Escape From Mr. Lemoncello’s Library - A Book Review

I was asked to review the book ESCAPE FROM MR. LEMONCELLO’S LIBRARY by Chris Grabenstein. This is the review that I gave the book (and I am not being paid to give this review):

Let me start off this review by saying that I thoroughly enjoyed it and it was awesome!

I started off the book and was unsure of what to expect and once I started reading it, it was hard to put it down. It grabbed me from the beginning and kept me entertained and interested all of the way until the end. It made me think of this book as a cross between Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory and National Treasure. I hope that someday I will be able to see this in a movie! This was an adventure that takes place in a library. The characters were well developed as well as the plot. I didn’t know how it would end which made me want to keep reading.

This book involves twelve 12 year olds on an adventure in a library. They need to solve a puzzle to win a contest. Now what kid isn’t intrigued by a puzzle and a contest? I think this book would be appropriate for older elementary and middle school students. If you go to the link I gave with the title of the book, there is information on how to get the author to Skype into your library!

In today’s society, I’m not sure many students use the library as much as they should and this novel made me realize that a library is not as obsolete as many people think it is. I think by reading this novel, it would make students interested in checking out their public library. Some of the novels mentioned were some of my favorites and had me wanting to read them again. I could see a student keeping a list of the ones mentioned and wanting to check into them. I also could see a teacher making a list and having students choose some of them to read as an assignment.

There were so many themes throughout the story that this would definitely be a novel to use in the classroom setting as well as for personal reading. Themes such as friendship, responsibility, teamwork, library skills, knowledge, trivia, history, kindness are used throughout the story. In fact, I’m sure many others could be found when reading this novel.

I would highly recommend this book! As soon as it is released in June 2013, I suggest you scoop it up! I believe it will be a hit at home and in schools.