Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library

Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library
Chris Grabenstein
Douglas Holgate, Illustrator
Random House, November, 2023
258 pages
Grades 3-6
Graphic Novel

Kyle Keeley loves games, especially those of eccentric hometown hero, Luigi Lemoncello. Kyle plays hard. He is even not afraid to break windows, if that means beating his brothers at games. When Mr. Lemoncello offers an essay contest to pick a group of kids to compete in an actual scavenger hunt within the walls of his new library, Kyle knows he has to win. Despite a remarkably lame essay, Kyle is chosen and is challenged to find the clues to escape the new library, which is housed in an old bank, where robbers escaped many years ago. Can Kyle solve the clues and puzzles to figure out the robber's escape route? Not alone he can't! Kyle teams up with some of the other contestants to create a team, proving that teamwork is dreamwork. Meanwhile, the class rich-kid/bully is also a competitor and will stop at nothing to win. Do Kyle and his team have a chance against Charles' dirty-dealings? State of the art technology, mind-busting puzzles, and even holograph librarians await in this now-classic library adventure.

Ten years after the publication of it's classic predecessor, Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library gets the graphic novel treatment. The plot primarily stay the same, though a bit watered down, and the action never stops. Holgate's full-color illustrations match the lively nature of the text and will draw-in a new audience of reluctant readers. The characters are more or less how I saw them in my head and I enjoyed the graphic rendition. I love that Grabenstein gets reader's brains turning with puzzles to solve and clever puns hidden within the text in plain sight. I also like the messages of teamwork and fair play. The nice kids are rewarded and the sneaky ones punished. Kids appreciate that kind of justice. Readers will identify with underachieving Kyle, who serves as the perfect "every-man" in the competition. Ten years later the series continues to delight and this new rendition will connect with a whole new audience, who will (hopefully) continue on in the series of standard fiction.