Edgar and the Tattle-Tale Heart

Edgar: BabyLit First Steps

by Jennifer Adams, Ron Stucki (Illustrations)

Edgar the Raven is at it again in this spirited story with some important lessons. What will Edgar do when he accidentally breaks a statue sitting on a dresser? Will his sister, Lenore, tattle on him? Will Edgar tell his mother the truth? Inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart," lit lovers will delight in this adventure.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Fiction, Classics, Halloween, Animals, Retellings

34 pages, Board Book

First published August 1, 2014

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Jennifer Adams is the author of more than forty books. Her bestselling BabyLit board books (published by Gibbs Smith) introduce small children to the world of classic literature and have sold 1.5 million copies. She is the author of another series of board books, My Little Cities.

Jennifer’s picture books for children, Edgar Gets Ready for Bed, Edgar and the Tattle-Tale Heart and Edgar and the Tree House of Usher are inspired by Edgar Allan Poe’s poem “The Raven.” She also has two new picture books forthcoming from HarperCollins.

Her titles also include books for adults, including Y is for Yorick, a slightly irreverent look at Shakespeare, and Remarkably Jane, notable quotations on Jane Austen.

Jennifer graduated from the University of Washington. She has 20 years’ experience as a book editor, including at Gibbs Smith and Quirk Books. She currently works as a consulting editor for Sounds True, developing their children’s line. Jennifer works some evenings at her local independent bookstore, The King’s English, to feed her book habit. She lives in Salt Lake City with her husband, Bill Dunford, who is also a writer.

(bio from author's website)

Reviews

[Jessica]

Absolutely delightful! Jen Adams' stories about Edgar the raven, based on Poe's works, are some of my favorite picture books to come out in the last few years. And the art is wonderful as well!

[☠︎︎༒︎✞︎ ѕℓιм ☠︎︎༒︎✞︎]

I won this book in the goodreads giveaway. It's more of a children's book then a teen or grownup. But I still read it. And my 9 year old niece read this book she loves it . She even ask me for it but I told her she can just read it when she comes over . Good book to read to children though.

[Chase]

I kind of liked this book is was a quick read, i wish it was a little bit better. Because I like Edgar Allan Poe..

[Amanda]

A wonderful moral/lesson book with fun illustrations and literary references!

[Shayne Bauer]

Poe for kids! I'm in heaven! This is a must read for all Poe fans.

[Aquila]

Cute children's intro to Poe book with a thoughtful message.

[The Book Box]

Re-read 5/28/16: Daddy read this book to me tonight before bed.

Originally read 1/24/15: Mama read this to me for National Readathon Day. She loves Edgar Allen Poe, and I loved trying to grab Edgar in each of the pictures! Definitely a great book to re-read as the babe gets older.

[Any Direction]

Previously: I’m reading and reviewing Poe stories in light of watching Fall of the House of Usher on Netflix. Also relevant, I have a collection of bird children’s books.

Maybe my mom just really likes ravens, and knows I do too and that I also like classic literature, so gets me Poe things. I like to think that my love of Poe is being seen, and my mom respects it enough to indulge me. Regardless, she gave me this. It’s so silly; I love it so much!

This is the best Poe adaptation! Look at how cute the baby ravens are! The Poe statue’s side-eye: meta! legendary! A tribute to the original text! Imagined heart beat = annoying little sister is so ridiculous that it’s genius.

As this is a picture book, the poetic-ness of the language is non-existent. Though it is all dialogue. Dialogue is to tattle-tale as the poetic language is to heartbeat? I think yes!

The ending is a bit contrived. You shouldn’t be able bribe your way out of crimes, but I do think the gifted drawing also illustrates that Edgar loves his family, which is good. Additional morals are up for discussion like don’t be a tattletale because when people commit obvious crimes they will get caught anyway. Also, if you break someone’s stuff, it’s good to own up to it. Loving people will forgive you for your accidents and appreciate honesty.

Some haters be like, you are reading too much into a children’s book and also do children really need Poe fanfic? And I don’t know. All media has potential to read deeply. As stated above, I think there are some general morals that a child can get out of this. References be everywhere, they aren’t for necessarily for children to get in the moment. They are for the adults who are around children and/or for children who are reading to get later. Children’s literature is created by adults because children are bad at things and has to be sold to adults because children have no money. I suppose you might have a concern that Poe isn’t appropriate for children, and obviously. This is a tribute, not Poe’s original short story. The characters are birds, no one dies or is even truly threatened in any way, making it much more benign then many things I remember reading as a kid. Could it make them seek out more Poe that is less child friendly? Maybe, but the intended audience for this book can’t or can barely read, so how much are they going to able to get out of stories I can’t understand half the time? If they do like this book, they don’t actually want Poe. They want shenanigans and cute birds!

[Stephanie]

I really wanted to love this book but it was just ok. Is it bad I wanted it to be darker? Oh, well. This is an homage to Edgar Allen Poe which is why I wanted to read it. Edgar is a little black raven that makes a mistake and tries to hide it but his sister is a tattle tell. I did enjoy the illustrations.

[Jenn Swanson]

I think I enjoyed this book more than my daughter did. The illustrations were adorable and the story was humorous. Anyone who is a fan of Edgar Allan Poe would appreciate this kid's book. Would recommend.

[Peyton]

This is an adaptation of Poe's original story. It is a good introduction to classic literature, for children. The main characters are ravens and there are references to "The Tell-Tale Heart" throughout the book.

