“The Grimm Legacy”
Polly Shulman
Characters:
Characters:
Setting:
Museum Entrance
Welcome to the Lobby
Problem,
Sequence of Events &
Solution
Name of Museum
Polly Shulman
“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)
Back to Lobby
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.
Name of Museum
Setting:
Name of Museum
Characters:
Elizabeth
Anjali
Marc
Name of Museum
More Characters:
Aaron
Jaya
Andre’
Name of Museum
Problem, Sequence of Events
& Solution
Name of Museum
“The Grimm Legacy”
“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!”
Back to Room 1
Name of Museum
New York Circulating Material Repository
“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: sevenleague 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.”
Back to Room 1
Name of Museum
Elizabeth
“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 stepmother 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.”
Back to Room 2
Name of Museum
Anjali
“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.”
Back to Room 2
Name of Museum
Marc
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 …
Back to Room 2
Name of Museum
Aaron
“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.”
Back to Room 3
Name of Museum
Jaya
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.
Back to Room 3
Name of Museum
Andre’
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.
Back to Room 3
Name of Museum
Problem
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.
Back to Room 4
Name of Museum
Sequence of Events
Elizabeth gets a job
Elizabeth makes friends
Friends make discoveries
Friends find danger
Friends solve mystery?
Back to Room 4
Name of Museum
Solution
“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.”
Back to Room 4