Just then he saw the goblin rising in his stirrups . . .

'Tis the season for Irving's supreme masterpiece, The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Being a 5th grade teacher, I am privileged to witness the wonder and awe on the faces of children as I read this aloud each year. They are transfixed by Irving's imagery.

Hallmark has produced the best film interpretation of the work.

Other volumes to add to the season's collection are two Ray Bradbury novels, The Halloween Tree and Something Wicked This Way Comes.

October

O hushed October morning mild,
Thy leaves have ripened to the fall;
Tomorrow's wind, if it be wild,
Should waste them all.
The crows above the forest call;
Tomorrow they may form and go.
O hushed October morning mild,
the hours of this day slow.
Make the day seem to us less brief.
Hearts not averse to being beguiled,
Beguile us in the way you know.
Release one leaf at break of day;
At noon release another leaf;
One from our trees, one far away.

- Robert Frost