Summary
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?
Author Notes
Chris Grabenstein was born in Buffalo, New York on September 2, 1955. He studied journalism and theater at the University of Tennessee and then moved to New York City. For five years, he performed and won awards with some of the city's top Improvisational Comedy troupes. He wrote for Jim Henson's Muppets. In 1986, he and Ronny Venable wrote a TV movie for CBS called The Christmas Gift. He also worked as an advertising executive for close to twenty years.
He won the Anthony Award for best first mystery for his first adult mystery Tilt-a-Whirl. His other novels for adults include Mad Mouse, Whack-a-Mole, Hell Hole, Mind Scrambler and Rolling Thunder. He received another Anthony Award and four Agatha Awards for his work. His books for younger readers include Escape from Mr. Lemonchello's Library, The Island of Dr. Libris, the Treasure Hunters series, the Haunted Mystery series, the Riley Mack series, and the I Funny series written with James Patterson.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Excerpts
"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. Excerpted from Mr. Lemoncello's All-Star Breakout Game by Chris Grabenstein All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.