The Collectors

A story about friendship, magic, and the gray area between good and evil. The Collectors is for fans of Cassie Beasley’s Circus Mirandus and Jonathan Auxier’s The Night Gardener

Giovanni ‘Van’ Markson is no stranger to loneliness. His hearing aids make him an easy target for bullying, and traveling the globe with his opera-star mother makes it hard to keep friends.

When Van spots a girl and a squirrel stealing pennies from a fountain, he discovers the Collectors, a secret organization that believes wishes are a menace to society. He also meets Ivor Hvalborg, an elderly gentleman with a vast collection of curious trinkets and something more curious still: tiny creatures known as Wish Eaters, who feed on the energy of wishes.

Van is plunged into a war over the fate of the Wish Eaters. He must choose sides—and choose wisely. But whom he can trust and who simply wants to use him for their own ends? When all this secrecy sends his life spiraling out of control, Van must do a little wishing of his own to set things right. But all wishes have consequences, and there is always a price.

A 2019 Schneider Family Honor Book

“Original, brave, and addictive.”—Adam Gidwitz, bestselling author of the Newbery Honor Book The Inquisitor’s Tale

Fast-paced, witty, and riveting, this contemporary fantasy adventure has magic woven through every page. The Collectors begins an enchanting two-book series from Jacqueline West, the New York Times–bestselling author of The Books of Elsewhere series. For fans of Serafina and the Black Cloak, The Isle of the Lost, and The Secret Keepers.