Parents' Guide to

The Poe Estate

By Mary Eisenhart, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 10+

Ghosts, romance, otherworldly connections in inventive tale.

Book Polly Shulman Fantasy 2015
The Poe Estate Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this book.

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What's the Story?

Sukie (rhymes with "cookie") has a lot to deal with. For one thing, she's just started middle school, where a bunch of her classmates get a big kick out of calling her "Sucky." She and her parents are still reeling from the death, about two years earlier, of her older sister, Kitty -- the latest victim of a blood disease that's killed at least one member of her mom's family in each generation since the 1700s. Since the tragedy, her parents have found little work, and they've been forced to move into the house of Cousin Hepzibah, who's been sharing the family home with quite a few restless spirits; meanwhile, Kitty's ghost hovers protectively over her little sister. After a number of odd objects seem to find her, and some creepy characters seem to covet them, Sukie connects with the New-York Circulating Material Repository, where the boundaries between fiction and reality blur -- and where a lot of the stories and objects seem to involve the lurid lives and deaths of her ancestors.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say: Not yet rated
Kids say: Not yet rated

Ghosts, family curses, pirate treasure, and mean middle school classmates keep the pages turning in Polly Shulman's return trip to the blurry borderline between the real and made-up worlds. THE POE ESTATE revels in the dark and creepy works of Edgar Allan Poe, H.P. Lovecraft, and more, with murders, treachery, and pervasive gloom setting the stage for a bereaved family. There's romance, a big dose of magic, and numerous references to actual 19th-century horror fiction, much of it not kid-friendly. It won't be for everyone, but it's a fun read for budding fans of the dark side and gothic romance.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about ghost stories and why they've always been such crowd-pleasers. Do you prefer the scary stories, the funny ones, or something else?

  • If it were true that book characters had real-life descendants in our world, which fictional characters do you think might be in your family tree?

  • Have you read the other books about the New-York Circulating Material Repository? How does this one compare?

Book Details

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