Mr. Lemoncello sounded bored, so Kyle butted in.
“Mr. Lemoncello?”
His eyes brightened. “Excuse me, Donald. Urgent business. I must speak with a member of my new board.”
Mr. Lemoncello touched Kyle’s shoulder and urged him to step away from Sir Donald Thorne.
Quickly.
“What is it, Kyle?”
“Can I ask you a question?”
“Certainly. In fact, as a trustee of the Lemoncello Library, you are duty bound to come to me with any and all questions you might have.”
“Well, sir, was part of this whole Olympic Games thing an attempt to get Andrew Peckleman to like libraries again? Is that why you had Sir Donald pretend to be his great-uncle instead of, say, mine or Miguel’s?”
Mr. Lemoncello smiled slyly. “Why, Kyle Keeley, do you really think I am that cunning and clever?”
“Yes, sir. That’s why your games are so good.”
Mr. Lemoncello laughed and nodded toward the far side of the patio, were Andrew Peckleman and Sierra Russell were sharing a piece of cake and laughing.
“My guess is they’re talking about their favorite books,” said Kyle.
“And my guess,” said Mr. Lemoncello, “is that Andrew will be coming to the Lemoncello Library every single Monday, Wednesday, and Friday after school.”
“You think so?”
“Certainly. That’s when Sierra’s there.”
On the first day of spring break, two weeks after all the visiting Olympians had gone home, Kyle Keeley biked downtown to the Lemoncello Library.
Charles Chiltington was outside, as usual, walking back and forth on the sidewalk, carrying a protest sign that said “MR. LEMONCELLO’S LIBRARY IS EXECRABLE.”
Kyle parked his bike and waved. “Hey, Charles.”
“Keeley.”
“You want to come inside and check out our reference section? Maybe borrow a thesaurus?”
“What?”
“I totally respect your freedom of expression, Charles. I just think you might be able to express yourself more clearly if you didn’t use big words on all your signs. See ya!”
Kyle bounded up the marble steps and entered the lobby, where the statue of Mr. Lemoncello—with his head tilted back and water spewing out of his puckered fish lips—was gurgling away again. They’d fixed up his slogan about knowledge not shared on the base and added a new one on the side:
A LIBRARY IS AN ARSENAL OF LIBERTY.
In the Rotunda Reading Room, patrons were happily hover-browsing the fiction shelves. Clarence and Clement were checking their email on the built-in desktop tablet computers. Some college kids were huddled around another table, doing some sort of serious research project. And Mrs. Lonni Gause, the holographic librarian, was helping out behind the circulation desk without fear of being bulldozed. Because this library had true champions, intellectual freedom fighters who would do whatever it took to protect it: Mr. Lemoncello, of course, and all the library lovers from the first-ever Library Olympiad, plus Andrew Peckleman.
“Yo, Kyle?” said Miguel as he and Akimi came down one of the spiral staircases. “There’s a brand-new game up in the Electronic Learning Center.”
“You stand on a platform, slide your feet, and go skating down a frozen canal with Hans Brinker,” added Akimi.
“You start out on wooden skates,” said Miguel, “but you can win silver ones. Just like in the book.”
“It’s a brand-new Lemoncello concept,” said Akimi. “Audio-animatronic books. You get to act out a whole novel along with its main characters.”
“You also get to skate,” added Miguel.
“You guys have fun,” said Kyle. “I promised Dr. Z I’d help out in the Children’s Room for a couple hours today.”
“Cool,” said Miguel. “I’m doing that tomorrow. With Sierra and Andrew.” He waggled his eyebrows knowingly. “Catch you later, bro.”
“Later.”
Kyle went into the Children’s Room, where kids were reading books with their moms and dads or watching a puppet show or listening to a storyteller or singing along with Mother Goose and her goslings.
“Excuse me,” said a small voice behind Kyle.
Kyle turned around. “Can I help you?”
“Is this book any good?”
A tiny boy was holding a copy of Flora and Ulysses.
“Oh, it’s excellent,” said Kyle. “I read it last week. It’s all about a squirrel who gets sucked up inside a vacuum cleaner and turns into a poetry-writing superhero.”
“Awesome!”
The kid ran to the checkout desk with his prize.
Kyle watched him go and felt great.
Actually, he felt fantastic.
It was definitely another cake day.
