50 Fun Facts About Escape From Mr. Lemoncello's Library

Which Roald Dahl novel have reviewers compared Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library to?

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was the comparison reviewers reached for, with Mr. Lemoncello as a bookish Willy Wonka. The author's own website calls the novel a nod to Dahl's story.

Which children's TV network turned Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library into a live-action movie in 2017?

Nickelodeon made the movie version, four years after the novel came out. Its library is wilder than the book's: storybook figures such as Frankenstein's monster come to life in the genre rooms.

Mrs. Gail Tobin, who helped young Mr. Lemoncello sell his first game, greets players in his new library as what?

A hologram of Mrs. Tobin, shown as the 1960s librarian she once was, is the library's built-in helper. Players must summon her before they can use any outside help in the escape game.

In Mr. Lemoncello's library, which gadget floats readers up to books shelved three storeys above the floor?

Hover ladders use electromagnets to float patrons up to the book they want. Bookworm Sierra Russell is the first contestant shown riding one, during the hunt for a hidden dessert.

What do the twelve winners discover the morning after their lock-in at Mr. Lemoncello's library is supposed to end?

The doors stay locked, and Mr. Lemoncello announces a new game: find the hidden way out to win his biggest prize ever. Nobody is forced to play, and three of the twelve choose to go home.

What prize does Mr. Lemoncello promise the first player to escape his library?

Starring in his commercials is the reward: the winner becomes the paid spokesperson for Mr. Lemoncello's games. He only names the prize after Charles Chiltington asks what is in it for them.

What does Kyle Keeley smash at home to win a Lemoncello scavenger-hunt game, getting himself grounded for a week?

A basement window is what Kyle kicks in, and bragging about it is how his dad finds out. The repair comes out of his allowance at fifty cents a week for a whole year.

Mr. Lemoncello's initials are L. L. L.; what is the first name of the billionaire game maker?

Luigi L. Lemoncello is his full name, and its letters turn up in the final challenge of the escape game. Kyle Keeley idolises him for his board games, puzzles and video games.

Which US state is home to Alexandriaville, the town where Mr. Lemoncello builds his spectacular new library?

Ohio is home to fictional Alexandriaville, and the real state returned the favour: young readers there voted the novel a Buckeye Children's and Teen Book Award.

Who is Kyle Keeley's best friend, the classmate who first tells him about Mr. Lemoncello's library contest?

Akimi Hughes tells Kyle about the essay contest the morning after he is grounded. The two then stick together for the whole escape game, teaming up from its very first minutes.

Which American author, a former advertising writer and improv comedian, wrote Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library?

Chris Grabenstein published the novel in 2013 and went on to build a whole series around the same eccentric game maker. The first book stayed on the New York Times bestseller list for 111 weeks.

What is quiet Sierra Russell almost always doing when the others see her in Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library?

Reading is Sierra's default setting, and it pays off when her eye for titles and authors helps crack a late clue. She also teaches Kyle Keeley to keep a must-read list.

Why does billionaire Mr. Lemoncello choose little Alexandriaville as the site of his dazzling new public library?

It is his hometown: he was born in Alexandriaville and credits its old public library with much of his success. It was there that he got help developing and selling his very first game.

What job does Dr. Yanina Zinchenko hold at Mr. Lemoncello's new library, after supervising its construction?

Head librarian is her title, and the story calls her world-famous in the role. She is also the only person who knows how to get out of the building during the escape game.

How are Mike and Curtis related to Kyle Keeley, the game-loving hero of Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library?

His older brothers are the reason Kyle hates to lose: his teacher and his mother both compare him with them. Beating the pair at a scavenger hunt is what lands him in trouble.

Mr. Lemoncello invites twelve twelve-year-olds to opening night because the number matches what about Alexandriaville?

Its years without a library: the town's only public library was torn down twelve years before the story begins, around the time the contestants were born.

After a teacher refuses his improved late essay, how does Kyle Keeley try to get it to Mr. Lemoncello?

