Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library

Visualizing Mr. Lemoncello’s library and its features is important for a reader’s comprehension of the plot. Create a sketch or floorplan of the library based on the imagery and descriptive details in the text. Include the important room features, floor by floor. Which three library rooms are the most important to the plot of the story? Defend your choices based on text support.

Foreshadowing occurs in a plotline when hints of later plot events appear to readers early in the story. Select two to three plot details that occur before the escape game that foreshadow events after the game starts and explain how these details should point readers in the direction of coming events.

Mr. Lemoncello is primarily a Trickster character archetype with his puzzles, riddles, games, and appearance, as well as his plays on words. He is also, though, a nontraditional mentor to the children, especially to Kyle. What lessons does Mr. Lemoncello teach Kyle and/or others? How do his lessons impact Kyle’s (or another’s) decisions in the game?

Kyle explains to his doubtful peers, “[Y]ou don’t ever quit until somebody else actually wins” (27-28). In what ways is this theme represented in the escape game? Select two characters whose belief in this message benefits them during the game (Kyle can be one of them). Explain their actions with regard to the quote.

As noted in the motif of “Learning Styles and Thought Processes,” each member of Kyle’s team demonstrates a strength area in the ways they learn and think. How is this true of personality traits as well—in other words, what unique, dominant trait does each character present? How does this trait contribute to winning the escape game?

Dramatic irony occurs when the reader knows important story details that characters do not know. Detail three places in the book in which dramatic irony leads to a rising action complication. Be sure to include how the reader comes to know the information (for example, when a change in point of view occurs to show Charles’s or Haley’s actions).

A plot twist is an unexpected event or character reaction that takes the plotline in a new direction. One good example is when Haley suddenly decides to switch teams. List three events in the story that might be considered twists in the plot and explain how each event pushes the plotline’s direction.

Dr. Zinchenko gives the clear directive before the children enter the library that is her “number one rule: Be gentle. With each other and most especially, the library’s books and exhibits” (49). How does Charles break this rule continually? List five to eight ways in which his behavior defies this directive and explain in a paragraph the impact of his actions on at least three of his peers.