Scholastic book: "The Phantom Cyclist and Other Ghost Stories"

• Title: The Phantom Cyclist and Other Ghost Stories
• Author: Ruth Ainsworth (1908-1984). I'm surprised she hasn't been featured on Papergreat before this, given how many children's books she wrote, many of which are retellings of classic fairy tales.
• Cover illustration: Mike Eagle. Look how creepy his back cover is! How many faces can you see woven into the drawing? Reminds of the ghostly faces outside Downe Court Manor. 
• Interior illustrations: Antony Maitland (1935-2025). You can see two of his illustrations from the book at the bottom of this post.
• Publisher: Scholastic Book Services (TX 3598)
• Cover price: None
• Year: 1974, I think. The book was first published in 1971 by Andre Deutsch Limited. This edition was published by Scholastic in arrangement with Follett Publishing Company.
• Format: Paperback
• Pages: 138
• List of stories: The Phantom Cyclist; Cherry Ripe; The Whistling Boy; The Cat Who Liked Children; The Silent Visitor; Mirror, Mirror on the Wall; and The White-haired Children.
• Excerpt #1: The room had changed, too. Her rocking horse had gone, and her dolls' house, and all her other toys. The gas fire had gone, too. A coal fire was burning in the grate, and there was a rocking chair by the fire in which Patty was sitting.
• Excerpt #2: "Children think we are queer, and grown-up people think we are very queer indeed. We have queer names and peculiar hair, and we look after ourselves. Please don't ask permission. Just come, both of you."
• Rating on Goodreads: 4.21 stars (out of 5)
• Goodreads review excerpt: This past April, Chris Browning wrote: "It’s a magical collection of lightly spooky stories, but mostly time slip pieces which entirely feel right for the BGC I worked in during the early 2000s, which still felt sleepy and dreamlike and strange. These are ghost stories in the way Tom’s Midnight Garden is a ghost story, unstuck spirits and modern children meeting between the years. Some are sweet and gentle (the one about the cat is lovely), most are slightly haunting and strange with a slightly dark ending hinted very lightly by Ainsworth. And then there’s 'The White-haired Children,' which feels like an absolute masterpiece of strange fiction, slightly unsettling but with a bucolic tone that reminds me of John Buchan’s 'Fullcircle.'"
• Rating on Amazon: 5 stars (out of 5)
• Amazon review excerpt: In 2011, cataholic wrote: "Warm, cozy and very English, many of the stories take place in the countryside and none of the families are dysfunctional. No Stephen King style horror here, no vampires or other monsters, just good old fashioned ghost stores reminiscent of earlier times."