Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library

Mr. Lemoncello announces the re-opening of the Dewey Rooms above them, but no one makes the mad dash he expects. Kyle and his team study the contents of the memory box. Kyle reminds them of the clue in the Extreme Challenge riddle: “My first idea is your certain solution” (246). In the memory box, an envelope labeled “First and Worst Idea Ever” they find a simple decoding game in which words in a message are spelled out with whole words whose first letter is a letter of the coded word. They try this with the titles list, tinkering until they get it: “In 1968, the way out was a way in” (264). They determine that the rhyme with “Andy” they guessed earlier (candy) is wrong and set off to the third floor to try something else.

In the Art and Artifacts Room, the clues come together for Kyle and his team. Akimi mentions again another possibility for the “Andy” rhyme, “the Dandy Bandits,” as she looks at the hats. Haley confirms the idea of bandits because of the clue she found and pulls it from her shoe. Akimi notes from the exhibit’s signage that one of the bandits was names Loblolly; they recall the Smell-a-vision pine scent clue. Kyle reminds them how Mr. Lemoncello did not hear the police siren as the bandits robbed the bank while he was at the library when he was 12 in 1968. Sierra realizes the blackbird’s siren song is a fitting clue too. At 11am, they look to the Wonder Dome for the call number and see it quickly. Akimi rejoices that they will win.

Charles’s Uncle Jimmy tells him a book on true crime would start with 364.1. Charles takes off to the 300s room, seeing Kyle’s team making a charge for the room as well. Charles sees that Kyle has the whole call number, so he hangs back. When Kyle pulls True Crime Ohio from the shelf, Charles grabs for it. Sierra tells Kyle not to hurt the book, and when Kyle loosens his grip, Charles slams him and the book to the floor. Charles grabs up the book and calls Kyle a loser. Mr. Lemoncello and the guards appear. Mr. Lemoncello tells Charles he broke Dr. Zinchenko’s number one rule: “Be gentle” (271). Charles claims Kyle almost ripped the book. Mr. Lemoncello appears to believe Charles but then uses recordings to reveal that Charles told Andrew to steal Sierra’s card. Before Clarence and Clement escort Charles out, Mr. Lemoncello gives the last pictogram of the diners to the team. Kyle guesses “six eat,” then Haley gets the whole clue: “You can walk out the way bandits crawled in nineteen six eight” (274).

Chapter 11 of True Crime Ohio explains that the Dandy bandits tunneled into the Gold Leaf Bank’s vault in 1968 from an abandoned factory next door. Miguel knows from seeing the blueprints that the book sorting machine sits where the vault used to be; Kyle thinks that if they use the book sorting machine to file the book, they will find their escape route. Mr. Lemoncello goes along to the basement with the team with 30 minutes remaining. When the book is auto-deposited in a book sorting basket, the basket rolls away and reveals a tile with the words of the anagrammed game board covers Kyle and Akimi saw: “Howdy. Du You Like Fun Games? Get Reddy” (280). The team has 60 seconds to make 16 words from the letters in Luigi L. Lemoncello. They all help to quickly shout 15 words; Haley gets the last one, Colonel, with four seconds to spare. The floor tiles open to reveal stairs.

Down the tunnel, they find themselves in the basement of The Fitting Factory, a clothing shop. The door to the upstairs is locked, but Kyle sees a basement window. He finds a combination lock, “the kind with four wheels of random letters” (285). They quickly solve the riddle for the lock: “Once you learn to do this, you will be forever free” (285). Everyone answers together: “Read.” They open the window and escape to a cheering crowd. Haley is first out but quickly credits the whole team, even introducing Sierra to the crowd. Mr. Lemoncello assures Kyle they will indeed appear in his commercials and tells him that the birthday party might include balloons.