Kid's Book Club - July

Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library

Can twelve 12-year-olds escape from the most ridiculously brilliant library ever created?

Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library plunks a dozen sixth-graders into the middle of a futuristic library for a night of nonstop fun and adventure.

In a nod to Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, this fast-paced new novel features an eccentric billionaire who welcomes a group of children into a fantasy setting full of weird, wondrous touches.

Kyle is a game fan—board games, word games, and especially video games! Kyle’s hero, the famous gamemaker Luigi Lemoncello, is the genius behind the design of the town’s new public library, which contains not only books, but an IMAX theater, an electronic learning center, instructional holograms, interactive dioramas and electromagnetic hover ladders that float patrons up to the books they want.

Lucky Kyle wins a spot as one of the first twelve kids invited to a gala, overnight library lock-in filled with lots of fun and games. But the next morning, when the lock-in is supposed to be over, the doors remain locked. Kyle and the others must follow book-related clues and unravel all sorts of secret puzzles to find the hidden escape route if they want to win Mr. Lemoncello’s most fabulous prize ever.

Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library is more than a rib-tickling novel full of humor and suspense. It’s a game in itself, in which readers can have fun solving clues and answering riddles while learning how to navigate the Dewey Decimal system. Eagle-eyed kids—not to mention their parents, teachers, and librarians—can also hunt for the names of authors and classic books sprinkled throughout the fast-moving story.

Rumor has it there is even one puzzle that is in the book but not in the story. Can you find and solve it?

About the author

Christopher Grabenstein is an American author. He published his first novel in 2005 and since then he has written novels for both adults and children, the latter often with frequent collaborator James Patterson, for whom he previously worked when he was in advertising. He graduated from the University of Tennessee in 1977 with a degree from the College of Communication and Information.

Grabenstein has also written many other novels for children, including the Agatha and Anthony award-winning Haunted Mysteries series and the New York Times bestselling Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library.

Grabenstein has won the Agatha Award for Best Children’s/Young Adult Novel four times: for The Crossroads, The Hanging Hill, The Black Heart Crypt, and Escape From Mr. Lemoncello’s Library. He has also won the Anthony Award twice, once for Best First Novel for Tilt-A-Whirl and once for Best Children’s/Young Adult Novel for The Crossroads.

Designed for independent readers aged 8 to 12 years, Kid’s Book Club runs every Friday in July from 4.00pm to 5.00pm