Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library

The public library in Kyle's hometown is reopening following extensive renovations, and he and several of his friends have somehow been lucky enough to win an essay contest granting them an overnight sneak preview before the official grand opening. They are wowed by the cutting-edge, interactive technology, games, books and imaginative architecture. The following morning, just as they think they're about to go home, they learn their adventure has only just begun: hidden throughout the building are clues which lead to the library's secret exit — and they have 24 hours to locate it.

I selected this to fulfill 'a middle grade mystery' in the Read Harder challenge, mostly because my daughter had just read it and thought it was great. It was a pretty fun, silly read, perfect for 4th/5th graders, and as a library user and employee myself I'm going to give it extra points for a) library setting, b) incorporating real library classification into the puzzles, and c) including an automated materials handling system. ( )

Clever and fun. My daughter loves this entire series. ( )

What a wonderful, imaginative, and creative story! This book totally reminded me why I still love to read children's books!

After several years without a city library, a new wonderous library has been built by an ecentric, quirky billionaire...Mr. Lemoncello. Kyle and his school friends are familiar with Mr. Lemoncello as his company has made many of their favorite boardgames, including Mr. Lemoncello's Indoor Outdoor Scavenger Hunt. At school, they write essays for a contest -- the winners get to see the new library before anybody else. It's the adventure of a lifetime!

For me, this story was reminiscent of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory with a library theme instead of a candy factory. The characters are fun and quirky....and there's lots of book references and library goodness. Fun story!

I was delighted to find out that there is a television movie version, streamable on Hulu. I'm going to watch it as soon as I post this review. :) Following my rule: Always read the book first! I'm not quite sure how they are going to capture the magic of this story in only 69 minutes though.....the movie must cut out a lot. I hope I'm not disappointed.

I listened to the audio book version of this story. The audio is almost 6.5 hours long and narrated by Jesse Bernstein. Bernstein reads at a nice pace and does a great job bringing the characters to life. Excellent performance!

There are 3 other books in the Lemoncello series so far. Chris Grabenstein has written several books for middle grade kids. I'm definitely going to be reading more! Loved this story! ( )

During this COVID-19 epidemic period, I am looking for books to escape, and middle-grade books do that for children. It has been many years since I was in middle school, but It is fun to read books for another age group. The truth is I was browsing through my Libby-app to check if they had any other book about books. When I saw that 'Escape from Mr. Lemonchello's Library was available, I didn't hesitate to snatch it.
If you like books with scavenger hunts, books that have the magic of 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,' 'Escape from Mr. Lemonchello's Library' is a book for you. I really liked adventuring along with the kids in the library! Their intelligence amazed me. I believe if y0u want kids to fall in love with reading, and books, in particular, this book is to start with.
The references to the literature are great as well. While a lot of kids might not recognize some of the book references the book is still very enjoyable and they should get at least a few of them. I loved this one. ( )

Think Willy Wonka in a library -- the equivalent of candy gluttony for book lovers. Very whimsical, super creative lighthearted read. Great antidote to all the "world in flames" books the kids are reading these days. 12 7th graders get the privilege of being the first attendees in the brand-new, state-of-the-art library built by eccentric Mr. Lemoncello in Alexandriaville (wink!), OH. Their escape is part of an elaborate game in which they need to use their smarts and teamwork to win their way out. Delightful! Lots of fun details and the slow revelation of clues has the reader playing along. A real riddle is included for the reader to solve (I didn't manange on the first read, but will leave that up to the eager reader book club kids.) ( )