Mr. Lemoncello is going live with a brand-new televised BREAKOUT game! Discover what James Patterson calls "the coolest library in the world" in the fourth puzzle-packed adventure in Chris Grabenstein's New York Times bestselling MR. LEMONCELLO series!

Greetings, boys and girls, gamers of all ages--are you ready to play Mr. Lemoncello's BIGGEST, most dazzling game yet? After months of anticipation, Mr. Lemoncello is taking his games out of the library and going LIVE across the nation on the world-famous Kidzapalooza Television Network! Everyone's invited to audition, but only a lucky few will be chosen to compete in front of millions of viewers in a brand-new, completely immersive live-action breakout game--with real kids as the playing pieces! Kyle Keeley is determined to be one of them.

Each of the winning teams must make it through five different rooms in Mr. Lemoncello's fantastic new Fictionasium by solving a puzzle to unlock each room and, in the end, break out of the library! But nothing is ever as it seems with Mr. Lemoncello, and the surprises in store just might stump even the game master himself. Can Kyle break out of his own expectations--and win Mr. Lemoncello's ultimate game show?

“I love this wacky game!” shouted Kyle Keeley.

He probably shouldn’t’ve been shouting, because he was in the middle school library playing video games with his friends Akimi Hughes, Sierra Russell, and Miguel Fernandez.

Actually, he probably shouldn’t’ve been playing games on a library computer, either. This was supposed to be his “independent reading” time.

But just the night before, while watching his former classmate Haley Daley’s new TV show, Hey, Hey, Haley, on the Kidzapalooza Network, Kyle had seen a commercial for Mr. Lemoncello’s new What Else Do You See? It was an online puzzle game filled with fast-flipping, high-flying animated optical illusions.

Was it fun? “Fun?” Haley chirped at the end of the commercial. “Hell-o? It’s a Lemon-cell-o!”

Kyle just had to try it. As soon as possible! (Which turned out to be “independent reading” time.)

“This is level one,” he said as a puzzler popped onto the screen with a ticking ten-second countdown clock.

“Easy,” said Akimi, typing as fast as she could on the keyboard. “A vase and two faces. Or a candlestick. That vase could be a candlestick.”

“It’s a classic,” said Sierra, who was something of a bookworm and brainiac. “Optical illusions are an excellent tool for studying visual perception.”

“Or, you know, having fun,” said Kyle.

Akimi hit return. The screen exploded into pixelated confetti, which settled to spell out “Congratulicitations!”

“Let’s move up to level two!” said Akimi, eager for more.

“You guys?” said Miguel, glancing toward the librarian. (He was president of the school’s Library Aide Society.) “We should probably go back to reading our books. . . .”

“In a minute,” said Kyle, clacking the keyboard. A fresh optical illusion appeared: a road sign. The timer started counting down from ten again.

“That’s just Idaho,” said Miguel. He couldn’t resist the lure of a Lemoncello game, even though he knew he should. “See? ‘I-D-A-H-O’!”

“What about an old guy?” asked Kyle.

“Nope,” said Akimi. “It’s just Idaho.”

She hit enter.

A buzzer SCRONKed.

“Okay. My bad.”

“Do the next one!” urged Sierra.

Sierra Russell never used to get all that excited playing games. But then she met Kyle Keeley and the legendary game maker Luigi L. Lemoncello.

Kyle clicked the mouse. Up came a new image and a new ten-second timer.

“A woman’s face!” said Sierra.

“Nope,” said Akimi. “A saxophone player with a ginormous nose. No, wait. You’re right. It’s a woman’s face. Nope. Saxophone player with a big nose . . .”

“It all depends on how you look at it,” said Miguel.

“Type in ‘woman’!” said Sierra.

“Nope,” said Kyle. “ ‘Saxophone dude.’ ”

“ ‘Woman’!” shouted Miguel. “No. Wait. Both!”

One more thing Kyle and his friends probably shouldn’t’ve been doing? Talking so loudly.

Because Mrs. Yunghans, the middle school librarian, strolled over to see what all the noise was about.

And Charles Chiltington was right behind her.

