Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library

“What is our white Bengal tiger doing in the Children’s Department?” 

Dr. Zinchenko asks this question via headset as she checks on the library’s special features days ahead of the grand opening. A holographic Bengal tiger appears in the Children’s Department, and Dr. Zinchenko tells Mrs. G. to move it to the Zoology section. This quote demonstrates the technical capacities of the library and establishes a witty mood.

“But I’ve got to roll the dice one more time. Maybe I’ll get lucky.” 

Kyle explains to his friends that he intends to write a much better essay for late entry in the contest. His friend Akimi tells him that Mrs. Cameron won’t accept late essays, but Kyle wants to try anyway, going on the theory that the game is not really over till it is over. Mrs. Cameron refuses his second attempt, but Kyle sends it to Mr. Lemoncello by email. These words and actions highlight Kyle’s perseverance.

“Dr. Zinchenko? Will you kindly help me pass out our first twelve library cards?”

Mr. Lemoncello announces the contest winners at Kyle’s school. Each of the 12 12-year-olds whose essay he selected receives one of the first library cards for the new library. Kyle is announced as the last of the 12. The cards turn out to be consequential clues in the escape game.

“Best ‘family game night’ ever.”

Kyle’s father says this after the family’s shopping spree at the toy store, which they enjoy with the help of Kyle’s gift card. Kyle generously gives each family member one-fifth of his $500 card (including himself), and each member finds a Lemoncello game. Charles Chiltington keeps his gift card entirely to himself, showing early on that Charles and Kyle are character foils.

“This door serves as a reminder to all: Our thoughts are safe when they are inside a library. Not even a bank robbery can disturb them.”

Dr. Zinchenko explains the choice to use the old bank’s vault door as the front door to the renovated building. When Mr. Lemoncello was young, he was unaware of a bank robbery happening nearby because he was in the library, focused on his work. Her words parallel and boost Mr. Lemoncello’s tone about the helpfulness and protective qualities of a library.

“Get used to it, Keeley […] I’m a Chiltington. We never lose.” 

This line is Charles Chiltington’s rude and arrogant comeback when Kyle congratulates him for winning the first game at the lock-in. He says it loud enough for only Kyle and the other kids to hear. It is significant that Charles does not make audibly rude comments with grown-ups nearby; he wants to maintain the image of a polite young man to adults—a choice that characterizes him as dishonest.

“Whoever is the first to use what they find in the library to find their way out of the library will be crowned the winner.”

Mr. Lemoncello sums up the objective of the new game to the parents of the winners of the essay contest. Later, he will echo this line in explanation to the children via live video connection. Mr. Lemoncello wants the children to see the library and its features as helpful resources. His excitement signifies his love of games and challenges.

“One way or another, I’m going to win this game. I just hope starring in Mr. Lemoncello’s commercials earns me some decent money.”

Haley Daley tells Kyle this after he, Akimi, and Sierra save her from her precarious perch on the book conveyor belt in the basement. It is significant that Haley does not share her true reasons for wanting to win: She knows her family needs money as a result of her father’s unemployment. She is so intent on staying in the game that she leaves the basement without thanking Kyle and the girls.

“Mr. Lemoncello always works a clever back-door shortcut into his games.” 

Kyle sees that the real-life game of Bibliomania is set in the library’s reading room and rotunda. As they look at the layout of the Reading Room and compare it to the sketch they received, Kyle realizes that an unexpected exit should be evident and is not. This missing “back-door shortcut” will be the objective at the end of the game.

“It’s on my list.”

Kyle realizes he has not read the great books his friends have. Here, he speaks of putting The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan on his soon-to-exist personal reading list. This is a noted change for Kyle, who was not that interested in books for leisure reading at the start of the story.

“Take those five library cards, Team Kyle! You won them fair and square!” 

Mr. Lemoncello congratulates Kyle, Sierra, Akimi, and Miguel for solving the rebus picture puzzle and earning the right to gather the library cards of the players who left or were eliminated. Because Kyle initiates the splitting up of the puzzle so that each team member takes a part to solve, they are able to solve it accurately in under a minute. His actions show his aptitude for quick thinking, delegation, and leadership.

“We need whatever clues Kyle Keeley and his team have found. Especially if they have our missing cards.” 

Despite Charles’s insistence that victory is his simply because he is Chiltington, he begins to plot how to steal Team Kyle’s information after hours of searching for all the Staff Picks result in a still-indecipherable rebus puzzle. This line shows Charles’s inclination for taking what is not rightfully his.

