Book: Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library

This is the first of the 2016 Mark Twain award nominees that I have read, and it was a good one to start with.  I read this one in just a couple of days, wondering what was to come as I turned each page.  Author Grabenstein did a great job of keeping things organized.   The story was multi-faceted and complicated, yet easy to follow and understandable. It's not far-fetched that Missouri librarians chose Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library for the award list:  with all the talk of the Dewey Decimal System, classic literature, and modern children's literature, this book is a salute to libraries as well as a a fun ride through mystery and game playing.  It made me want to give some suggestions to the design of the new library here in Joplin.

From the author's website:

Can twelve 12-year-olds escape from the most ridiculously brilliant library ever created?

Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library plunks a dozen sixth-graders into the middle of a futuristic library for a night of nonstop fun and adventure.

In a nod to Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, this fast-paced new novel features an eccentric billionaire who welcomes a group of children into a fantasy setting full of weird, wondrous touches.

Kyle is a game fan—board games, word games, and especially video games! Kyle's hero, the famous gamemaker Luigi Lemoncello, is the genius behind the design of the town's new public library, which contains not only books, but an IMAX theater, an electronic learning center, instructional holograms, interactive dioramas and electromagnetic hover ladders that float patrons up to the books they want.

Lucky Kyle wins a spot as one of the first twelve kids invited to a gala, overnight library lock-in filled with of fun and games. But the next morning, when the lock-in is supposed to be over, the doors remain locked. Kyle and the others must follow book-related clues and unravel all sorts of secret puzzles to find the hidden escape route if they want to win Mr. Lemoncello's most fabulous prize ever.

Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library is more than a rib-tickling novel full of humor and suspense. It's a game in itself, in which readers can have fun solving clues and answering riddles while learning how to navigate the Dewey Decimal system. Eagle-eyed kids—not to mention their parents, teachers, and librarians—can also hunt for the names of authors and classic books sprinkled throughout the fast-moving story.