Customer Reviews

Edgar Allan Poe's Tales of Mystery and Madness

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There are a multitude of Poe's out there to choose from, but the real draw here is the art of Gris Grimly. The book features slightly abridged texts for young readers of "The Black Cat," "The Masque of the Red Death," "Hop Frog," and "The Fall of the House of Usher." What makes this volume special is the way that text is embraced by and woven through Grimly's gloriously whimsical and twisted full color art that captures perfectly the macabre and maniacle tone of Poe. The volume is richly illustrated with art on every page. All in all a beautiful book and a great introduction to Poe for young readers of twisted tastes.

This is a great collection for Edgar Allen Poe fans and children's book collectors alike. Grimly's art has the wildness of Ralph Steadman and the darkness of Edward Gorey.

It is worth noting that although it is a picture book, some of the imagery and definitely the Poe stories themselves are graphic, so maybe don't cuddle up with your five year old with this one.... Older kids, especially these days, should have no problem.

I read Edgar A. Poe's Tales of Mystery and Madness. This book has 4 stories; Black Cat, The Masque of the Red Death, Hop Frog, and The Fall of the House of Usher. I won't go into detail about all the stories but my favorite story was The Masque of the Red Death.

The story starts with people who were having a masquerade at Prince Prospero's house. Each hour the clock chimed. At the 12th chime a person in a red cape came out of the clock and frightened everyone at the masquerade. Prince Prospero tried to kill him but the Prince died when he saw his face. Then, anyone who saw his face or dared to enter the red blood shot room died by bleeding to death. Will anyone survive? You will have to read it yourself to find out.

I though all of the stories in the book were scary and cool. I also thought the illustrations by Chris Grimley were very creative. I would recommend for anyone who likes horror to read this book.

David - age 9

I have never been a fan of Gris Grimly's writing -- his rhyming poetry is truly and deeply cringe-inducing, as evidenced in these samples from his book Wicked Nursery Rhymes:

'After his instruction's through, he leaves to go find someone new.
When he chooses to meander, he flies away upon his gander.'
-- from the poem Father Grim


'She would scream, curse, spit, and swear.
She said things children wouldn't dare.
To other classmates, she would be cruel,
And so she made no friends at school...'
-- from the poem Miss Muffet


'Jill would jab him with a pin
While she bared an evil grin.
Jack would bash her on the head,
Without guilt, until she bled.'
-- from the poem Jack and Jill

(If you're looking for a book of rhyming poetry, skip Grimly's Wicked Nursery Rhyme series and check out J.T. Holden's Alice in Verse: The Lost Rhymes of Wonderland instead -- at times wicked, always clever, and thoroughly engaging, the poetry of Alice in Verse is galaxies beyond Grimly's pedestrian jingles...and Holden wisely leaves the illustrations to Andrew Johnson, whose art brings the characters of Wonderland to life in truly stunning halftones.)


That said, Grimly's artwork is another matter altogether. What he lacks in skill with the pen, he more than makes up for with his brush. With Tales of Mystery and Madness, Grimly has wisely chosen to leave the writing to a professional and concentrate his effort on what he does best. Leaving little to the imagination (and that's a good thing here), Grimly paints a stark and vivid backdrop for the classic spine-tinglers of Edgar Allen Poe. With his trademark burnt browns and gloomy amber backgrounds, Grimly sets precisely the right tone for the tales contained in this book: The Mask of the Red Death, The Black Cat, Hop-Frog, and The Fall of the House of Usher. With deciduous branches, blooded moons, spindly limbs, flourishing quills, and skewered framing, Grimly's art is woven into each tale in a manner so seamless as to suggest the art and text are one.

Highly recommended for fans of both Poe's Prose and Grimly's art.

Edgar Allen Poe, the master of macabre has his goolish tales softened by Grimsley's illustrations. Poe's tales are a creepy pleasure but Grimesley's drawings, though compitent, are simply too cute for anyone beyond the age of ten. That being said, what a great way to introduce a young reader to one of our most revered literary giants.

this book is called the tales of mystery and madness.This book is like a comic.But the story that i read is about a man who lived a normal life with a wife and a cat.The cat followed him every were he went,until one night he came home drunk and tried tograb the cat but the cat bit him so he got angry and poked the cat eye out.Then the cat never followed him again so he got angry and hung the cat.After that he went to the bar to get a drink and then he saw a cat who looked like the old cat that he hung.So his wife came to the bar and had bought the cat,so then the cat started to follow him every where he went just like the last cat did.Then he got so angry causethe cat would not leave him alone.So he took the cat to the basement and tried to kill it but his wife stoped him from killing the cat.So instead of killing the cat he killed his wife and buried her in the walls with the cat.Couple weeks later the police came knocking on his door,he had open the door and fast as they could the police rushed in and started to search his house but they found nothing until the police had found the basement and started to search but yet they found nothing.But all of a sudden a noise came threw the walls,he tried to cover the wall that he buried her but it was no good the police pushed him out the way and started tobang rhe walls.Wall colapsed and there stood the corpse bride with the cat on her head.

And it arrived very fast after I ordered it! I had a good present for my sister! She loved it a lot!

As so many others have said, the pictures are what make this book. The illustrations are simply phenomenal and hysterical. In the interest of full-disclosure, I was expecting simplified versions of the stories, and that is not at all what this is. But, the illustrations make it easy for anyone--child or adult--to understand some of the more archaic words.

Absolutely fabulous. I would not hesitate to recommend this book.

This book is a wonderfully illustrated book of 4 short stories by Edgar Allen Poe. I would highly suggest getting it if you like either illustrations of the author. I wouldn't necessarily call it a children's book but it's wonderful to look at for anyone old enough.

I love Edgar Allan Poe, and I love art. That is why I bought this book. I had never even heard of this artist before, but now I am definitely a fan. His illustrations are dark and creepy, just like the poetry. It is a quick read, but I go back to look at the images every once in a while. The style of art is perfect for the subject matter, and if Gris Grimly did another book like this I would definitely buy it! Highly recommended.