Genre 5: Historic Fiction - The Man Who Was Poe

Posted by Tamra S , Wednesday, July 21, 2010 5:05 PM

Bibliographic Data

Avi. 1989. The Man Who Was Poe. New York: Avon Books.

Summary and Analysis
On a cold night in 1848 in Providence, Rhode Island, a young girl named Sis goes missing. Her twin brother, Edmund, had only left to get food, and upon returning to the locked room, found his sister vanished. Their mother had gone missing a year prior, their Aunty Pru has not returned to their rented room in two days, and now Sis has disappeared. Young Edmund is desolate and begins to wander the dark streets. It is there that he bumps into a man who calls himself Auguste Dupin. Desperate, Edmund pleads for help from this complete stranger. Dupin agrees, but only because he has an agenda of his own. It is revealed later that Dupin is in fact Edgar Allan Poe. Poe wants to use Edmund's story as the basis for a new story, only Poe does not want to find Sis alive. As lies and deception are discovered, Edmund is able to find his mother. Edmund at last decides to take control of the situation in order to find his sister and bring her home.

This novel weaves in an historic time, place, and person with mystery, murder, and intrigue. Avi uses what is known about Edgar Allan Poe to create this fictional account. It is true that Poe was a suitor of a lady in Providence, though they did not marry. The language used in dialogue is representative of the times, as people spoke differently. Avi included a bit of biographical information about Poe at the end of the novel. The reader is carried on Edmund's journey and drive to find his sister. Edmund transforms from fragile, weak boy to determined, brave young man. This book, due to the dark nature of the story, is more suitable for grades 4 and up.

Awards and Reviews
*Horn Book Magazine: Suspenseful fiction that works extremely well.
*Children's Book Review Service: The writing is that of a true master . . . a suspenseful, thought-provoking novel that combines mystery with historical fiction.

Connections
*Read works by Edgar Allan Poe. Discuss his representation in the novel. Does it match his personality based on his works?
*Research the time period of the book. Look up images of the type of clothes described in the books to see what they actually looked like.
*An author study of Avi could also be done by reading other historic fiction novels he has written. Discuss what kind of research Avi must have to do before writing an historic fiction novel.

References

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