The Collectors

I loved West's Books of Elsewhere, but they've never circulated as much as I've wanted them to. Most of the kids I've tried them on have told me they're too scary! Still, the description of this book lured me in and I decided to enjoy it myself, even if the kids don't appreciate it.

Van is the new kid, the small kid, easy to overlook - but he sees things nobody else sees. Usually these are small treasures he carries back to his toy theater, wherever he and his opera-singer mother are currently living. But one day he sees - and hears - something different. He sees a strange girl and he hears a talking squirrel. This is unusual not only because, well, talking animals but also because Van can't hear too well anyways. But he doesn't have show more adjust his hearing aids or make any effort, he just... hears a squirrel.

The mystery deepens as Van pursues the Pebble, the girl, and Barnavelt, the squirrel, and discovers a hidden world of captured wishes and strange collectors, mysterious animals and magic both glorious and terrifying. Eventually, he will be torn between his new friends and his own wishes, trying to find the right path when everyone seems to be lying to him.

This fantasy builds slowly, but when it finally gets going it's a powerful book. Van encounters the power of wishes and also how that power corrupts. He meets friends who turn out to be enemies, and learns that not everything is black and white. West handles Van's hearing loss carefully, weaving its effects into the narrative of his everyday life and building it into the climactic final as Van makes his own choices about his destiny, reminding those who try to change his life that can make his own decisions.

This reminded me of the film Nocturna, with the blend of magic and the strange creatures flitting through the night. It has an open ending, leaving room for a sequel, but not ending on a cliffhanger (the second and last title came out in October 2019, A storm of wishes)

Verdict: I thoroughly enjoyed this beautifully written and gorgeously imagined magical world, and the smooth integration of Van's impaired hearing was extremely well done. However, its length (almost 400 pages) and the slow, reflective beginning, as well as the emphasis on the urban setting and the opera world, make this something unlikely to check out in my library. Happily, there are several copies available in my consortium and I plan to use it in forthcoming book clubs and see if there is enough interest to justify the purchase.

ISBN: 9780062691699; Published 2018 by Greenwillow; Borrowed from another library in my consortium show less

Although he tends to go through life generally unnoticed, Van himself is very good at noticing things. Little things that other people would never see. He finds out one day that he can even see some people whom other, normal, folks can't, and that's where his adventures begin. These usually invisible people are Collectors - they steal away wishes before the Wish Eaters can get them. But Van soon discovers that it's not at all easy to discern which side is the right side in this struggle, and that things like good intentions can have disastrous effects.
I loved this Schneider Honor Book, both for it's excellent and imaginative story, but also - and especially - for how Van is portrayed as a boy who wears hearing aids but how that isn't a show more major plot point. Van is just Van and his hearing aids are a part of how his life works, NBD. As it should be. show less

Literary Merit: Great
Characterization: Great
Recommended: Yes
Level: Middle Grade

This was a delightfully fun little book, and one that felt very much like a Miyazaki movie in print form (even more so than Howl's Moving Castle, which actually was made into a Miyazaki movie). The characters are unique, the premise is interesting, and the story is fast-paced and full of little twists to keep the reader engaged until the last page.

The Collectors follows the story of a young boy named Van (short for Giovanni) Markson, who has spent his entire life going unnoticed by others. While nobody seems to notice his presence, however, Van sees, hears, and collects things that most other people wouldn't notice: an old key, a tiny figurine, a marble in show more the grass. One day, while standing by a wishing well, Van notices a girl his age with a silver squirrel on her shoulder stealing a coin from the water. Upon following her, Van learns that most people don't seem to notice her, and feels instantly drawn to the strange world in which she lives. In this world, wishes are collected and preserved by Collectors, kept from coming true to prevent chaos.

Without a doubt, my favorite part of this book was the light-hearted whimsy and creativity that was clearly put into every word. As I said above, this book felt very much like a Miyazaki movie in written form. There was a heartfelt message, quirky characters, and zany moments that kept me entertained throughout the entire book. From talking animals to wishes being collected in jars, everything about this story screamed whimsy in a way that never felt gimmicky or too over-the-top. The book injects enough real-world problems (an unconventional family, having to move frequently, having a single parent date and potentially remarry, etc.) to help readers relate to the characters, while creating a really fun world that most readers would really want to live in if given the chance.

I also really appreciated the fact that Van is hard-of-hearing, as there aren't many middle grade and YA books with differently abled protagonists. Much like Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson series, this book features a boy whose disability helps him in the fantasy universe he stumbles into. Where Percy's ADHD and dyslexia prove that he's wired for ancient Greek and combat, Van's lack of hearing ability forces him to be an extremely good listener, a crucial skill for a Collector. Van can hear things many of the other characters can't, namely the voices of the small animals that accompany most collectors. After reading the author's note at the end, it was clear that West put a lot of thought and care into accurately portraying someone who is hard-of-hearing, and I appreciated the diversity in this story.

Another thing I enjoyed was that two very different sides of an argument are presented without anyone ever feeling like a strict bad guy. You have the Collectors on one hand, who are trying to keep the world safe from rogue wishes (wishes are established as being extremely unpredictable and hard to control), and Mr. Falborg trying to protect Wish Eaters on the other. As a reader, I saw both sides of the conflict: I understood that Falborg was trying to free and protect what he saw as beautiful creatures, while also understanding that Wish Eaters could become extremely dangerous and wreak havoc on the world. The book leaves it up to the readers to decide who they align with, which is incredibly smart for a middle grade novel. Much like real-world villains, the villains in this book are not black and white; they are nuanced and act a lot more like real people doing what they think is best.

