THE LOST LIBRARY

THE LOST LIBRARY by Rebecca Stead and Wendy Mass

The powerhouse writing team of Rebecca Stead and Wendy Mass is evident in The Lost Library. This is a story about a library that burned down years ago and the effect that it had on the town told from the viewpoints of three characters: a cat named Mortimer, a boy named Evan, and a ghost named AL (whose name stands for Assistant Librarian). No one talks about the fire, because it was so devastating as it claimed the lives of two librarians. In spite of all of this, the book is written with a lot of lightheartedness as someone begins the process of helping the town to heal from the tragedy. It all begins with the placing of a free lending library that contains several books from the old library. As Evan borrows some of the books he begins to find clues that put him on the path of solving what really happened to the original library many years ago.

One of the elements that is really neat about this book is that it goes through the process of how to write a book, and Evan uses that process to help him solve the mystery. It is very cleverly done and would be a fun edition to a writing class.

HEADS UP- This story does contain ghosts. There are no scary parts at all. In fact, the ghost play a pivotal role in the healing process.