Here’s a fun fact. Did you know that “you” and “ewe” are pronounced the same? This esoteric fact normally doesn’t serve me any purpose, but it came in handy when I read “Escape from Mr Lemoncello’s Library”.
When I was growing up, my favourite book was “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”. And it seems that Chris Gravenstein has written a high-tech equivalent of this iconic novel. Kyle Keeley and 11 of his friends were selected to explore an eccentric guy, Mr Lemoncello’s swanky-new library. I really enjoyed reading all the futuristic features, including holographic images, hover ladders, and talking mannequins.
However, what appealed most to the book nerd in me was the puzzle game. Kyle and his entourage had to race against time to solve rebus, anagrams and other word puzzles in order to exit the library and qualify for the grand prize. Chris Grabenstein’s deep love and encyclopedic book trivia clearly shone through because he incorporated actual book titles and authors into the puzzles. If his book resembles the world of Harry Potter or Sherlock Holmes, it’s because he weaves the similarities so skilfully into his writing. It was delightful to come across the titles from authors whom I love - in fact, the characters were encouraged to read “The Complete Sherlock Holmes” and gather inspiration and motivation to solve the next puzzle. Suffice it to say that I was engrossed in making sense of the puzzles. I have since learnt that the Dewey decimal system makes use of three numbers to the left of the decimal point. I never quite knew that!
The only drawback I find about this book is that it took me some time to get acquainted with all the characters because there were so many of them. I struggled through the first half. However, I got into it when the characters started to form teams and build alliances as the game progressed. This goes to show how categorizing things (or people) into groups aids in memory recall and retention!
As a bonus feature, Chris Grabenstein included an additional rebus puzzle that was in the book but not in his story, which increased the fun engagement factor. I certainly tried to solve it!