WWRW: A book for kids who love books!

Escape From Mr. Lemoncello's Library by Chris Grabenstein

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Doesn't this cover art just grab your attention? It certainly grabbed mine when I saw it sitting on our library's "New Acquisitions" shelf so I grabbed it and brought it home. I know, I know... you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover but this one broke the rules and was a really delightful book. It's so fabulous, I haven't been able to wrestle it away from my kids long enough to read the whole darn thing. It is a book lover's book; that much I have managed to figure out. There are so many references to books my kids have read that they felt like they got all the inside jokes. 

(The same way this child of the 80's feels when she watches Psych!) {affiliate link}

From the Amazon blurb:

Lucky Kyle wins a coveted spot to be one of the first 12 kids in the library for an overnight of fun, food, and lots and lots of games. But when morning comes, the doors remain locked. Kyle and the other winners must solve every clue and every secret puzzle to find the hidden escape route. And the stakes are very high.

The Professor (15) read it first and then asked if he could write to the author and thank him for writing it! Um... yes! Go write ahead! (Hah hah.) I think it was the question about the name of Glorfindel's horse that sealed his love for this book and respect for the author. Any author who refers to Glorfindel is a kindred spirit in his mind. Well, there's that and the idea of being locked in a fabulous library! Shortcake (12) picked it up next after hearing him rave about it. When she finished, she asked if she could write to Mr. Grabenstein  thanking him for the character of Sierra because apparently Sierra is her literary doppleganger. She's talked about enjoying the book so much, I'm sure Sunshine (14) will scoop it up next, that is... if BigBoy (9) doesn't ferret it away first. 

Whoops, too late! He's already grabbed it... and finished it. 

He asked if we could pleeeeeeease add it to his book club list. Oh, sure kid... I guess so. : )

A book that get's passed around through all of my kids is one that I will definitely be adding to our personal library! There is a final puzzle to solve by January 1, 2014 though and even though we sat around at the dinner table for about an hour after dinner was over trying to solve it, none of us has cracked it yet. I sure hope Mr. Grabenstein tells everyone what the solution is when the contest is over because we are going to go slightly insane if we don't find out.

*UPDATE: WE SOLVED IT!!! Right after I wrote this last night, we figured it out. Much whooping and hollering ensued. OH WHAT FUN! *

So, now, what have I been reading? I've been reading Percy Jackson... like... all of them. Because I am the perfect person to market a series to. When I start reading a series, I have to know how it ends, even if I can guess how it ends. It takes a mind-numbingly boring writer or a devolution into vulgarity or raunchiness to throw me off track. So, I read that first Percy Jackson book and even though it wasn't great writing, it was suspenseful and certainly left me wanting to know what happened next. When I saw that our library had the next four available for borrowing in e-book form, well, it was waaaaaaaay too easy to pop those onto my phone (which is where I do most of my e-reading). 

Have they changed my opinion of the first one? No, not really. I still think they are written at a younger reading level even though they are writing about battles and some romantic issues which an older reading age would enjoy more. That still kind of bothers me but there is nothing titilating or gruesome, so I guess it's OK. Riordan doesn't use incredibly complex sentence structures or vocabulary (if you discount the mythological vocabulary) but they are engaging stories, even if they are written more like screenplays than novels.

I also checked the movie {affiliate link} out from the library and watched it to compare. Woah. That was nothing like the book. They changed so much, I can see why die hard fans were seriously disappointed. I'm very sympathetic to screenwriters changing enough to make the story flow better as a movie. Books and movies are two totally different mediums, but in this case, the movie has a completely different ending! That's just wrong. And if those were 12 year olds, I'll eat a hippocampus.

Anyway, that's what we've been reading this week. Click on the cute little graphic above to visit Jessica T.'s link-up. Someone, please find me something else to read for next week or I might be tempted to start on the next Riordan series. And once I start...