PRAISE FOR THE SERIES:

A New York Times bestselling series

"Discover the coolest library in the world." —James Patterson

"Lots of action and quirky humor." —The Washington Post

* "A worthy successor to the original madman puzzle-master himself, Willy Wonka." —Booklist, starred review

* "A winner for readers and game-players alike." —Kirkus Reviews, starred review

* "A fun-filled, suspenseful intellectual puzzle." —Shelf Awareness, starred review

"Will have readers racing to pick up the next volume." —School Library Journal

When I talk to kids about my new book THE ISLAND OF DR. LIBRIS, I torture them with a tale of electronics deprivation.
     "My main character, Billy Gillfoyle," I say, "is spending the summer in a cabin on a lake. There is no cable, no TV, no DVR, no X-Box, no PlayStation 3. There isn't even an old-fashioned VCR."
     By this point, the kids' gasps become audible.
     "On his first day at the cabin," I continue, "Billy drops his iPhone and it shatters. The nearest Apple store is several hundred miles away."
     Jaws drop. The kids are practically weeping – just like my hero, Billy Gillfoyle. He mopes around the cabin after the demise of his iPhone and ends up in this scene with his mother:

"Billy, what do you think kids did back before video games or TV or even electricity?"
"I don't know. Cried a lot?" He plopped down dramatically on the couch.
"No, Billy. They read books. They made up stories and games. They took nothing and turned it into something."

     And that's what happens to Billy in this book: He learns to start using and trusting his own imagination.
     Characters from books that he reads in Dr. Libris' study start coming to life out on the island in the middle of the lake.   In no time, Hercules, the monster Antaeus, Robin Hood, Maid Marian, The Three Musketeers, D'Artagnan, Pollyanna, and Tom Sawyer are all bumping into each other's stories. It's up to Billy, with the help of his new friend Walter, and a bookcase filled with classic literature, to "imagine" a scenario that will bring all the conflicts to a tidy resolution.
     Yep. In THE ISLAND OF DR. LIBRIS, Billy Gillfoyle is learning how to become a writer. He puts his characters into situations and conflicts that will, ultimately, take him to the happy ending he, and everybody else, is looking for.
     When all seems lost, he is on the island with his new friends Robin Hood, Maid Marian, and Hercules, despairing that he's not heroic enough to rescue his asthmatic friend Walter from the clutches of the evil Space Lizard (yes, hideous creatures from video games and fairy tales eventually come to life on the island, too.)

"Ho, lads and lassie!" said Robin Hood. "All is not lost! Look you, Sir William – I remember a time when Sir Guy of Gisbourne held me captive in his tower. Did my band of merry followers let a moat or castle walls stand in their way?"
"Nay!" said Marian. "Little John and I didst lead the charge. Oh, how the arrows did fly that day!"
"I'm not Little John," Billy said quietly. "Or you, Maid Marian. I'm not a hero." He looked down at Walter's inhaler. "I'm just a kid who can't even save his own family."
"Nonsense," said Maid Marian. "Each of us can choose who or what we shall be. We write our own stories, Sir William. We write them each and every day."
"And," added Hercules, "if you write it boldly enough, others will write about you, too."

     In my book ESCAPE FROM MR. LEMONCELLO'S LIBRARY, I wanted to make young readers excited about reading and doing research. I tried to turn a trip to the library into an incredibly fun scavenger hunt, filled with puzzles and surprises. (In my perpetually twelve-years-old mind, that's what doing research actually is.)
     With THE ISLAND OF DR. LIBRIS, I am hoping to excite young readers about the power and awesomeness of their own imaginations. I want them to take nothing and turn it into something. To take two old ideas, toss them together, and create something new.
     And, when they write their own stories, maybe some of them will decide they want to become authors, writing stories for the rest of us, too!

View titles by Chris Grabenstein

Educator Guide for Mr. Lemoncello's All-Star Breakout Game

Classroom-based guides appropriate for schools and colleges provide pre-reading and classroom activities, discussion questions connected to the curriculum, further reading, and resources.

(Please note: the guide displayed here is the most recently uploaded version; while unlikely, any page citation discrepancies between the guide and book is likely due to pagination differences between a book’s different formats.)

Classroom Activities for Mr. Lemoncello's All-Star Breakout Game

Classroom activities supplement discussion and traditional lessons with group projects and creative tasks. Can be used in pre-existing units and lessons, or as stand-alone.

About

Excerpt

Reviews

Author

View titles by Chris Grabenstein

Guides

Educator Guide for Mr. Lemoncello's All-Star Breakout Game

Classroom-based guides appropriate for schools and colleges provide pre-reading and classroom activities, discussion questions connected to the curriculum, further reading, and resources.

Classroom Activities for Mr. Lemoncello's All-Star Breakout Game

Classroom activities supplement discussion and traditional lessons with group projects and creative tasks. Can be used in pre-existing units and lessons, or as stand-alone.