Are the games really over? Of course not. Here’s one final puzzle:
Twenty things you just read,
Twenty things Mr. Lemoncello said,
Were once not allowed to be read
Because of what other people said.
Can you find them all? If so, send an email with your list to [email protected].
Writing this book about banned books (which, yikes, might be banned in some places because of its subject matter) made me remember when I was in the fifth grade and bought (with my allowance money) my first subscription to MAD magazine. I think it cost less than five dollars for the whole year.
™ and © E. C. Publications, Inc.
Every month, MAD was filled with hysterical satire of TV shows and movies, sarcastic spoofs, and funny fake ads. The thing was pure irreverence in ink and paper.
MAD (along with the Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons) did more to spark my love of words and humor than anything else during my middle school years.
I remember my monthly installment of MAD magazine arrived by mail in a plain brown wrapper because some adults thought its satire and lack of respect for authority made it questionable, maybe even subversive. Many of those adults also thought the magazine should be banned, that impressionable children (like me) should not be allowed to read it.
But read it I did. (Maybe even more hungrily because I knew reading it was considered a form of rebellion.)
My own parents had no problem with my reading MAD. I think my father, having seen combat in World War II, had that Greatest Generation’s skepticism about blind obedience to rules and those in authority.
When I did improvisational comedy in a Greenwich Village theater—what the New York Times described as “basically impudent madness” in a review of our show—we were called the First Amendment Improvisation and Comedy Company. Nightly, we exercised our First Amendment right of freedom of speech to poke fun at politicians and current events and goofy trends and just about anything that needed fun poked at it. We were a living, breathing MAD magazine.
And now that I am an author, I always feel a small surge of pride when I read that tiny type printed inside all of my Random House books: “Random House Children’s Books supports the First Amendment and celebrates the right to read.”
Doing research for this story, I was amazed at how many children’s books have been banned over the years. Not just in the past but as recently as yesterday.
I found myself agreeing with former American Library Association (ALA) president Carol Brey-Casiano, who said, “Not every book is right for every person, but providing a wide range of reading choices is vital for learning, exploration, and imagination. The abilities to read, speak, think, and express ourselves freely are core American values.”
I like this bumper sticker of a slogan, too: “Free your mind. Read a banned book.”
The ALA sponsors an annual Banned Books Week in September. It’s a great time for teachers, students, and librarians to discuss what the First Amendment truly means.
Mr. Lemoncello will definitely be celebrating it this year at his library.
There will be balloons. Cake, too.
And lots and lots of books. Even ones Mr. Lemoncello do
esn’t really like.
Read more:
ala.org/bbooks/bannedbooksweek
teachhub.com/banned-book-week-activities
Here’s a complete list of the books mentioned in Mr. Lemoncello’s Library Olympics that you can find in your library. (How many have you read?)
☐ The Adventures of Captain Underpants by Dav Pilkey
☐ Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery
☐ The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket
☐ Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
☐ Birdman of Alcatraz by Thomas E. Gladdis
☐ Bleak House by Charles Dickens
☐ Blubber by Judy Blume
☐ The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
☐ The Bravest Squirrel Ever by Sara Shafer
☐ Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
☐ Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? by Bill Martin Jr. and Eric Carle
☐ Bud, Not Buddy by Christopher Paul Curtis
☐ The Candymakers by Wendy Mass
☐ Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
☐ Charlotte’s Web by E. B. White
☐ Criss Cross by Lynne Rae Perkins
☐ Earl the Squirrel by Don Freeman
☐ Elijah of Buxton by Christopher Paul Curtis
☐ Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
☐ Flora and Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures by Kate DiCamillo
☐ The Fourteenth Goldfish by Jennifer L. Holm
☐ The Girl Who Loved Wild Horses by Paul Goble
☐ Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown
☐ Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
☐ Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss
☐ Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins
☐ Hans Brinker, or The Silver Skates by Mary Mapes Dodge
☐ Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh
☐ Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J. K. Rowling
☐ Holes by Louis Sachar
☐ The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
☐ Incident at Hawk’s Hill by Allan W. Eckert
