Escape From Mr. Lemoncello’s Library

Title: Escape From Mr. Lemoncello’s Library
Author: Chris Grabenstein
Series: Mr. Lemoncello’s Library, book 1
Major Themes: Puzzles, Libraries, Books
Synopsis: Twelve 12-year-olds get locked into the new library as part of the grand opening—and then learn that they have to find a way out to win a prize!

Last year, I bought about a dozen elementary-level reading books from Sonlight Curriculum. I had never so much as heard of the authors of most of them, but because I know that we like almost all books that Sonlight sells, I took a chance on them. One evening, my 12-year-old started reading Escape From Mr. Lemoncello’s Library. As I was on my way to bed, after everyone else had gone to sleep already, I picked the book up to glance through it and see what he was reading. 45 minutes later, I realized I was still standing in the middle of the living room, reading. It was that gripping.

The town of Alexandriaville has not had a library for 12 years. Now, a new one has been built and is ready to be opened. The 12-year-olds in the Alexandriaville school have been invited to submit essays describing what they are hoping for at the grand opening, but Kyle is not interested in writing this essay. Then, he learns that the writers of the 12 best essays would get to be locked into the library overnight before anyone else goes into it, and this lock-in will include playing video games. Kyle is addicted to games of all kinds, board or video, but he is banned from them for a week as a consequence. How can he get into that library in the grand opening, when the deadline for the essay is in a few minutes?

As it turns out, getting into the library is the easy part. Getting out again is the real challenge. The twelve 12-year-olds find themselves part of a real-life board game that requires a lot of smarts and maybe a lot of teamwork to win. Can they do it before the time is up?

Escape From Mr. Lemoncello’s Library will appeal to all kinds of readers. As I said, I got drawn into the story so much that I was very late going to bed, and my 12-year-old had almost the same trouble putting this book down. A few months later, another of the children requested it as a read-aloud. Every day, I was being begged for more chapters after I finished the two short chapters I had planned to read. Everyone was anxious to know the outcome of the game. Anyone who loves books, games, puzzles, or even just a great story, will love this book.

WARNING: Chapter 4: crap. Chapter 8: gosh. Chapter 54: heck.

——————
Related posts:

Trapped in the Tunnel Naya Nuki: Shoshoni Girl Who Ran Kite to Freedom Facing the Fugitive