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Setting:Characters: Problem,

Sequence of Events & Solution

Characters:

“The Grimm Legacy”

Polly ShulmanPolly Shulman

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Polly Shulman

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Note: Virtual museums were first introduced by educators at Keith Valley Middle School in Horsham, Pennsylvania. This template was designed by Lindsey Warneka under the direction of Dr. Christy Keeler during a Teaching American History grant module. View the Educational Virtual Museums website for more information on this instructional technique.

“Polly Shulman has written about edible jellyfish, Egyptian tombs, infinity, blind dates, books, brains, centenarians, circuses, and cinematic versions of Jane Austen novels, for The New York Times, Discover, Newsday, Salon, Slate, Scientific American, Archaeology, and The Village Voice, among others. She edits news stories about fossils, meteors, the ocean, the weather, and the planets for Science magazine. She collects Victorian jewelry made of human hair, puts cayenne pepper in her chocolate cookies, and reads forgotten books with frontispieces. She is an alumna of Hunter College High School, Hampshire College Summer Studies in Mathematics, and Yale University, where she majored in math. She has never dared to crash a dance, but in tenth grade she did write a proof for math class in the form of a sonnet. She grew up in New York City, where she lives with her husband, Andrew Nahem, and their parakeet, Olive. “ (www.pollyshulman.com)

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Setting:

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Characters:

Elizabeth Anjali Marc

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More Characters:

Aaron Jaya Andre’

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Problem, Sequence of Events & Solution

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“Elizabeth does not have your average after-school job. She works at the New York Circulating Material Repository, a library containing all sorts of objects, some commonplace and some very rare. The rarest of all are housed in the special collections, including the Grimm Collection, a collection of magical objects from Grimm fairy tales. Seven league boots, magic mirrors, enchanted cooking pots... Elizabeth, already a fan of the Grimm fairy tales, finds it almost too good to be true! But when Elizabeth discovers that objects from the collection are disappearing and losing their magic, she's got to try to find them before it's too late and these precious items are lost forever!” 

“The Grimm Legacy”

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“The Repository is no ordinary library. It lends out objects rather than books—everything from tea sets and hockey sticks to Marie Antoinette’s everyday wig. It’s also home to the Grimm Collection, a secret room in the basement. That’s where the librarians lock away powerful items straight out of the Brothers Grimm fairy tales:  seven-league boots, a table that produces a feast at the blink of an eye, Snow White’s stepmother’s sinister mirror that talks in riddles and has a will of its own.”

New York Circulating Material Repository

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“Elizabeth, our main character in The Grimm Legacy is someone with an adventurous spirit, although it is a hesitant adventurous spirit at first.  We meet her as she's handing over her trainers to an elderly homeless woman who is walking in the rain and snow with no shoes of her own.  One of her teachers sees this and decides to give Elizabeth a number to ring for an appointment. It's for a job at the New York Circulating Material Repository.  Her interview is odd, to say the least.  She has to sort hundreds of buttons. But whatever she does, she does it right and she's accepted to work there as a Page and runner in the library.  Naturally she's very excited about this, a bit clueless about what it all means, but enthusiasm makes up for a lot. 

Elizabeth lives with her father and step-mother.  There are two older step-sisters but they are both at university.  She is close to her dad but he's very much the absent parent in the book, choosing to spend time with the step-mother, redecorating their apartment or out at work, so we never really get a sense of them being much of a family or of the dad really being part of Elizabeth's life.  This really is the whole Cinderella aspect of the story, added to the fact that Elizabeth doesn't see herself as attractive.  She has very no friends to invite around or sit with at school.  She has a great many chores to do, with her step-mother occasionally reminding her to do something, although we never actually see her doing any of them and if she didn't do them, there were no repercussions.  If this was a way for the reader to feel empathy towards Elizabeth and her situation, it really didn't work.  I never felt genuinely sorry for her and it detracted from the story for me. I also felt that I never really got to know Elizabeth well enough to deeply care about her so me rooting for her and her friends during their adventures fell flat.”

Elizabeth

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“Anjali is the direct opposite to Elizabeth, or so it would seem.  Beautiful and popular, she gets the prince (Marc) and is a princess herself.  She lives in a beautiful apartment, she has a younger sister Jaya, and devoted rich parents.”

Anjali

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Basketball playing, Marc also works the Repository. Initially, Marc is the subject of Elizabeth’s affection. Although they become friends, the feelings are not mutual. A character with a bit of intrigue …

Marc

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“The final person we meet is Aaron, another Page at the Repository.  He really doesn't like Marc and thinks he's up to some bad things.  Aaron is of course infatuated with Anjali too, and sees Marc as competition for her affection.  Aaron and Elizabeth get to work together several times and we get the impression that if Aaron and Elizabeth had enough time together, their characters would really grow.  As it is they spend little enough time with each other, but there is a wonderful repartee and I found myself really liking Aaron's dry wit and sarcastic ways.”

Aaron

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10 year old sister to Anjali, Jaya is introduced as the usual annoying sister to a “main character”. Jaya becomes more important and her ability to help solve the problem becomes not only necessary but desired by the other characters.

Jaya

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Andre’ is Marc’s 3 year old brother. Marc is responsible for getting Andre’ to his babysitter. Often times, Andre’ is at the Repository and becomes a key player as well.

Andre’

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When the magical objects in The Grimm Collection start to disappear, Elizabeth and her new friends embark on a dangerous quest to catch the thief before they’re accused of the crime themselves—or the thief captures them.

Problem

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Elizabeth gets a jobElizabeth makes friendsFriends make discoveriesFriends find dangerFriends solve mystery?

Sequence of Events

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“The resolution involves a Golden Key and a secret garden.  The Bad Person is not really very effective at being bad and honestly, all the characters manage to do things just that bit too easily so when the resolution does happen and we near the end of the book, instead of elated, I just felt relief that it was over.”

Solution

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