grandma Moses), or as small vignettes amidst the text. Overall, an attractive illustrated storybook, which may excite interest in the original. Ages 6-up. (Aug.)