Once Upon a Midnight Eerie (The Misadventures of Edgar and Allan Poe Series #2)

by Gordon McAlpine, Sam Zuppardi (Illustrator)

Overview

A perfect choice for smart, funny tweens who love Roald Dahl and Lemony Snicket.

In The Tell-Tale Start, Edgar and Allan Poe (great-great-great-great-grandnephews of the legendary Edgar Allan Poe) managed to outwit the nefarious Professor P. Pangborn Perry, who was (and is) determined to kill just one of them, in order to prove a mad scientific theory. Now the boys are in New Orleans, about to play the young Poe in a feature film. But the role may cost them their lives, because now someone else wants them dead. But who? And can the twins—with the help of their co-stars, Em and Milly Dickinson, their ghostly forebear, and a pair of real ghosts—manage to outwit them?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780698136526
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	04/17/2014
Series:	Misadventures of Edgar and Allan Poe Series , #2
Sold by:	Penguin Group
Format:	eBook
Pages:	208
Lexile:	820L (what's this?)
File size:	17 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Gordon McAlpine (www.gordonmcalpine.net) is the author of two novels for adults (The Persistence of Memory and Joy in Mudville),  the YA/adult crossover novel Mystery Box (which imagines the "real life" of Franklin Dixon and Carolyn Keene, the creators of the Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew!),and -- of course -- the first Misadventure of Edgar and Allan Poe, The Tell-Tale Start.  He lives with his wife in Southern California.

Sam Zuppardi (www.samzuppardi.com) is the illustrator of The Tell-Tale Start. His first picture book, The Nowhere Box, has just been released. He lives in York, England.

Editorial Reviews

Praise for Edgar & Allan Poe!

"The clever twins, together with some new characters (the Dickinson twin girls, Em and Milly), must foil the villainous plans and help uncover a long lost pirate treasure...intrigue as well as amusement as the clues unfold. Pen-and-ink drawings add to the quirky fun."—School Library Journal
"The psychically linked twins lay a pair of New Orleans ghosts to rest while surviving a new threat to their lives in this...gumbo of jokes, codes, treasure, history, mystery and assorted literary references."—Kirkus Reviews

"Once again the clever boys bring dastardly villains to justice while effortlessly outwitting every grown-up in sight. McAlpine uses New Orleans as a colorful backdrop for a tale of comedy and adventure."—Booklist

From the Publisher

03/01/2014
Gr 4–6—Edgar and Allan Poe, identical twins in body and mind, are back with a continuing adventure to outwit their impending murder by an even more sinister enemy than the evil-minded Professor Perry from the first book (Viking, 2013). This time the boys are in New Orleans as part of a film about their famous ancestor. A film crew member (the neglected daughter of Professor Perry) and her grandmother devise a plan to murder both boys as payback. The story is told through emails, snail mail, and some ghostly messages from beyond. The clever twins, together with some new characters (the Dickinson twin girls, Em and Milly), must foil the villainous plans and help uncover a long lost pirate treasure. McAlpine's double entendres and literary references create intrigue as well as mild amusement as the clues unfold. Pen-and-ink drawings add to the quirky fun. Fans of Kate and M. Sarah Klise's mysteries, such as Regarding the Fountain: A Tale, in Letters, of Liars and Leaks (Avon, 1998), will enjoy the nefarious and often comedic action.—Rita Soltan, Youth Services Consultant, West Bloomfield, MI

School Library Journal

2014-01-15
The psychically linked twins lay a pair of New Orleans ghosts to rest while surviving a new threat to their lives in this second episode. Preteen pranksters Edgar and Allan are visiting the Big Easy to co-star in a movie about their eponymous multi-great–uncle. There, they encounter the specters of the Du Valiers, a loving couple murdered in 1814 by Jean Lafitte's brother Pierre and unable to pass on until their killer is exposed. Fortunately, the twins have help in new friends Em and Milly Dickinson—multi-great–nieces of another illustrious writer—and also coded clues leading both to the pirate's revealing diary and a fabulous hoard of hidden treasure. Unfortunately, the Poes' strangely intelligent cat, Roderick Usher, is (again!) kidnapped…this time by the ill-intentioned mother and daughter of the opener's mad scientist, Professor Marvel. No fears, though: Break-ins to a certain mausoleum and the local pirate museum lead to a spate of rescues, arrests and revelations that, ultimately, put everything right. Scribbly pen-and-ink vignettes along with occasional interludes featuring the original Poe and Dickinson laboring in office cubicles in the Great Beyond while fretting over their living descendants add further diversions. A lightweight gumbo of jokes, codes, treasure, history, mystery and assorted literary references. (Fantasy. 10-12)

Kirkus Reviews