[Nerdy Housewifey]

This was so cute. The illustrations are gorgeous. There’s not a lot of text but that’s better for little bits imagination so we talked (I talked ^.^) all about the objects and actions in the pictures. Great first little reader

[Alicia]

For: lit fans; readers looking for a book about telling the truth.

Possible red flags: doesn't really follow the original work or give context to that story; unclear message--is it not to tattle (Lenore) or to be truthful (Edgar)?

[James McIntosh Jr.]

Not sure about the kids, but I got a kick out of this sweet, family-friendly parody.

[Lauren Henderson]

Finn made me re-read this until he memorized it. The sign of an excellent tot-book. 😊

[M]

Sooo cute. Even though its clearly for kids, I bought this because of the title and the illustrations. I'm still a kid at heart too!! >.<

[Sara Planz]

As a mega Poe fan, I found this to be absolutely adorable. Loved it! Super sweet and cute.

[Erin O'Riordan]

Delightful! I bought this for my nephews for their birthday after hearing about this series on the Better Read Than Dead podcast (the Masque of the Red Death episode).

[Onix Martinez]

Read this one to my niece. Such a cute book. We enjoyed!!!

[Molly]

BabyLit is a series of board books inspired by classic works of literature. This board book is inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart." It is a cute series with nice illustrations.

[Cyndi Taylor]

My kids really loved this one. The illustrations are super cute and the story itself is surprisingly sweet.

[Sean Harding]

Adams Adventure #24
Edgar #2
Another riff on Edgar Allan Poe with this tale - it has some inventiveness but maybe that is more Poe than Adams?

[Anna M (readwithanna)]

Edgar and Lenore are left alone and the Poe bust gets broken (!), which Edgar tries to hide the evidence of, but Lenore won't let him get away with it. Lesson about telling the truth.

[Jodi]

I thought this was a very cute adaptation of the Poe original story.

[Skye (Skye's Scribblings)]

8/26 A fun idea but I wasn't impressed with the execution. The title implies Edgar learns a lesson about tattling (at least to me), but that was not the case. Fun art tho.

[Karyn]

Cute children's story based on Poe's story. Keeps the same theme of guilt, but in a way a child could understand.

[Leah]

What's the point of being "inspired by" and named for anything if it is this dull and doesn't take advantage of the myriad allusion joke opportunities? It's making me so angry I want to stab it and bury it under the floorboards (ok, so not EVERY opportunity was missed. Fine. I'll begrudge another star).

[mad mags]

Edgar Avian Poe: The Early Years

(Full disclosure: I received a free copy of this book for review through Goodreads’s First Reads program.)

Edgar is a rambunctious little toddler who just so happens to be a raven. One day his mother goes out, leaving Edgar and his sister Lenore to fend for themselves. What starts out as a fun afternoon of coloring ends in disaster, when Edgar starts chasing Lenore around the house with paper airplanes and accidentally knocks over the bust of his namesake, Edgar Allen Poe. Edgar attempts to hide the evidence, but Poe’s head is way too large to stuff under the floor boards – and with Lenore threatening to Cindy Brady him, it’s unlikely he’ll escape punishment anyway. What’s a toddler to do?

Part of Jennifer Adams’s “BabyLit” series, Edgar and the Tattle-Tale Heart is a fun way for parents to instill a love of literature in their kids from the crib onward. Other books in the series include homages to Dracula; Jane Austen; Moby Dick; Romeo & Juliet; Jane Eyre; Wuthering Heights; Frankenstein; The Wizard of Oz; A Christmas Carol; and Sherlock Holmes – and Edgar and the Tattle-Tale Heart is preceded by the similarly Poe-themed Edgar Gets Ready for Bed. (Quoth the raven: “Nevermore!”)

I had kind of hoped for more Poe references, but I guess there are only so many you can cram into a text consisting of a scant 115 words. The black and purple artwork suits Poe perfectly while also remaining appropriate for children. I especially love how Poe’s eyes keep shifting in each photo, following Edgar’s antics and even winking at the reader from the back cover.

Buy with: The Complete Works of Edgar Allen Poe, for when they get older. (As a personal aside: this is literally the only gift my father picked out for me all by his little lonesome – mom did the entirety of gift shopping around our house - and I still love and cherish it to this day.)

http://www.easyvegan.info/2014/11/19/...

[Chio Duran]

I was so excited when I found out I have won this book through First Reads Goodreads! This story is about two siblings (ravens), Lenore and Edgar, who are left at home by themselves. Edgar gets into a little problem and the rest of the book is basically about him and her sister approaching that dilemma. Its design is simple but elegant. The illustrations are cute yet a bit dark (to go along with Edgar Allan Poe's style I'm assuming?) First of all, thanks so much to the publishers at Gibbs Smith for taking the time to send me this. Furthermore, I have remark my liking for their motto, "To enrich and inspire humankind." I believe it is a very noble cause and not all publishers have that goal in mind. All in all, it was a very good book with a good life lesson! I will definitely be sharing this little number with my little nieces!!!

Read, Live, and Imagine! :D

[Kate McGinty aka Caryn Caldwell]

While Edgar and Lenore's mother is out one day, Edgar knocks over the family's Edgar Allen Poe statue. Although he tries to fix it, it's no use. The moment their mom returns, Lenore rushes to tattle on her brother, but their mother has a better idea for getting to the bottom of things.

Edgar and Lenore's sibling relationship feels very real, and Edgar's attempts to cover up his accident are hilarious. There's also a great lesson about owning up to making a mistake, trying to fix what went wrong, and not tattling. While children are unlikely to get the many allusions to Poe -- the names, the ravens, the statue, the title, etc. -- adults who love his work will likely appreciate the references.