The Storm
by Kevin Crossley-Holland
illustrated by Alan Marks
Age: 6+
Interests: ghost stories, folktales, storms
Heinemann: 1985
42 pages
Also by this author: The Arthur Trilogy: The Seeing Stone, At the Crossing-Places, and King of the Middle March, Gatty’s Tale, Bracelet of Bones, The Magic Lands: Folktales of Britain and Ireland
Young Annie lives at the edge of a wide and forbidding marsh. She is a strong-willed and independent child but she never goes out into the marsh at night for fear of the ghost that local legend says haunts it. One very stormy night the telephone line goes dead just as her older sister goes into labour. Annie volunteers to travel across the marsh to fetch the doctor, just as a mysterious lone rider gallops up. Annie’s parents hail him for a ride into town and Annie departs with him. After a wild ride through the wind and rain he delivers her safely to the doctor’s door. Annie thanks him, admitting she was afraid of meeting up with the ghost, at which the rider reveals that he is the ghost!
A very slim volume, this illustrated novella was intended for early readers, and marked a departure from the usual teen fare that had been winning the Carnegie medal up until that time. Though the story is short and quickly read, it is beautifully written and gives a vivid impression of the raging storm and the uncanny beauty of the marsh.
Rarest Kind of Best 