62 pages • 2 hours read
Chris GrabensteinMr. Lemoncello's Library Olympics
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 2016A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Themes
The Importance of Libraries
The setting of Mr. Lemoncello's Library Olympics is Alexandriaville, Ohio: The name of the town, an allusion to the famed Great Library of Alexandria, indicates from the beginning that the importance of libraries will be a major thematic focus. The Great Library of Alexandria was a critical storehouse of knowledge and information, a site of scholarship in the ancient world. Its decline was partially due to the persecution of intellectuals and partially due to declining public support. The novel’s allusion to this historical library foreshadows the novel’s thematic claims that libraries function as critical centers of community and learning, but are always in danger from those who seek to censor knowledge.
Of the two main locations in the story, one is an enormous, technologically advanced library where all the sympathetic main characters feel at home and spend time learning and adventuring. This aspect of the novel’s characterization portrays libraries as community centers that foster the intellectual and emotional growth of patrons. Mr. Lemoncello’s challenges emphasize teamwork, and he is a strong advocate of sharing resources and knowledge. Although the library has video games and other technological innovations, and many of the adventures the Library Olympians have there are designed to be silly fun, the intention behind all these aspects of the library is primarily educational. Lemoncello stresses this function of libraries when he concludes his remarks at the opening of the Library Olympics: “And now…the most stupendously spectacular moment of the entire night, your keys to anything and everything you ever want or need to know…may I proudly present…your library cards!” (75).
The novel also argues that although the communal nature of libraries and their role in fostering personal development are important, their highest function is in preserving free speech and expression, the fundamental values of a democratic society. In Lemoncello’s first in-person appearance in the text, he wears a Revolutionary War costume and announces that the Library Olympics will discover who “this sweet land of liberty’s true library champions” really are (34). In the ninth Library Olympics game, Zinchenko gives the clue: “Name this fortress of intellectual freedom fighters” (150). The answer is a library, emphasizing the role that libraries play in guaranteeing citizens access to information and free expression. The Library Olympians are mainly tasked with protecting this aspect of libraries, and it is so important that they are willing to risk their “Go to College Free” cards to prevent Woody’s book burning. As Marjory says, “Some things are even more important than a free college education. Including…freedom of speech” (248). Mr. Lemoncello’s final words on the subject appear at the end of the story, engraved on his statue at the library: “A LIBRARY IS AN ARSENAL OF LIBERTY” (265).
The Power of Teamwork
Throughout the novel, sympathetic characters succeed when they work well with others and master their occasional self-centered impulses. Less sympathetic characters are portrayed as self-interested and poor team members. Kyle is the best example of a sympathetic character who benefits from teamwork, while Marjory is the best example of the text’s criticism of those who do not work well in teams. Marjory, one of the novel’s least sympathetic characters, scorns her teammates’ skills and claims all their victories for herself. This alienates her team members and causes several characters to criticize her, making it clear that her negative attitude toward teamwork is undesirable.
Early in the story, when Kyle is thinking of his reputation instead of what is best for his team, he wants to quit the Library Olympics. His teammates assure him that he might not know the most about academics and library science, but each member of their team has different skills, and all are important. This proves to be true during the Library Olympics, when each member of Kyle’s team contributes to their success. Their first victory, in the paper airplane folding competition, happens because Miguel, with his advanced understanding of library classification systems, realizes that they need to be in the 600s, not the 700s, and because their smartest member, Akimi, recognizes Robert Goddard and understands his instructions. Their second victory, in the pterodactyl-flying race, is largely due to Kyle’s gaming skills, while their third medal comes to them because of Sierra’s love of books. Unlike the Midwest team, which is dominated by the advanced skills of just one member, the hometown Alexandriaville team is stronger because they value each other’s unique abilities. They function best when they support one another and cooperate. Kyle’s leadership is important to the group—when they are demoralized over losing, he reminds them that, working together, they can come back and win the whole competition. When Sierra loses confidence in herself after her mistake in the title-identification quiz, the team comes together to boost her self-confidence, and she wins the next game. By contrast, in the poolside rebus competition, when Kyle briefly forgets the importance of cooperation, his team loses—and Akimi tersely reminds him not to forget that they are a team.
Kyle has learned this lesson by the end of the text. Lemoncello’s final game is structured to require cooperation among all the teams, and not only does Kyle lead this new, larger team to victory, he also makes sure that all his team members contribute and feel valued. For example, even though Kyle knows the answers to the riddles Lemoncello leaves in the mailbox, he steps back and lets Diane have the spotlight and provide the team with the answers.
The Joy of Intellectual Challenges
The characterization, dialogue, tone, and plot of Mr. Lemoncello's Library Olympics all work together to demonstrate the joy of intellectual challenges. One of Luigi Lemoncello’s most strongly-held principles is that learning can be fun. His entire career has been devoted to wacky educational games. His library and the Library Olympics he holds there incorporate many elements that highlight the same idea: The Electronic Learning Center, the holographic displays, and other interactive elements of the library make learning more entertaining. Although each game asks contestants to display serious library-related skills, each is also constructed to be silly and amusing. Kyle both learns key facts about pterodactyls and gets genuinely excited playing the pterodactyl-flying game. Akimi’s eyes light up with delight as she decodes a clue in the 10th game. Lemoncello constructs his games to emphasize the joy of the journey, not the pleasure of winning alone: He incorporates “cheat cards” into his games—cards that seem to offer shortcuts but “eventually come back to bite you in the butt” (83), as Kyle says—to convey the idea that completing challenges with integrity and not taking shortcuts is important. Kyle and his team members clearly understand this lesson: They refuse Woody’s bribe of the “Go to College Free” cards, decide to share information with other teams to create a level playing field, and generally show more interest in the fun of the challenge than in the reward of college scholarships.
The novel supports the theme of the joy of intellectual challenges with more than characterizations and plot: Its tone, dialogue, and other elements of its construction encourage readers to treat the book itself as a fun game to play through, a puzzle to “solve.” Mr. Lemoncello’s Library Olympics is structured as a mystery. Its use of the genre elements of mystery—clues and foreshadowing, among others—challenges readers to figure out what is happening and why. The novel is not a dark or troubling mystery, however: Grabenstein keeps the novel’s tone light and entertaining, emphasizing the fun of solving its central mystery. Grabenstein also incorporates puzzles and riddles throughout the story, printing out rebus clues, for instance, so that the reader can play along instead. Even the novel’s dialogue is a fun intellectual challenge: Understanding its puns and other wordplay requires thought and pays off in a laugh. The novel’s intertextuality creates another kind of puzzle: Recognizing its allusions and figuring out its connections to the source text Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is one more entertaining intellectual challenge the book provides.
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By Chris Grabenstein
