This heart-stopping historical mystery from plot-master Avi will reach the wide audience it deserves with its fresh and compelling new cover treatment! The night Edmund’s twin sister, Sis, goes missing, the streets of nineteenth-century Providence, Rhode Island, are filled with menacing shadows. As Edmund frantically searches the city, he tries to make sense of what happened: He only left Sis alone long enough to buy bread. How did she vanish in the mere minutes he was gone? Just as Edmund is about to lose hope of finding her, a stranger appears out of the mist and offers to help. But the man is gloomy and full of secrets. He seems to need Edmund to carry out plans of his own. Can Edmund trust him? And if he doesn’t take the chance, how will he ever find his sister?
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Sexual Content - 0/5
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Violence - 1/5
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Language - 0/5
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Drugs and Alcohol - 1/5
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Summary
Reviewer Name : Stormi Johnson The Man Who Was Poe is a reissue and I must say the cover has a much better design on it than the older edition. It's a historical mystery set in the nineteenthcentury and was sort of dark for a middle grade book. The story starts out with Edmund and his sister (Sis) being left alone while their Aunt went in search of their mother. It has been three days, they have no food and are starving. Sis urges Edmond to go out and try and buy them some food but he doesn't want to leave her alone. Aunt Pru said that they should not leave the house and he worries about leaving her alone. Sis keeps urging Edmond so he goes out in search of some food and when he comes back his sister is missing. Because he is a poor kid he can't get anybody to help him look for his sister. Then he runs into a strange man who calls himself Mr. Dupin. The boy doesn't know where or not he can trust him as he drinks a lot. What Edmond doesn't know is that Mr. Dupin is really the famous writer Edgar Allen Poe and that Poe thinks that Edmond and his situation would make for a good story. Mr. Dupin says that he will help Edmond, but at times he gets distracted with his own life and the drink. He often uses Edmond to help him with his own plans. Mr. Dupin (Poe) wants to marry a young Mrs. Whitman, but her mother is against them being together. As the story unravels the author does a great job of weaving both the story of Edmond looking for his sister and Mr. Dupin trying to woe Mrs. Whitman and having them intertwine and having all the characters actually be a part of the whole scenario of finding Edmunds sister. Edmund is an interesting character and very determined to find out what has happened to his sister, his mother and Aunt. He is very brave for a young man and I really admire his determination and how he faces everything. Mr. Dupin (Poe) is what you would think that Poe would be like, he is very mysterious and strange. He has a very dark and morbid imagination. He wants Edmund's family to be dead as that is how he wants to write about it in his story. It does him no good to have them alive and at times when he drinks he gets even more creepy. It would be hard to write about Edgar Allen Poe and not make his character creepy but for young readers..I don't know. Quote from book: \"You just said my mother or my aunt might be there! And maybe Sis, too.\" Poe shook his head even as he opened his notebook. \"As far as I'm concerned they are all dead.\" Edmond, shocked, stared at him. \"But they aren't dead. You just said so.\" \"In my story they will die.\" Poe dipped his pen in the ink bottle. Over all I found the story The Man Who Was Poe to be entertaining but a little dark for middle grade readers. I would suggest it for older middle graders.