The Man Who Was Poe

The Man Who Was Poe
Avi
Avon Books NY, NY (1989)
Historical fiction, mystery
4-6

This book centers around an eleven year old boy named Edmund during the mid eighteen hundreds. He is from England but he, his aunt, and his twin sister travel to Providence Rhode Island in search of his mother. One day Edmond left his sister looked in their apartment in search of food after his aunt vanished during her search for his mother. Edmond was detained by an old man who claimed to be lost. When Edmond returned home his sister whom he calls sis, was also missing. Edmond begins a frantic search for his sister. While searching her meets a mysterious man named Mr. Dupin. He agrees to help Edmond find his sister only because he is a writer and feels that the experience would make a good story. Mr. Dupin wanted to know everything about Edmond and his family but, Edmond neglected to tell that his mother had come to America in search of his stepfather who had stolen all of her money. The two go to the docks where Edmond and his twin sister often went in hopes that they would find her there. At the docks the two make a gruesome discovery. Edmond's aunt's dead body had been pulled out of the water. Mr. Dupin begins to believe that his sister is dead but Edmond refused to believe this

Mr. Dupin is an alcoholic who seems to care little about saving sis. He seems to only care about his story and his love interest a wealthy widow named Mrs. Whitman. Mrs. Whitman did not approve of their relationship and wanted her to instead marry a man named Mr. Ratchett. We later discover that Mr. Ratchett is in fact Edmond's step father and that Mr. Dupin is the famous writer Edgar Allen Poe. We also discover that Mr. Ratchett and his accomplice Mr. Peterson had kidnapped his aunt, mother, and sister. They wanted sis to aid them in a gold heist because she was small enough to crawl through a shaft and bring them the gold. The two me killed their aunt thinking she was her identical twin sister, and they kept sis as a hostage.Mr. Ratchett wanted his wife dead so he would be free to marry Mrs. Whitman without scandal. Edmonds mother managed to escape from the men and he finally found his mother in a church. The next morning Edmond set off to rescue his sister. Mr. Dupin and Mr. Throck, who was a private investigator that only wanted reward money, were passed out drunk so he had to leave without them. Edmond found Mr. Peterson at the docks and tried to get him to return his sister. Mr. Ratchett hit him in the head from behind which knocked him out. Mr. Dupin and Mr. Throck finally sobered up and and rushed to the docks. Mr. Throck helped Edmond save his sister but Duplin was very angry that sis lived because he thought his story would be better if she were dead.

This was a very sad book for many reasons. First of all, I was very saddened for Edmond who was all alone and could find no one who cared about him. Times must have definitely changed because today a boy in Edmond's position could have gone to the police for help. Instead, people shooed him away because he was poor. they did not care that he was terrified and hungry. Also sad and unnerving was the character Edgar Allen Poe. He was an alcoholic and had psychiatric problems. He was tortured by his childhood and was very depresses. All of this made him go mad. He was so was obsessed with writing a story about all of Edmond's family dying that he really wanted them to die. He seemed to lack human empathy. I found this a very interesting book but I don't see this book with a place in my classroom. I might recommend it to certain students who like mysteries if I was teaching a grade level where they would be reading the works of Edgar Allen Poe. The book does cause the reader to think about the man Edgar Allen Poe.