Front cover of an edition of Georgie from a public library.
Georgie is a children's picture book of forty-two pages by the American author and illustrator Robert Bright that was first published in 1944.
The book's title character and protagonist is a little ghost. In addition to being completely harmless and non-threatening, Georgie provides a useful service to the people and animals who live in and near the house that he haunts by letting them know that night has fallen. The plot is set in motion when some repairs are made to Georgie's home which mean he can no longer make his presence know by making noises. He decides to leave and look for a new residence.
In 1968, an audio version of Georgie was released on record and cassette by Scholastic. In 1980, a short animated film based on the book was produced by Weston Woods Studios.
A further thirteen picture books about Georgie the ghost were written by Robert Bright and were originally published between 1956 and 1983.
Plot
A small house in a village in New England is home to Mr. and Mrs. Whittaker. It is also home to a small ghost named Georgie. At the same time each evening, Georgie makes one of the stairs creak and makes the parlor door squeak. The Whittakers know that it is time to go to bed when they hear those noises and their cat Herman knows it is time to prowl when he hears them. The owl Miss Oliver, who lives outside the Whittaker's house, knows it is time to wake up when she hears Georgie's sounds.
Mr. Whittaker makes some repairs to the house. After that, the stair no longer creaks and the parlor door no longer squeaks. Mr. and Mrs. Whittaker no longer know when it is time to go to bed, Herman no longer knows when it is time to prowl and Miss Oliver no longer knows when it is time to wake up because Georgie is no longer able to make any sounds. Since there is no longer anything for him to do in his house, Georgie decides to leave it.
Georgie looks for another house to haunt. Unfortunately, every house in the village already has a resident ghost, apart from the home of the miserable old Mr. Gloams. Georgie briefly moves into Mr. Gloams' house but leaves it because he is unhappy there. He moves into a barn which is home to a cow that pays no attention to him.
That winter, there is a lot of rain and snow. The dampness gets into Mr. and Mrs. Whittaker's home. It makes the stair creak again and rusts the parlor door's hinges again. Herman notices this and tells Miss Oliver. She flies to Georgie and tells him. Georgie goes back to his old home. He haunts it like he did before and again provides a useful service to the Whittakers, Herman and Miss Oliver.
See also
- Big Pumpkin
- Los Gatos Black on Halloween
- Gus Was a Friendly Ghost
- The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything
- The Night Before Halloween
- Room on the Broom
- Scary, Scary Halloween
- Winnie and Wilbur picture book series
External links
- There is an article about Georgie on the Halloween Wiki.
