Review: The Wells Bequest

The Wells Bequest
The Grimm Legacy, Book 2

Author: Polly Shulman
Pages: 272
Publisher: Nancy Paulsen Books
Read: June 13-15, 2013
Source: ARC from publisher for review

Description from Goodreads:
Leo never imagined that time travel might really be possible, or that the objects in H. G. Wells’ science fiction novels might actually exist. And when a miniature time machine appears in Leo’s bedroom, he has no idea who the tiny, beautiful girl is riding it. But in the few moments before it vanishes, returning to wherever—and whenever—it came from, he recognizes the other tiny rider: himself!

His search for the time machine, the girl, and his fate leads him to the New-York Circulating Material Repository, a magical library that lends out objects instead of books. Hidden away in the Repository basement is the Wells Bequest, a secret collection of powerful objects straight out of classic science fiction novels: robots, rockets, submarines, a shrink ray—and one very famous time machine. And when Leo’s adventure of a lifetime suddenly turns deadly, he must attempt a journey to 1895 to warn real-life scientist Nikola Tesla about a dangerous invention. A race for time is on!

In this grand time-travel adventure full of paradoxes and humor, Polly Shulman gives readers a taste of how fascinating science can be, deftly blending classic science fiction elements with the contemporary fantasy world readers fell in love with in The Grimm Legacy.

Previous Book in Series:
1: The Grimm Legacy

First Sentence: "The Wednesday when the whole time-travel adventure began, I was fiddling with my game controller, trying to make the shoot button more sensitive."

Review:

When a surprise package with The Wells Bequest showed up on my doorstep, I was actually super excited. For once, a sequel to a book I'd actually read and enjoyed; the gods were obviously smiling on me. The Wells Bequest turned out to be just as much fun as The Grimm Legacy, full of nerdy references and jokes, surprise historical figures, and adventure.

Let me explain this series a little bit for those who are unfamiliar. The Wells Bequest is more of a companion novel than a direct sequel. Jaya, Leo's love interest, had a role in the first book, but otherwise they're fairly unconnected. The series centers on a library: The New-York Circulating Material Repository. This repository loans items, rather than books, ranging from an ordinary toaster to automatons built centuries ago. Even more special, the repository contains items from fiction, made real through some sort of complex paradox. Believe me, you don't want to get the librarians started on whether fiction is fictional. Obviously, I love this premise. Where The Grimm Legacy focused on objects from the Grimm fairytales, The Wells Bequest deals primarily with items from H.G. Wells' science fiction stories.

Everything kicks off when Leo, sitting and playing video games in his room, gets some surprise visitors: himself and a very pretty girl. Also, they're six inches tall and riding on a little box. They inform him that they're from the future, and Leo's future self commands him to read The Time Machine. He does so, which interests him in the idea of time travel. Since he has a science project to do for school, he considers doing it on time travel, but decides to do robots instead and his teacher sends him to the repository to research.

Leo had some self-esteem issues at the beginning of the book. The son of genius parents with genius siblings, he didn't get admitted to the good school he'd applied to. He doesn't test well, and feels inferior to his family. Leo himself is a genius too in his own way, brilliant at building and fixing mechanical gadgets. His adventure and his work at the repository helps him to appreciate his own skills.

Some of the time travel stuff gets a bit convoluted, but overall this was just such a fun read. I love all of the references to various classic stories, which are not limited to H. G. Wells. If you're a fan of nerdy references of the literary or historical variety, then you'll want to check this out. For example, both Mark Twain and Nikola Tesla make appearances in The Wells Bequest. Another big perk of the series is how diverse it is, with characters from various countries and ethnic backgrounds.

The main weakness I found in the book was that some of the dialogue did feel a bit forced. Leo and Jaya know so much and are incredibly well-read. However, occasionally one of them would ask an incredibly simple question. It just felt like sometimes the characters were given an unlikely knowledge gap, so that they needed something explained to them, thus imparting the audience with that information. There are better ways to get that done.

