Caldecott Medal Contender: Edgar and the Tattle-Tale Heart

by Sam Juliano

TRUE! –nervous –very, very dreadfully nervous I had been and am; but why will you say that I am mad? The disease had sharpened my senses –not destroyed –not dulled them. Above all was the sense of hearing acute. I heard all things in the heaven and in the earth. I heard many things in hell. How, then, am I mad? Hearken! and observe how healthily –how calmly I can tell you the whole story.  

-Edgar Allan Poe

A model of word economy and one of literature’s most celebrated works of psychosis and depravity, Edgar Allan Poe’s The Tell-Tale Heart is probably America’s greatest short story writer’s most famous story of all.  It is usually the first one taken up in Junior High classes, and the one that regularly makes its way into literature textbooks.  Though it is as macabre as some of the author’s equally venerated stories (most especially The Cask of Amontillado, The Black Cat and The Fall of the House of Usher) it is distinguished  by the fact that every word contributes to the purpose of moving the story forward.

Much like several entries in the Roger Corman film series based on Poe’s works, a continuing children’s picture book series by Jennifer Adams and Ron Stucki attributes its creation to the inspiration from the respective work, in this case The Tell-Tale Heart.  The new book in the ‘Baby Step’ Lit series, Edgar and the Tattle-Tale Heart is actually a sequel to Edgar Gets Ready For Bed, and it owes just as much to Poe’s iconic poem “The Raven” as it does to the short story.  Adams makes no bones that her book is aimed at the pre-K set and is intended to teach a valuable life’s lesson while affording its juvenile readers their very first introduction to a writer they will be examining later in the more advanced grades.  Edgar and the Tattle-Tale Heart doesn’t overdo the Poe references, rather it throws out a few characters that makes the connection with the literary counterparts, with the goal of developing in the readers and interest in literature at the earliest age.

The book features 115 words, each of which in the spirit of Poe’s trademark word economy tell this tale of an accident that is initially concealed.  The captivating minimalist art is rightly engineered in purple and black, and maintains an introductory Gothic feel.  A black and violet speckled mother raven wearing and carrying a light purple hat and purse informs her two children: “Edgar.  Lenore.  I’m going out.  I’ll be home soon.  Be good while I’m gone.”  Both brother and sister (and a mouse as well) decide to draw (Stucki’s old-fashioned floral designs, also employed on the end papers is another splendid artistic touch) on white paper set on the rug.  Soon enough Lenore mischievously sends  a paper airplane in Edgar’s direction.  He takes refuge behind a coffee table, but accidentally rocks it sending a treasured and ironic ceramic bust of Edgar Allan Poe crashing to the floor, where it breaks into a few pieces.  Though Lenore set the accident in motion, she readily blames her brother and threatens to report everything to their mother upon her return.  Frantically, Edgar tries to hide the main part of Poe’s face and glaring eyes under a couch cushion, behind a plant, in a dresser drawer, and even under the floor boards (a nod to the place in The Tell-Tale Heart where the old man’s dismembered parts were hidden) but is reassured by Lenore that his deed will be reported.  The resourceful mouse brings him some tape, and Edgar gets the idea it can be fixed, though his subsequent efforts are laughable.  Mom returns and Lenore spills the beans:

“Mom, Edgar and I were coloring, and then he started throwing paper airplanes at me, and then he pushed over the table, and then . . .”

 

Lenore is admonished for tattling on her brother, and mom asks Edgar if he has something to tell her.  He tearfully lives up to the destruction, but shows her a drawing that showcases the happy family of three.  Mother forgives her son, assuring him he is loved and the three cuddles up at the center of a purple heart configuration.

Edgar and the Tell-Tale Heart is about living up to your mistakes, not trying to deceive others, and not being a tattle tale just to get someone in trouble.  Factoring in its indebtedness to some of our greatest literary works by an American literary master, it works on two levels.  Wildly popular with first-graders, and containing fabulous kid-friendly art that uses Poe’s eyes to wonderful effect.  Ms. Adams is uniquely talented in the way she holds an audience, and with Stucki she forges superb chemistry.  Edgar delivers the goods and well deserves attention from the Caldecott committee.

Note:  This is the fifty-first (and final) entry in the 2014 Caldecott Medal Contender series.  The series does not purport to predict what the committee will choose, rather it attempts to gauge what the writer feels should be in the running.  In most instances the books that are featured in the series have been touted as contenders in various online round-ups, but for the ones that are not, the inclusions are a humble plea to the committee for consideration.  It is anticipated the series will include at least 40 titles; the order which they are being presented in is arbitrary, as every book in this series is a contender.  Some of my top favorites of the lot will be done near the end.  The awards will be announced on February 2nd, hence the reviews will continue to the end of January.  Other essential books like “Separate is Never Equal” and “Neighborhood Sharks” among other will be reviewed in the upcoming weeks, despite the intrusion tomorrow morning of the Caldecott winners.