Book Project One: The Crooked Shelf

Come Visit The Crooked Shelf!

       Imagine that a pivotal setting from your favorite book. What was it? How would you set it up? For fans of the book Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater, one of the pivotal places the book takes place in is the bookstore, The Crooked Shelf.

The Crooked Shelf is the bookstore where Sam sees Grace for the first time as both of them are the same species (finally!). So, for the avid teen paranormal romance reader, why not re-create the book store where Sam watches Grace in Shiver?

At the beginning of the book, Grace and her two friends go to the bookstore during the summer. Grace doesn’t realize it, but the werewolf that saved her life is human again, and is working at the same bookstore that she just entered. “I had planned a thousand different versions of this scene in my head, but now that the moment had come, I didn’t know what to do . . . her gaze headed in my direction, and I looked away hurriedly, down at my book. She wouldn’t recognize my face but would recognize my eyes. I had to believe she would recognize my eyes.” (page 9).

Also taking place at The Crooked Shelf, near the middle of the book, is where we learn that Grace and Sam both have an affinity for the books they sell there. “I let him walk me down the stark concrete block to The Crooked Shelf, a little independent bookstore; I hadn’t been there for a year. It seemed stupid that I hadn’t, given how many books I read, but I was just a poor high schooler with a very limited allowance.” (page 198).

Inside of the bookstore would be the candy shop that Sam took Grace to when she was fed up with her parents. “It was incredibly cute that he’d driven us an hour just to go to a candy shop. Incredibly stupid, given the weather report, but incredibly cute nonetheless.” (page 278). As a reader of the book, I want to experience what Sam calls the best hot chocolate and caramel apples ever made. Plus, it makes book buying much more fun if there’s some form of treats involved.

This idea would work because there are some people who still like to go to the bookstore to get a book instead of ordering online and waiting for the book to arrive at some point, or who don’t have the patience to deal with an eReader. And for teenaged girls looking to meet the love of their life, finding the perfect guy could be in the independent bookstore in town, just like how Sam and Grace eventually met as they were both humans. For people have already read Shiver, the bookstore will also stock other Maggie Stiefvater books, whether part of The Wolves of Mercy Falls series to any of her other books. Also, when the movie version of Shiver is released on DVD, The Crooked Shelf will have copies of the movie that you can buy.

The bookstore was a big part of Sam and Grace’s relationship, so it makes sense that it be made into a real bookstore. It’s where Sam saw Grace for the first time when they were humans, it’s where their first escape from life they take as a couple, and later in the series, Grace gives Sam what he calls “the best birthday present of all (it was an invoice for five hours of studio time to record a demo).”

For those who want to know more about The Crooked Shelf, you can get updates by following them on Twitter (@thecrookedshelf), on Facebook (www.facebook.com/TheCrookedShelf), or check out the website (www.thecrookedshelf.livejournal.com).

In order to stay up-to-date with author Maggie Stiefvater, you can visit her website at www.maggiestiefvater.com to get more information on The Wolves of Mercy Falls and any of her other books.

The Crooked Shelf: The Place to Fill Your Maggie Stiefvater Obsession