Author: Polly Shulman
Genre: YA, Pre-teen, supernatural, romance, mystery
Format: ARC
Release Date: July 2010
Perfect for: those who need a break from angst
Elizabeth's life is far from a fairytale. She has no friends at her new school, a stepmother who doesn't 'get' her, and no prospective boyfriends in the scene. That all changes when she is hired at a fantastic library-- a library that doesn't deal in books, but items-- some normal and some magical. When items from the special collection of Brothers Grimm artifacts go missing, all the library 'pages' must band together to figure out who is stealing, while trying to stay alive.
I enjoyed 'The Grimm Collection'. It was something I would classify as a 'fun' read-- nothing heavy or over dramatic, just plain old fun. Elizabeth's POV sucked me in with its friendly tone and touch of humor. The secondary characters (basketball star Mark, beautiful Anjali, and awkward Aaron) were easy to figure out, but added to the story nicely. I like that this is an ensemble book and not one that focuses solely on the main character.
As a side note, I really like the cover on this book. It really connects well with the story as opposed to other titles where you have to wonder how or why they decided this or that would be appropriate on their cover!
While the romantic entanglements were few and pretty easy to spot, I found them cute and more innocent compared to typical YA titles. This is definitely a book that pre-teens or young readers with higher reading levels can safely pick up with no worries of it becoming too 'mature'.
The charm of this story is the overall concept. I love the library the four teens work at. Heck, I'd love to work at that library! So many stories can stem from just the setting alone. I mean, just think of all the things that could happen with the other special collections! That being said, I wonder if this is meant to be a stand alone novel. Most of the major plot elements were tied up nicely, but some smaller ones were left open.
Personally, I'd like to see more of the library and the characters. It was a fun romp and I think that Elizabeth, Aaron, Anjali, and Mark still have enough life in them for a sequel. I recommend 'The Grimm Collection'. It's perfect reading for a lazy day when you don't want to read anything too heavy, but just want to immerse yourself in a world filled with magic and mayhem.
*Note: My ARC is titled 'The Grimm Collection', Goodreads has this labeled as 'The Grimm Legacy'.
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