Polly Shulman's The Wells Bequest is a fantastic sequel to The Grimm Legacy. This series will have a lot of appeal to middle graders, since it's full of humor, adventure and a bit of magic. Parents will love the amount of educational information snuck into the book. The series reads a bit like a middle grade version of the Thursday Next series.

Rating: 3.5/5

Favorite Quote: "'Would you really want to live in a world where only the possible is possible?'"

A Book and No Disasters - Some By Sea

The Borrower

Author: Rebecca Makkai
Pages: 324
Publisher: Viking
Review Copy from: Penguin

Description from Goodreads:
In this delightful, funny, and moving first novel, a librarian and a young boy obsessed with reading take to the road.

Lucy Hull, a young children's librarian in Hannibal, Missouri, finds herself both a kidnapper and kidnapped when her favorite patron, ten- year-old Ian Drake, runs away from home. The precocious Ian is addicted to reading, but needs Lucy's help to smuggle books past his overbearing mother, who has enrolled Ian in weekly antigay classes with celebrity Pastor Bob. Lucy stumbles into a moral dilemma when she finds Ian camped out in the library after hours with a knapsack of provisions and an escape plan. Desperate to save him from Pastor Bob and the Drakes, Lucy allows herself to be hijacked by Ian. The odd pair embarks on a crazy road trip from Missouri to Vermont, with ferrets, an inconvenient boyfriend, and upsetting family history thrown in their path. But is it just Ian who is running away? Who is the man who seems to be on their tail? And should Lucy be trying to save a boy from his own parents?

First Sentence: "I might be the villain of this story."

Review:
The Borrower is an utterly enchanting tale, one that I should have gotten around to reading about a year ago. Instead, it had languished on my shelves until I finally decided to apply strict order to my review piles. I don't know why I didn't read this right away, because I loved it. If only I had opened the book up and read the very first page, I would have made space in my schedule for this novel.

Rebecca Makkai's writing is charismatic and charming. Though her storytelling is largely straight forward, first person, she also plays with other styles in ways that are incredibly clever and entertaining. She mixes in, for example, a couple of charts, like ones illustrating how many of the ten commandments and seven deadly sins Lucy has committed. Even better, Makkai mixed in little snippets where Lucy imagines her predicament as told in the form of a children's book. The only two I recognized the books for were in the style of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie... and Goodnight Moon, but I'm sure an aficionado could identify the rest. These snippets captured Lucy's humor and her knowledge base so perfectly.

Obviously, I'm a bit biased towards any book whose heroine is a librarian. Lucy works as a children's librarian, and I loved identifying aspects of librarianship that I recognize from the stories of others. The library parts are so true to life that I really think any librarian will seriously get a kick out of this story, especially children's librarians.

I think librarians and educators are perhaps especially well-placed to appreciate this tale, since much of it is about the concern for what adults to youth in trying to mold them into a particular type of person. Ian Drake is the ideal child for a librarian; he's that kid that keeps the librarian motivated and interested in her job, because she so loves encouraging his passion for reading. Ian has one of THOSE mothers, the hyper-religious kind that wants to keep her child from reading anything untoward, instead forcing him to read only books he's not interested in.

Fearful that Ian might be gay (though he's only ten, he apparently has some sort of flamboyance that makes them suspect), his parents book him in one of those rage-inducing (to me) anti-Gay programs. Lucy finds out about this and wants to do something, especially as she witnesses the change in Ian, like his reduced interest in reading and the library. Because of this, when Ian runs away, she's disposed to help him, rather than wrangling him back home when she should. Inadvertently, she becomes a kidnapper, and, while I don't condone her behavior, I do see how it happened. In this, Makkai walks a fine line between caring and creepy, between humorous and unsettling, and, to my mind, does so very well.