By email: Kyle tracks down an address for Mr. Lemoncello and sends the essay straight to him. At the school assembly he is named one of the twelve winners after all.

Which giant-screen cinema format has its own theater on the third floor of Mr. Lemoncello's library?

IMAX is the format: on the first night the twelve winners troop into the library's own IMAX theater for a 3-D jukebox concert, where Mozart jams with Metallica.

Before his novels, the author of Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library wrote scripts for which famous TV puppets?

The Muppets gave him early work: he wrote for Jim Henson's Little Muppet Monsters on CBS while performing improv comedy in New York. A long spell writing radio and TV adverts came next.

Dr. Zinchenko designed the whole escape game in Mr. Lemoncello's library as what kind of gift for him?

A birthday present is what the whole game turns out to be, which is why Mr. Lemoncello cannot tell anyone the way out: he was never told it himself.

What prize does Charles Chiltington win in the opening trivia game at Mr. Lemoncello's library lock-in?

A night in a luxury suite is the prize: Charles gets Mr. Lemoncello's private bedroom to himself while the other boys unroll sleeping bags in the Children's Room.

Finding a hidden dessert wins Kyle Keeley and a friend early entry to which room in Mr. Lemoncello's library?

Electronic Learning Center access goes to Kyle and his partner, who solve the dessert riddle together. The room is filled with interactive games and high-tech learning tools.

Why does Rose Vermette walk away from Mr. Lemoncello's escape game before it has even started?

She has soccer at two o'clock that afternoon, so she chooses to leave before the game begins. Mr. Lemoncello still sends her home with a laptop computer and games.

What does Kyle Keeley do with the gift card each contest winner receives?

Splits it five ways at home: Kyle shares out the five hundred dollars, and his proud parents suspend his grounding. Charles Chiltington tells him it was a bad decision.

What must the players hand over to guards Clarence and Clement before the lock-in at Mr. Lemoncello's library?

Phones and other gadgets are collected because a lock-in rule forbids them. Once the escape game starts, outside help comes only through the three kinds of assistance it allows.

Andrew Peckleman is ejected from Mr. Lemoncello's game for taking Sierra Russell's library card, which she used as what?

A bookmark is all the card is to Sierra, which makes it easy for Andrew to get hold of. Charles Chiltington wants it to open the meeting room where the rival team keeps its clues.

What does Haley Daley do after Andrew Peckleman is thrown out of Mr. Lemoncello's game for cheating?

Switches to Kyle's team: Haley walks away from Charles Chiltington, and Mr. Lemoncello lets her join the rivals. Charles is offered the same chance and turns it down.

Why is popular Haley Daley so determined to win Mr. Lemoncello's escape game?

Her parents need the money: behind the popular-girl act, Haley's household is struggling, and she is even seen trying to turn her prize gift card into cash.

What finally gets Charles Chiltington thrown out of Mr. Lemoncello's escape game in its last hours?

Tackling Kyle for a book costs Charles everything: he body-checks his rival to snatch the last title both sides need, is caught, and is removed from the game.

What reward does Kyle Keeley's team earn in Mr. Lemoncello's library for freeing a trapped Haley Daley?

A bonus clue rewards the kindness: Haley had jammed her hand in the book depository and set a sorting treadmill running. Once free, she accuses Kyle of trying to slow her down.

Charles Chiltington finds rebus clues behind fake covers in which display case at Mr. Lemoncello's library entrance?

Staff Picks is the display in the entryway: its book covers are fakes, and the real copies of those titles hide picture puzzles. Charles keeps whatever he works out to himself.

In Mr. Lemoncello's game, what is shown on the back of each library card, giving Kyle Keeley's team a trail to follow?

Pictures of books sit on the back of every card, different ones for each player. Kyle guesses they are a clue, so his team sets out to win the cards of players who have already left.

Which board game did Mr. Lemoncello invent as a child, with Mrs. Gail Tobin helping him develop and sell it?

Family Frenzy was his first board game, designed while he was still a child. Mrs. Tobin, who worked at the town's old library, helped him develop and market it, and his new one salutes her.

