The Stranger

Farmer Bailey could not help noticing how peculiar the weather had been.  Not long ago it seemed that autumn was just around the corner.  But now it still felt like summer, as if the seasons couldn't change.  The warm days made the pumpkins grow larger than ever.  The leaves on the trees were as green as they'd been three weeks before.

I can't help noticing, either.  The calendar says fall but summer goes on and on; ninety degree days, sweltering humidity, afternoon thunderstorms.  The celestial clock that governs these things seems to have stopped. 

I have loved Van Allsburg's The Stranger since I first read it to my own children years ago.  The illustrations are just as thrilling and mysterious to me now as they were then.  When the stranger gently blows across a spoonful of soup, Mrs. Bailey shivers.  

I do too.

The Stranger

written and illustrated by Chris Van Allsburg