☐ Inside Out and Back Again by Thanhha Lai
☐ It’s Not Easy Being Bad by Cynthia Voigt
☐ Junie B. Jones series by Barbara Park
☐ The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
☐ A Light in the Attic by Shel Silverstein
☐ Lilly’s Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes
☐ The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis
☐ Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
☐ Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy by Gary D. Schmidt
☐ A Long Way from Chicago by Richard Peck
☐ The Lorax by Dr. Seuss
☐ Lord of the Flies by William Golding
☐ Maximum Ride series by James Patterson
☐ Morris the Moose by B. Wiseman
☐ Mr. Popper’s Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater
☐ Nothing but the Truth: A Documentary Novel by Avi
☐ The Odyssey by Homer
☐ One Came Home by Amy Timberlake
☐ The Paper Airplane Book by Seymour Simon
☐ Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan
☐ Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie
☐ Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren
☐ The Postcard by Tony Abbott
☐ Sammy Keyes and the Hotel Thief by Wendelin Van Draanen
☐ Shabanu: Daughter of the Wind by Suzanne Fisher Staples
☐ Sound the Jubilee by Sandra Forrester
☐ Splendors and Glooms by Laura Amy Schlitz
☐ Strega Nona by Tomie dePaola
☐ The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo
☐ The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin by Beatrix Potter
☐ A Tangle of Knots by Lisa Graff
☐ Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
☐ Twerp by Mark Goldblatt
☐ Ulysses by James Joyce
☐ Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe
☐ Ungifted by Gordon Korman
☐ The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
☐ Walter the Farting Dog by William Kotzwinkle and Glenn Murray
☐ Watership Down by Richard Adams
☐ When Shlemiel Went to Warsaw and Other Stories by Isaac Bashevis Singer
☐ Where’s Waldo? by Martin Handford
☐ The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
☐ A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle
☐ The Year of Billy Miller by Kevin Henkes
☐ Yertle the Turtle and Other Stories by Dr. Seuss
To the many, many people who helped make this return to Mr. Lemoncello’s Library possible.
My wondermous wife, J.J., who reads everything I write before anybody else. If you like my books, it’s because she did such a great job editing the first draft. If you don’t like them, it’s all my fault.
My terrifically creative and supportive Random House editor, Shana Corey. Brainstorming with her is always extremely funderful.
My astounding associate publishing director Michelle Nagler. I love associating with her.
My fantastical designer Nicole de las Heras, who brought the equally fantastical illustrator Gilbert Ford back for another incredible cover.
My amazing literary agent, the dapper Eric Myers, who has helped me publish nearly forty books over the past ten years.
My team of crackerjack librarians: Amy Alessio, Gail Tobin, Erin Downy Howerton, and Margaret Miles. Without their invaluable assistance, Marjory Muldauer would be all over me for my inexact Dewey decimal numbers. I’d also like to thank librarian Darrell Robertson, whose scavenger hunt game for the first Lemoncello book has been downloaded by nearly a thousand libraries across the country.
My awesometastic “beta readers” in California—the entire Cavalluzzi family: Sunshine, Tony, J.D., Lucy, and Micah. What an amazing family. They even do book-themed dinners and picnics!
My many friends and supporters at Random House Children’s Books who have shown Mr. Lemoncello their love: Laura Antonacci, Jennifer Black, Dominique Cimina, Rachel Feld, Lydia Finn, Sonia Nash Gupta, Judith Haut, Alison Kolani, Kim Lauber, Mallory Loehr, Barbara Marcus, Orli Moscowitz, Lisa Nadel, Paula Sadler, Danielle Toth, Adrienne Waintraub, and Ashley Woodfolk. Yes, it takes a village to keep this library open.
The American Museum of Natural History and the New York Public Library for the inspiration of their exhibits “Pterosaurs: Flight in the Age of Dinosaurs” and “The ABC of It: Why Children’s Books Matter.”
Finally, thank you to all the teachers, parents, bookstores, and librarians who made Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library leap to life for young readers through games, extra rebus puzzles, rollicking read-alouds, gala celebrations, bunches of balloons, and incredible scavenger hunts. Thanks for making reading so much fun!
is the author of the New York Times bestsellers The Island of Dr. Libris and Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library, and many other books, as well as the coauthor of several bestselling books with James Patterson, including I Funny and House of Robots. Chris is also a former comedian. Chris enjoys reading books—even when they’re banned. In fact, his comedy troupe was called the First Amendment Improvisation and Comedy Company. Chris lives in New York City with his wife, J.J., three cats, and a dog named Fred. You can visit Chris at ChrisGrabenstein.com.
Mr. Lemoncello's Library Olympics Page 17