Where in Mr. Lemoncello's library does Sierra Russell spot numbers drifting across giant video screens overhead?

The Wonder Dome is the library's huge ceiling of video screens, and Sierra realises its swirling designs hide the numbers her team needs. They watch it for more than an hour.

The last book the players need sits in the 300s room of Mr. Lemoncello's library; which Dewey Decimal class is that?

Social sciences fill the 300s, the Dewey class that takes in law and criminology alongside economics and education. Both sides end up sprinting to that room for the final title.

In Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library, what was the gang that broke into the town bank in 1968 called?

The Dandy Bandits is the name Kyle Keeley's team reaches by rhyming: a clue that points to Andy leads them to dandy, and from there to the 1968 break-in.

By what route do Kyle Keeley and his teammates finally get out of Mr. Lemoncello's library and win the game?

A thieves' old tunnel leads them out: a gang burrowed into the vault in 1968, when the building was still a bank, and the passage is the hidden exit. The team escapes just in time.

Which Sherlock Holmes story does Dr. Zinchenko leave out for the players as a hint in Mr. Lemoncello's library?

The Red-Headed League is the hint, left on her desk beside a guide to the local library. Arthur Conan Doyle ranked it second among his own favourite Holmes stories.

Mr. Lemoncello's library is built inside the old home of which Alexandriaville business, vault door and all?

Gold Leaf Bank once occupied the building, and the twenty-ton door of its walk-in vault now guards the new library's front entrance. The old bank was built with very few windows.

Which actor, one of TV's Harper quadruplets, plays Kyle Keeley in the movie of Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library?

Casey Simpson took the lead while he was still playing Ricky Harper in the sitcom Nicky, Ricky, Dicky & Dawn. Breanna Yde, of the School of Rock series, plays Kyle's best friend.

In which Canadian city was the 2017 TV movie of Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library filmed?

Vancouver, British Columbia, hosted the shoot, standing in for the story's small American town. The film was directed by Scott McAboy.

Which storybook spider turns up giant-sized in the movie version of Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library?

Charlotte, the spider of E. B. White's Charlotte's Web, looms large in the film's children's section. She is voiced by Kari Wahlgren.

How does the contest end in the movie of Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library, unlike the novel?

Every child is named a winner in the film, praised for bravery and creative solutions. The movie even has a remorseful Charles Chiltington help the others reach the exit.

Which book, published in 2016, was the first sequel to Kyle Keeley's Escape adventure in the Mr. Lemoncello series?

Mr. Lemoncello's Library Olympics came out in January 2016, three years after the first book. Great Library Race, All-Star Breakout Game and Titanium Ticket followed in turn.

Which mystery prize, named after a famous English crime writer, did Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library win?

The Agatha Award for Best Children's/Young Adult Novel went to the book for 2013. It was the author's fourth win in that category, the first having come for his ghost story The Crossroads.

Which future action-movie star shared a New York improv troupe with the author of Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library?

Bruce Willis was a young unknown in the same Greenwich Village comedy group. The future novelist spent five years there making up scenes and songs in front of live audiences.

Which bestselling thriller writer was the first advertising boss of the author of Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library?

James Patterson was a talented advertising writer long before his thrillers made him famous. Boss and employee later teamed up as co-authors on series such as I Funny and Treasure Hunters.

What must Kyle Keeley fetch from a maze of moving shelves during his Extreme Challenge in Mr. Lemoncello's library?

A memory box is the target, and the shelves beneath the library keep rearranging themselves while he hunts for it. He slips on the run back, but the box slides home just in time.

What extra, never mentioned in the story, has the author hidden inside Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library for readers?

A secret puzzle is tucked into the book itself, separate from the riddles the characters solve. The author's only hint is a piece of advice Mr. Lemoncello gives during the game.

Mr. Lemoncello tells Kyle Keeley's team to keep away from the files of which classic children's-book character?

Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler owns the mixed-up files in E. L. Konigsburg's 1967 novel about two runaways hiding in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The warning is one of many literary winks.