Title The Grimm Legacy Author Polly Shulman Cover Art Zdenko Basic Publisher G.P. Putnam's Sons - 2010 First Printing G.P. Putnam's Sons - 2010
	Title The Wells Bequest Author Polly Shulman Cover Art Zdenko Basic Publisher Nancy Paulsen Books - 2013 First Printing Nancy Paulsen Books - 2013
	Title The Poe Estate Author Polly Shulman Cover Art Zdenko Basic Publisher Nancy Paulsen Books - 2015 First Printing Nancy Paulsen Books - 2015
	Category Middle Grade Warnings None Main Characters Elizabeth, Leo, Jaya, Sukie Main Elements Fairy tales, science fiction, ghosts Website ---

The Grimm Legacy

The Wells Bequest

The Poe Estate

The Grimm Legacy was a fun start. There is a library that doesn't loan out books, but instead loans out items. The vast majority of those items are historical but otherwise mundane. But the Grimm Collection is different, all those magical fairy tale things like Snow White's stepmother's mirror are all stored there, some people can even borrow them.

I will admit that I didn't completely love the story, though I can't point to it and say what part of it didn't quite work for me. It's still very good, and the idea was an interesting one, but perhaps I just couldn't wrap my mind about a "thing" library. These these should be museum items, like why would you borrow Marie Antoinette's wig? And even if you did, wouldn't these items degrade over time with people wearing the clothes and using the tools? They had these teenage kids sewing up items that had been ripped, but you need experts to repair historical items, Elizabeth's non-existent sewing skills prove that. I had also hoped more would come of the big scary bird that sometimes is incredibly HUGE, and other times can fly through a regular window and zoom about a room. And of course the bit where the kids absolutely have to find some contrived way to save the world on their own, without going to the adults for help, because this is a middle grade book and they all work that way. Usually books just sort of ignore the adults, but here they went out of their way to point out they shouldn't be doing this on their own, but they end up convincing themselves to do it anyway. And of course often making things worse in the process.

There's a little romance angst, but only a smidge, just the right amount, and I loved the puppet smooching scene (long story, but worth getting to).

Thus I liked it, but definitely didn't love it.

The second book, The Wells Bequest, is all about those science fiction devices, such as shrink rays, rocket ships and of course time machines. I thought I wouldn't like the fact that it was a different cast of characters but in fact that worked out just fine. Though Leo earned his right to the special collections in record speed, probably because us, as readers, already know about it so don't need a big build up. I loved the fact that the various devices followed the rules imposed upon them by their original stories. So the one from Wells' Time Machine had no restrictions, you could change the past, others won't let you change it (if you interfere in someone's death they will still die another way, or you spawn a new timeline with the original still intact). I also loved that they discussed how exactly these devices could even exist, including the ones from the Grimm Legacy. Various librarians had various theories, it was a fun attempt to put logic where you needed to suspend a little disbelief. At least the characters were aware of the paradoxes. I also loved the attention to detail, I had forgotten there were two time machines in Wells' tale, and I only read it just last year (which also made this fun to read).

And I guess there's just something about Mark Twain that attracts SF plot lines, he shows up here, but I recall also he knew Guinan from Star Trek. Guess there's just something so down to earth about him, but also so forward thinking, that he seems the perfect person to accept all the crazy stuff going on around him.

I think I liked this sequel just a touch more than the original, maybe because the action did pick up a little earlier in the story, it was also a little tidier with weird giant birds and magical dogs, though of course time travel will always mess with your mind.

The third book, The Poe Estate, ended up being my favorite. Maybe because I enjoyed how it tied into the earlier books while still being its own set of characters. I've read a lot of Lovecraft, who gets brief mention, but very little Poe, but then the author didn't expect readers of the target age group to have read many of these stories. Fairy tales sure, but gothic horror, not so much. The tales are old, they are scary, and as the author points out at the end, can be racist, sexist, etc. But just the same she provided a list of stories and authors mentioned and I wrote them all down. I now have a huge to-read list, many of which would be perfect for many Halloweens to come. But what I particularly liked, which I already liked in the previous books, is that now that the concept was introduced and completed in the first book, we could get into more adventures, and also delve into the complexities of fictional things become real. What if you find out your very ancestors were characters in a novel? What does that make you?? And how does a fictional object come into our world, why don't all fictional objects become real? And one thought that the characters never had but I, as their reader did, what if their own world was fictional, which would allow all those fictional objects to exist no problem. Books withing books are mentioned, and by being mentioned in this book they are books in books in books...fictional books like the Necronomicon in fictional libraries with spectral librarians. Kind of messes with your mind a bit, but its fun.