Escape From Mr. Lemoncello's Library by Chris Grabenstein

from goodreads

5 stars

Growing up I loved playing the board game Clue. I loved the little papers that made me feel like I was a real detective. I loved the board layout an the different prints for each room. Our board was really old and had real people's pictures for the characters instead of drawings. Miss Scarlet looked so sophisticated lying on the chaise lounge holding her long and sleek cigarette holder. (Now I'm like, come on Miss Scarlet, don't smoke you will age prematurely.)

So as I was saying, I loved playing clue. Then I realized that my parents did not teach me the actual real rules of clue and that everyone else knows a different way to play than me. We didn't use the die, we just put whoever we wanted in whatever room with whatever weapon we wanted. I thought the die was just for deciding who went first.

Has that ever happened to you? You think you know how to play something only to realize your family is the only one who ever played it like that?

Synopsis

Kyle Keeley loves to play board games, especially games made by Mr. Luigi Lemoncello. The news of his towns new public library doesn't interest him until he finds out that it was built and paid for by Mr. Lemoncello. When he and twelve other twelve year olds are chosen to spend the night in the library they discover they are in for the adventure of their life.

My Thoughts

I loved this book. It is like Clue, meets Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, meets Survivor. It was fast paced, exciting and, for me, unpredictable. I loved how he references other books or uses other book titles throughout the novel. I was even happy because I had heard of most of them and had even read quite a few.

The main take home message of this story is that you should check out your local library and discover the magic of reading. The best part is the author doesn't do this in an obvious way. The book is so fun it doesn't feel like it has a moral. Yet it is there. I now want to read a lot of the book mentioned because they seem so much fun.

I also like how the author shows collaboration and sharing is better than trying to win at all costs. Once again the book is so much fun you don't realize you are learning this, but you get the message just the same.

It is nice when a book is full of morals but you aren't beaten over the head with them.

The characters seem like average twelve year olds which is so nice. Sometimes you read books with preteens as characters, yet they seem to be too old for the age. They do things or are responsible for things that normal preteens would not be. Here the characters are normal, everyday diverse kids.

The story has great flow. I like the use of board games and clues. The reader is given the clues as well so you are trying to figure things out at the same time as the characters. I like how he refers to classic board games as well. I think I need to go to my parents out and break out our game of Husker du. The setting of the library is really cool. I would love to be in an awesome library like that. The library has an almost Wonkaesque feeling to it, a magic that anything could happen.

This book is just such a great read. I think I will have this as a summer read for my kids when they are a little older. I think this would be a great book for kids 9 and up. I think this would be a great book for boys to read. It is exciting and has puzzles so I think it would hold their interest. (Of course it would be great for girls too, it just is hard to find books for boys it seems.) I highly recommend this book. Even if you don't have kids this would be a great read.