My one gripe about this book is that it felt very rushed at the end, leaving a lot of loose threads untied. To be fair, it felt as though West was setting this up to be the beginning of a series, meaning these loose ends will likely be tied up eventually. Without knowing for sure, however, I have a lot of questions left unanswered at the end. Does Van's mother ever find out what's going on? What happens with Van and Peter, and do their parents continue to date? Does Van ever find Pebble? How do the Collectors treat him after learning that he freed their Wish Eaters?

So much was set up so quickly in this book that I felt let down when the plot was left open in the end. I felt very invested in Van and Peter's growing friendship, wanting to know more about Peter's conflict with his absent father. Peter was actually an extremely fascinating character, starting off as a kind of one-note bully and ending up as this vulnerable child who only wants his father to notice him and spend more time around him. Like Van, Peter feels jealous of his single dad's new relationship, not wanting anything to come between them or take more from him. A lot of deep, complicated emotions were being explored in this book, and I felt sad to see it end without any of them being resolved. I can only hope this was the first book in a series, as I would love to see more of this developed in future books.

The friendship between Pebble and Van was sweet too, bringing two characters who initially felt like outcasts together for a common purpose. And, because this is a middle grade novel, it focused on their friendship rather than trying to create a romantic subplot. While I love romance, I can always appreciate a book that slows down and takes time to focus on more than just "who ends up with whom." This was a clean, wholesome look at friendship, and I appreciate that I could easily recommend this to a middle schooler without feeling like I might be ruining someone's innocence. This book is also highly appropriate for more conservative parents, who would prefer books without cursing or explicit imagery.

Overall, I genuinely enjoyed this book, and hope to see more in this series in the future. The author weaved a delightfully fun tale with characters who felt like real people, and injected enough suspense to keep me invested the entire time. She perfectly blended fantasy and reality in what was an extremely interesting and unique premise, and one that felt like it would be at home amongst some of my favorite Miyazaki films. Fans of light-hearted fantasy with a good moral center will love this book, and I can easily see it being the next big series to hit middle grade audiences. My one complaint (that the story did not tie up loose ends) is minor, and likely to be remedied in future books. I will definitely be recommending this to some of my young library patrons, and I honestly can't wait to see what comes next in this series. show less

Weird, and quite good. A very good presentation of the idea that there's not always a right side - Van has to deal with multiple conflicting truths. I was annoyed by the (omnipresent in YA books, it seems) refusal to actually _talk_ to the other person. Pebble apparently thought her locust or termite simile conveyed something - it didn't much to me, and it didn't seem to convey anything at all to Van, for one example. There's a great deal of rushing around and pushing Van around, and flat no _explanation_ of either side (on the other side, there's a great deal of kindly talk, but it's more persuasive than explanatory). Lucky for the Collectors that Van encountered Pebble first. Still, it was an interesting story and several neat new show more concepts - I hope there will be a sequel. show less

I really enjoyed this book. It felt magical from the first page, and it was quite creative and unique in its premise. What I especially enjoyed what the way you, like Van, the main character, which side was bad and which side was good. It seemed like there were good people, who thought they were doing right on both sides and Van was stuck in the middle. One minute he would think one particular side was right, and then the other, then back again. He came to realize that one shouldn't just take a position without really learning more and investigating into ALL the facts behind certain positions. Things aren't always what they seem, nor are people, which Van learns as he finds out more about the family life of another boy.

It's a story that show more can make a child think and ponder, and that's a good thing. Even wishes that seem all good could come true in bad ways. Sometimes when you get what you think you want, you discover it's not really that great. Life is never as simple as it seems. I look forward to reading the next book in the series and have already ordered it. show less

As an adult reading this book, I was able to figure out quite quickly what was happening but that did not deter from the story. This was an interesting story and I like that the wishes are not filled in an expected way. It gives you pause and makes you think about the wishes you might make on a shooting star or as you blow out the candles on your cake.

Lots of fun, and it gets a lot of things right. The boy isn't an orphan, nor unloved, but he still winds up having adventures. There's comic relief. The magic has consistency and is creative/ original.

But there are problems, too. For example, Van isn't much of a hero. I mean, he's brave as all get out, but incredibly foolhardy, when he gets a chance to be. Mainly, though, he's being dragged around, pushed around, carried around, and feeling compelled to do stuff he surely must know is foolish. If the main theme is, at it seems to be, that we need to work for what we want because wishing is a bad idea, I'd really like to see Van successfully actually work for something, thinking through whether it's a good thing or not.

I do like the show more idea of not knowing who the bad guys are. The second big theme is clear: Don't judge by appearances!

Btw, this is def. the first in a series. It doesn't end on a cliffhanger per se, but it is the set-up for at least one or two more books. I'm not sure whether I'll continue or not.

Van and his mother travel for her performances a lot: "London was a big grayish blur. Paris was a big ivory blur. Rome was a big sunny blur...."

"Bottles as large as milk jugs; bottles small enough to fit inside a closed mouth."

"Hot dog with the Works Pizza. Spicy Chicken Curry Pizza."

"You know, most of the time, cats are just pretending to be asleep."

But does West know about broken legs nowadays? My son's treatment was very different.... show less