3 stars
Found this in a Little Free Library and was intrigued by the title.
Overall, this was an entertaining book. Obviously it is a bit outdated as pretty much all of the problems presented could have been solved with the incorporation of cellphones. Because of this, I think some young readers may have a difficult time with the book.
Honestly, I was a bit annoyed at the start, because the kids just make silly decision after silly decision. That’s probably just me being a grown up. Young readers may have an easier time seeing the story from the children’s perspective.
It was also a bit silly that the reader knows about the presence of the librarian from the second chapter. Without this knowledge, I think the story would have been spookier and the situations seem more dire. Knowing there is an adult is right upstairs (and being able to guess what the scary stuff was) made the plot a little dull.
However, halfway through the book, I found it very interesting. I liked the scenes in which they explore various areas of the library and Jo-Beth’s idea on how to save the building. The ending was heartwarming and made me smile. It really kind of felt like two separate stories from beginning to end, one spooky and one adorable.
Overall though, I thought it was a good story that was well-written and interesting. A bit out of date, but could still be followed today with the knowledge that cellphone usage wasn’t as prevalent when the story was written and children definitely weren’t walking around with there own phones.