3.5 ( )

3.5 stars ( )

What a fun read! I highly recommend to anyone who enjoyed The Mysterious Benedict Society.

There are fun puzzles to solve alongside the characters and I loved all the book references. Book lovers will connect with it for that reason alone, but even a new reader will enjoy the book.

I liked the emphasis on being kind and doing the right thing, which I haven't found in all books for this age group.

It's the perfect length at about 300 pages, and the chapters are very short, so it's easy to read "just one more." ( )

Kyle Keeley is the class clown and a huge fan of all games--board games, word games, and particularly video games. His hero, Luigi Lemoncello, the most notorious and creative gamemaker in the world, just so happens to be the genius behind the construction of the new town library. Lucky Kyle wins a coveted spot as one of twelve kids invited for an overnight sleepover in the library, hosted by Mr. Lemoncello and riddled with lots and lots of games. But when morning comes, the doors stay locked. Kyle and the other kids must solve every clue and figure out every secret puzzle to find the hidden escape route!

A wealthy game-maker who appreciated the library growing up, decides to build a new one for his hometown (which has been without one for a number of years). His head librarian creates a lock in "escape the library" for 12 12 year-olds.

There were not as many puzzles as I thought there might be. There also appeared to be several ways to get to the solution. I liked that one of them involved the Dewey Decimal System.

I suspected early on that teamwork might be a key factor.

I solved it before the author revealed it (though I am quite a bit older than the age range for this series so it may differ for those in the correct age range). ( )