Super Short Summary

The Collectors by Jacqueline West follows eleven-year-old Van, an observant boy with a hearing impairment, as he navigates life in New York City with his opera singer mother. Van encounters a mysterious girl named Pebble and a squirrel named Barnavelt, leading him to a group called The Collectors, who capture people's wishes in glass bottles. Conflicted between Pebble's warnings about the dangers of wishes and Mr. Falborg's narrative about Wish Eaters, Van's journey explores the complexity of wishes and the strength found in perceived weaknesses.