5 Books for Younger Fans of Edgar Allan Poe

I have an Edgar Allan Poe-themed backpack that I bought at a bookstore and whenever I am wearing it, folks stop me to talk about Poe. Young, old, adult or teen, they share with me their favorite Poe story or poem, and they almost always mention that they first read him in school. People wonder a lot whether kids are reading the classics today, but apparently when it comes to tales of mystery and psychological terror, Poe is a writer who can still hold our modern interest.

Our enduring fascination with Poe, his life, his death, and his wonderful poems and stories helped inspire my new series, Ellen Poe. In Ellen Poe, a teenage girl in Baltimore finds a coded journal in her family’s historic townhouse that leads her on a citywide treasure hunt to solve the mystery of the ghostly visions she keeps having, including one of Poe himself.

The second book in the series, Ellen Poe: For Evermore, is released this month and expands the world of Ellen Poe, her treasure hunt, and her ghostly companion “Eddy” to more locations that the poet once called home, including the Bronx, New York, and Richmond, Virginia.

And though students everywhere are still reading the original Poe, for those readers who want a modern gateway to his work (or a way to revel in Poe fandom after they’ve fallen under his spell), here are five Poe-ish books for younger readers that, like mine, capture his spooky spirit.

*

Dahlia Adler (editor), His Hideous Heart: 13 of Edgar Allan Poe’s Most Unsettling Tales Reimagined

What I love most about this anthology of stories from today’s top YA authors is that it includes all the original Poe stories in the back of the anthology for those who may want to brush up on their Poe originals before they read the new stories inspired by some f his more obscure works. Sure, you’ve heard of “The Tell-tale Heart,” but how familiar are you with “Ligeia?” I thought so.

This anthology is like two gifts in one.

Gareth Hinds, Edgar Allan Poe: Stories and Poems: A Graphic Novel Adaptation

Graphic novels are an amazing way to get young and reluctant readers interested in the classics, and no one tackles adaptations on this level better than Gareth Hinds. I’m a fan of his work on classics from Shakespeare to The Odyssey, and here, you can see him bringing some of Poe’s most famous stories and poems to shadowy and sinister life.

I actually first read Poe’s story “The Pit and the Pendulum” in an old graphic novel version as a child, so this book takes me all the way back to my roots.

Kelly Creagh, Nevermore (Plus Sequels)

I filed this series under “Darn, wish I had thought of that!” back when they first came out, never dreaming that a decade later, I’d have the opportunity to write my own Poe-ish paranormal novel.

Creagh’s Nevermore kicks off a swoony gothic romance with its own mysterious journals, creepy dreams, and a twisted take on the meaning behind Poe’s famous works and the Baltimore legends that have grown up around them. And though I’m not sure if my grouchy goth Ellen would be friends with Creagh’s cheerleader heroine Isobel, they would certainly have plenty to talk about!

Bethany Griffin, The Fall

Griffin is no newcomer to Poe-ish retellings (she also wrote a steampunk dystopian take on “The Masque of the Red Death”), but there is something very special about this feminist re-envisioning of the family Usher as seen through the eyes of poor, doomed, buried-alive Madeline.

I’m a fan of stories where the underserved female characters finally have a chance to tell their version of events (Circe, Wide Sargasso Sea, etc.) and this one is no different.

Catherine Baab-Muguira, Poe for Your Problems: Uncommon Advice from History’s Least Likely Self-Help Guru

One of the things I try to make clear in my books is that Poe had a really difficult life. He suffered many tragedies and losses, was estranged from family, made a lot of enemies, struggled with his mental health as well as substance abuse, and experienced long periods of instability and poverty.

And yet, he also fought very hard for all of his successes and moments of peace, as well as to create his lasting works of genius. And maybe it was his faults and failures that we can learn the most from today.

Hey, look, who would you rather take advice from: a person who never had a problem in his life, or one whose entire existence was riddled with heart ships, but still managed to create works of such enduring power that we’re still fascinated a hundred and seventy-seven years later?

***