The main focus of The Borrower is one of identity. Ian struggles to find his true self while his nature, his parents, Pastor Bob, Lucy, and everyone he knows try to make him be one thing or another. Lucy tries to balance her American half and Russian half. She desperately wants to be independent from her wealthy, possibly Russian mob parents, so has thrown herself into librarianship because it was the first career to come her way, but she has no idea if that's actually what she wants to do. Lucy's father, too, seems to wrestle with his identity and his past through his stories, in which he re-ensvisions his time in Russia. I love this quote on the importance of being oneself and must share it:

   "On my mental instant replay, I realized that obliquely comparing his family to the Nazis was maybe not my finest moment.
   He was quiet a second, and then he said, 'Did you know that Hitler anted to be an artist, but since he couldn't get into art school, he turned into a Nazi?'
   'Yes, I remember that.'
   'Just imagine if he got into art school, the whole world would be different.'
   I said, 'It just shows that people should be allowed to be who they are. If they can't, then they turn into nasty, sad people.'
   He started to laugh. 'What if you went to the art gallery, and the guy was like, "Here you see a beautiful Monet, and here on your left is an early Hitler." Wouldn't that be weird?'
   I couldn't think of any subtle way to turn it back around again.
   He said, 'You would go to the gift shop and buy Hitler postcards, and you'd go, "Oh, look at this beautiful Hitler. I'm going to hang it in my room!" And people would wear Hitler t-shirts.'
   'Yes,' I said. 'That would have been better."

Isn't that amazing? I just love the way the book was written. Different though they are in some ways, I think this book would make be an excellent readalike for Jonathan Safran Foer's Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. They share a similar whimsy, with young, adventurous heroes who have a unique view of the world. Both cover dark topics but through a sort of humor.

If you like these quotes I've shared, by all means get yourself a copy of this book to enjoy. This is a definite must for any book lover.

Rating: 4.5/5

Favorite Quote: "I believed that books might save him because I knew they had so far, and because I knew the people books had saved. They were college professors and actors and scientists and poets. They got to college and sat on dorm floors drinking coffee, amazed they'd finally found their soul mates. They always dressed a little out of season. Their names were enshrined on the pink cards in the pockets of all the forgotten hardbacks in every library basement in America. If the librarians were lazy enough or nostalgic enough or smart enough, those names would stay there forever."

"We were able-minded once
But guilt doesn't open doors
So we toss our fits of charm
And I muscle my way into a desperate situation
Too many times to count

And some day we will gather up
For an hour or two and shake our hands
Until then, I resign my post"

Fairytale - Sara Bareilles

The Grimm Legacy

Author: Polly Shulman
Genre: young adult, fantasy, books about books
Pages: 325

Brief Summary:
Elizabeth Rew does not have any friends in her high school; unlike most teens, she actually gets the most joy out of her school work. After writing an A+ paper on the Brothers Grimm for her history teacher, Mr. Mauskopf, he offers to set her up with a job. She agrees and finds herself working at a freakin' sweet and unique library. Rather than lending books, this library (repository) lends materials, like chess sets, antique doublets, parasols and vases. In addition to that stuff in the main stacks, the 'dungeon' has all of the magical and science fiction-y items, straight out of fairy tales and novels. Elizabeth finds danger, excitement, friends and romance once she finally gets to open the door to the Grimm Collection in the dungeon.

Review:
The Grimm Legacy brimmed with magic. I love the premise; I so want to work at that library! The magical objects are hilarious to read about and Elizabeth is exceedingly likable. While many of the side characters lack depth, they were not totally static either. The focus of the book is more on Elizabeth's feelings about herself and development as a person that it is on the dastardly plot of a villain to steal the priceless items from the Grimm Collection. The whole mystery plot line is a bit absurd, with the bad guys never seeming any real threat and not being particularly hard to discern either. That said, do not read this out of a love for mystery.