“They must be working a completely different angle.” 

Choosing the Clunker Card does not seem to throw Charles; he maintains his arrogant opinion that it will be easy to win in the limited time left remaining after the Dewey doors reopen in the morning. He instead focuses on the realization that the two teams are following separate clue paths to the same goal. This idea pushes him to toward taking Kyle’s clues.

“Because now she was pretty certain that ‘bandits’ had, at one time or another, ‘crawled in’ to this building back when it was a bank.” 

Haley is not present for the Clunker Card choice; instead, she goes to the Lemoncello-abilia Room and finds a good clue in a Staff Picks book. She hides the clue in her shoe along with another one she is keeping secret from her team, demonstrating that she is not always forthcoming and honest. Her comprehension of the clue also foreshadows the bandits’ tunnel discovered later.

“You see, but you do not observe.”

Kyle reads this line in a story in the Sherlock Holmes collected volume recommended by Dr. Zinchenko. He humbly realizes that he is probably missing some clues that might be apparent to someone else, so he uses his Ask an Expert lifeline to call his brother Curtis about the holographic statues. Kyle is the only one on his team to react in such a way to the line.

“This why Mr. Lemoncello called our time-out a bonus. He knew we’d need a tone of time to find a new source of numbers.” 

Kyle tells his teammates this when they realize they reached the end of the Bibliomania game’s helpfulness; they are out of clue cards but need more call numbers for additional clue books. Sierra steps in to say she found more numbers just as Kyle comes to this conclusion. The line clarifies for the reader Kyle’s next objective.

“Then why’d he just swipe his library card and go into your meeting room?” 

Haley asks Kyle and Miguel this question when she sees Andrew get into Team Kyle’s meeting room. They do not know it yet, but Andrew, coerced by Charles, swapped cards with Sierra unbeknownst to her. This line kicks off a fast-paced shake-up of teams as Andrew is eliminated and Haley switches sides.

“Charles was missing only one clue, but he had everything else.”

Although Charles is missing only one Staff Pick book and its hidden card, he cannot piece together the rebus puzzle without the image he lacks. He knows he must use his Ask an Expert for help in finding the last book; as his uncle Jimmy is the head librarian of the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., Charles is still confident of his ability to win. His continued arrogance here shows, as he assumes his clues are correct.

“Sorry, Haley. Extreme Challenges are, and always will be, solo efforts.” 

Haley says she wants to help Kyle with the Extreme Challenge to demonstrate her usefulness to the team. Mr. Lemoncello, however, tells Haley that she cannot go with Kyle; she can, though, support and cheer him on. Haley turns out to be especially helpful, in that she knows the riddle’s answer is Mr. Lemoncello’s memory box and how to direct Kyle to it. This line carries some double meaning and shows Mr. Lemoncello’s mentor side, as it seems he is talking about life’s challenges in addition to the ones in the game.

“Is there some room you should be ready to run to? Isn’t there some clue or book you need to go find?” 

Mr. Lemoncello asks these questions of Charles when the Dewey rooms reopen. Instead of running for more clues or books, Charles sits calmly to wait for his Uncle Jimmy to return his call. That Mr. Lemoncello prompts Charles’s next moves suggests that he is concerned with Charles’s blasé attitude in the last hours of the game.

“What would happen if we played First Letters with these book titles?” 

Kyle disparages the ease of the cipher in “First Letters: the Amazingly Incredible Secret Code Game,” a puzzle system Mr. Lemoncello created when he was young. Suddenly Kyle realizes that maybe the first letter cipher can be applied to the book titles from the back of their library cards. It is ironic that an easy cipher system like First Letters did not occur to any of them without the clue.

“She was already feeding us clues!” 

Akimi speaks here of Dr. Zinchenko and the story of Mr. Lemoncello’s library visit at age 12 when bandits stole from the Gold Leaf Bank. It is significant that Akimi recognizes the complexity of the escape game and logical that Akimi is the one who notes it, as she is highly organized in her thoughts and actions.

“Colonel!” 

Haley shouts this last needed response as the final seconds count down in the Luigi L. Lemoncello anagram game. Over the course of the story, Haley proves that she is a smart and clever player, deciphering clues that her teammates do not get. Here, she shows her aptitude and intelligence again; most of the previous words guessed had only two or three letters, and her teammates are out of ideas when she comes up with this one.