About the Reviewer: Kathy Larabell is a Volunteer Book Reviewer and a Friend of the County Library. She has written three special book reviews to celebrate the 2014 Annual County National Library Week, April 14 – 18!
Mr. Penumbra’s 24 Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan (Adult Fiction)
Robin Sloan’s first novel is set during the Great Recession in San Francisco. The juxtaposition of traditional versus contemporary ideas is the pervasive theme in this book. The use of the book as opposed to technology’s access to information and entertainment causes the reader to take sides and cheer on one contender or the other.
Clay Jannon has lost his job as a web designer and finds new employment with Mr. Penumbra. Clay is told by his new employer that he is not to read the books in this 3 story bookstore, but he is to keep detailed notes about any patron that frequents the store. During his late night shift, Clay cannot resist looking at the forbidden literature and finds that it is written in code. This revelation leads him to involving his new girlfriend from Google and an old high school friend in the quest to analyze and solve the puzzle that this literature represents.
Finding that a secret organization, the Unbroken Spine, may hold this cryptographic secret, Clay and his friends go to New York to attempt to solve the mystery. It is here that the real conflict of ideologies continues and the more significant problems emerge.
This book presents an issue that is currently being faced by society. Is it really necessary for the new to totally replace the traditional? Or, on the other hand, can these two elements complement and assist one another in helping people cope with the world as it evolves?
Escape from Mr. Lemoncellos’s Library by Chris Grabenstein (Grades 3-7)
Kyle, a 12 year old, loves games of any sort. He does not, however, love reading. This is about to change when Kyle is chosen to participate in the game created by Luigi Lemoncello to welcome the new public library.
Luigi has created an overnight activity of fun and games in the library which extends into the next day for the participants who choose to remain. Interpreting the given clues and solving puzzles will enable the winning participant to win the grand prize.
This book is filled with allusions to many popular chapter books for the reader to identify. This element also makes the book more fun to read and poses a challenge to the reader to recall the books and characters she knows or to become acquainted with new literature.
Kyle and his friends learn how to work as a team as they race to win the prize. They learn about friendship and being unselfish to achieve a final goal. Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library is a book that young readers as well as eternally young readers will enjoy.
The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore by William Joyce (K-6)
William Joyce, inspired by the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, has written an award winning book that was also made into a short film. Teachers will enjoy using this book with their classes as it addresses so many common core standards in a few well-written and beautifully illustrated pages. The power of the written word and the ability of literature to enrich and change your life are themes that radiate from this short story.
Morris, the main character, is swept away by a powerful hurricane and finds himself near a building which is full of books. As he enters the building, he finds it is a library and “Morris could hear the faint chatter of a thousand stories.” Entranced by this phenomenon, Morris is lead to a lifelong dedication to books and making them available to those in the community around him.
The cycle of life and finding a cause that makes your life more worthwhile are two story lines found within this tale of Morris and his reaction to disaster. This fantasy tells the story of how books can save the day and change your life.