Children's Literature – Lois Rubin Gross
This might be the start of a hilarious series! Edgar and Allan Poe are super-identical twins who share thoughts, feelings, and pranks that get them expelled from their Baltimore school. The orphaned twins, great-great-great-great grand-nephews of Edgar Allan of horror story fame, live with their incredibly tolerant aunt and uncle. They communicate with their deceased ancestor through mistyped messages in fortune cookies. When their beloved cat, Roderick Usher, is catnapped, a misspelled message sends them off to Kansas to retrieve their pet from an Oz theme park run by an evil professor. The professor (passing himself off as Professor Marvel from the story), has designs on the boys, planning to kill one so the other will communicate his thoughts from the Land of the Dead. The twins navigate the maze of tricks that the professor sets for them, rescue their cat, and perform (badly) as Flying Monkeys in the theme park's Wizard of Oz pageant to hilarious results. The book is funny, outrageously punny, and intricately plotted in a way that will captivate young readers. With teases of Poe lore, this might even send young readers off to read the real Tell Tale Heart. Not only will this be an easy sell to boy and girl readers who love a funny mystery, it should be kept on your book shelf for reading aloud at the end of the school day. Book two is on the way and, truly, I can't wait. Reviewer: Lois Rubin Gross