Edgar Allan Poe is one of my favorite classical writers, and “The Raven” is second to only “The Tell Tale Heart” in his writings. Of course I had to grab up this book as soon as I knew it existed!

The pictures are dark and sketchy, sort of a grainy gothic style that you would expect for “The Raven”. One or two are a bit simple, but most of the pictures are elaborate and impressive. The best thing is that it easily folds back into place and doesn’t get caught up on itself, so no page ripping or tearing as of yet. The pages are constructed very well!

The poem is written on a flip over portion on every page, which is the only reason this book gets four stars instead of five. On some of the pages flipping the portion to read the poem gets in the way of the pop-up picture and you have to hold the book awkwardly to read it. Having it pull down instead of flip up would have kept it out of the way.

For me the ultimate test was when the 14-year-old niece asked to borrow it when her class starts studying “The Raven”. It’s always a big thumbs up when a teenager asks to borrow one of my books! ( )