This is a book for book lovers; Shulman's love of books and libraries exudes from every page. She compares Elizabeth to an ordinary fairy tale heroine throughout the story and makes some clever observations. It is always nice to find more teen books where the heroine does not have to be incredibly beautiful or a princess or an incredibly beautiful princess. Elizabeth is smart and, while certainly no troll, not particularly pretty. Her romance, too, follows a more believable pattern than I see in much teen literature.

This is a fun, fast-paced, magical read, well worth your time!

"Once upon a time in a faraway kingdom
Man made up a story said that I should believe him
Go and tell your white knight that he's handsome in hindsight
But I don't want the next best thing"

Wrapped Up in Books - Belle & Sebastian

Endymion Spring

Author: Matthew Skelton
Genre: fantasy, historical fiction, young adult
Pages: 392

Brief Summary:
Blake Winters has been displeased with what his life has been bringing him. His parents have been having problems; his mother, an academic, moved across the Atlantic Ocean to Oxford, along with Blake and his sister, Duck. Blake worries that the separation may be permanent. Although his mother is supposed to be teaching him, she is too busy with her own studies, leaving the two children to explore the library and forcing Blake to babysit for his sister. All he wants is for his family to be together again, until the day he discovers a mysterious, old book on the shelves of the Bodleian Library. Suddenly, he is embroiled in a war against good and evil that has been going on since the days of Johann Gutenberg and his assistant, Endymion Spring.

Review:
I picked this book up, because, as a librarian, it is rather a prerequisite to enjoy metafiction, books about books. This has at times betrayed me (ex. The Grand Complication incident), but often works out in my favor, as with Endymion Spring. The weaving of the sections set in the past (1453 with Endymion Spring) and the present (Blake) is done expertly. The book conveys a true love of libraries and of books themselves. It does a marvelous job also of blending fantasy and historical fiction, weaving magic into a tale with a basis in truth. The characters are a bit one dimensional, but still likable (particularly Duck with her yellow raincoat and curiosity). I recommend this book to lovers of metafiction (people who liked Inkheart, I'm talking, or typing, to you).

"Our aspirations are wrapped up in books"

Rant About the Government's Treatment of Libraries

Bad Decisions in the Government, Or Why Libraries Are More Important than Ever

One of my friends sent me this link this morning: http://www.philly.com/philly/news/new_jersey/100099219.html. For those not particularly eager to actually read the article, allow me to sum up. As is the case everywhere, the economy sucks. The government needs to cut budgets and turns to libraries, seeing them as a luxury rather than an essential. As a result, libraries are struggling to keep their doors open; many have reduced hours and some, like the system in Camden, NJ, may shut down entirely. Camden is not just shutting down one branch, but the whole system. That means there might not be any libraries in Camden next year.

For those outside of the library profession, maybe the importance of libraries is not as obvious as it is to me, so let me explain. More people are using the library now than did before the economy's precipitous descent into recession. The reason I think is obvious: libraries offer books (and often movies and CDs as well) for FREE (excepting fines). These are items that were easy for many families to go purchase on a whim ten years ago, but now are mostly for purchase solely around holidays and birthdays. When money is tight, you want to save money for absolute essentials. This means that if a soccer mom can get the latest Danielle Steel or Nora Roberts from the library instead of purchasing it from Borders or Barnes and Nobles, she will do so and save her the cost of $17.99 for each one.

On top of that, libraries offer free connection to the internet. Camden, according to the article, is a poor area; only one-third of the residents have internet at home. The internet may once have been a luxury, but now it is de rigeur and pretty much necessary for living in modern America. For example, if you want a job, the best way to look for positions is...on the internet. Applications are more and more frequently to be filled out and submitted online or emailed. For any but the most rudimentary position, you are going to need an email address.

So government people, what are you thinking (assuming that you are capable of doing so)? Please remove heads from sphincters and give the libraries money, because they improve life in an economic downturn for all people smart enough to appreciate them.