“Knowledge not shared remains unknown.” Luigi L. Lemoncello (p 54)
Everyone should know about this book, and so I am sharing it with you, our faithful readers.
Why I Picked It Up: The credit for this one goes to Amazon. It was one of those “You might like this…” selections and, intrigued by the word “library” in the title, I decided it warranted further investigation. The deal was sealed once I read the description which included this claim: “cross between Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and A Night in the Museum.” That claim doesn’t do it justice! There where echoes of From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, Sherlock Holmes, Clue (the movie and the game), Harry Potter, and plenty more. Mr. Lemoncello adds to the literary melange by saying it will be “like The Hunger Games with lots of food and no bows or arrows” (p 75).
Why I Finished It: Why would anyone not finish this book???? As I read, I could feel the pace quicken. I was turning pages faster and faster, and praying my son would keep napping for just 10 more minutes so I could finish. In fact, I had to force myself to slow down so I didn’t miss any of the story in my rush to find out how it ended! When I finished, I had to stop and take a breath. But only for a minute, because after the last page, there is an author’s note that states that there is an extra puzzle hidden in the book that was not worked into the story, but that there was a clue about how to find it. I can let this go, I thought. WRONG!!! Praying for another 10 minutes of nap time, I went to the computer to see what I could find (there are several clues scattered about here and here from the author). I breathed sigh of relief as I solved the final puzzle and wished that I could tell someone about how clever I felt.
Who I Would Give It To: This book is incredible and everyone should read it (see above). It’s a great reader or even read-aloud for upper elementary and middle school kids. However, I found a great deal of enjoyment in being able to pick up on the various references to other books throughout the story – everything from children’s books to great works of literature is embedded within this tale. In that case, some of your more avid readers in high school might even enjoy that aspect of it.
Above all, I would give this book to librarians! Do yourself a favor, settle in with a cup of a warm beverage of your choice, let your to-do list go for a few hours and read this book. In an interview, the author calls his book a “thank you note for the terrific job these folks are doing,” and I couldn’t agree more. (There are some very cool parallels between a bank and a library on pages 52 and 53 that made me smile out loud.)
Integration Ideas
There are loads of ideas on the author’s website, including two really great study guides and…a guide to hosting your own Great Library Escape game!
Theme and Guiding Questions
Identity: How do we form and shape our identities?
Language and Literature: How can language be powerful?
Friendship: What does it mean to be a good friend?
Writing
Have your students pick a favorite game and write a story about it! Consider the game’s board (if any), playing pieces, and especially the rules. How will the characters in your story interact with each other? Will they be the pieces? Will they play by the rules? What happens if they don’t?
Other books about games:
Jumanji by Chris Van Allsburg
The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
I am the Messenger by Marcus Zusak
Poetry
In the story, book titles played a major role in solving the puzzle. Use book titles in a different way by creating spine poetry. Check with your librarian – he or she would probably love to help! You’ll probably need their permission too, since spine poetry involves lots of browsing and displaced books! For examples, visit http://spinepoetry.com/ or http://100scopenotes.com/2013/04/02/2013-book-spine-poem-gallery/. Students probably shouldn’t look at too many examples or they might have trouble being original!
Characterization
The kids in the story have very distinct personalities and there are more to some characters than they let the others see. Gather evidence from the text to create a good picture of the character – how they look, how the react in situations, how they respond to other characters. Use that evidence to complete a trading card for each character: http://bighugelabs.com/deck.php
Then, talk about how the kids worked together as a team. Trade the cards around and talk about how the teams might have been different if the kids had formed different alliances.
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