Mr. Lemoncello's Library Olympics

“A lot of the games in the ELC were equipped with Mr. Lemoncello’s newest sensation, smell-a-vision, including one where you were a royal rat with body-odor issues, swimming through English history via the sewers of London.”

The amusingly disgusting details of how Lemoncello applies his invention of smell-a-vision in the game about the rat support the book’s lighthearted tone. They are also part of the book’s argument about The Joy of Intellectual Challenges: They demonstrate that learning can be great fun.

“Now then, how may I help you, Dutchess Susana Willoughby Chiltington the third, Esquire, PhD?”

Lemoncello adds ridiculous titles to Susana’s name as he responds to her imperious demands. His sarcasm indicates that he has taken note of her attempts to aggrandize herself with her connection to James F. Willoughby III—and he is neither impressed nor intimidated.

“Dr. Zinchenko…kindly invite your network of crackerjack librarians […] to organize regional competitions. […] I, of course, will pay for everything, including the Cracker Jacks.”

Lemoncello’s announcement captures many elements of his characterization. He is polite to his employee Dr. Zinchenko and generous with his money, supporting Sierra’s contention that he is a nice person. The repetition of “crackerjack” and “Cracker Jacks” creates a zeugma—one of Lemoncello’s favorite forms of wordplay—and illustrates his fun-loving nature.

“Google can bring you back one hundred thousand answers. A librarian can bring you back the right one.”

The solution to the Southwest team’s rebus is another part of the story’s intertextuality and its thematic appreciation for The Importance of Libraries. It references the ideas of the popular author Neil Gaiman about the value of librarians in helping to identify high-quality information.

“We all know that’s why you came here, Kyle. You’re afraid. Abashed. Apprehensive. […] You’re a loser who got lucky. Once. I, on the other hand, am a Chiltington. Chiltingtons never lose.”

Charles’s taunting of Kyle characterizes him as shrewd, mean-spirited, and condescending. He likes to show off his vocabulary, and he believes that his family’s social position makes him special in a way that other people are not. He accurately guesses Kyle’s worst fears and tries to use them against Kyle to get what he wants—Kyle’s position on the team.

“Kyle half expected him to start scratching the toe of his shoe at the dirt, searching for chicken feed.”

Kyle’s comical thoughts about Woody Peckleman reinforce the text’s lighthearted tone. The characterization of Woody as chicken-like is so exaggerated that it foreshadows the story’s later revelation that Woody is simply a character created by actor Donald Thorne.

“Kyle thought the Midwesterners looked like marching real-estate brokers.”

Kyle’s funny observation echoes the humorous tone that permeates the entire narrative and demonstrates a lighthearted worldview similar to Mr. Lemoncello’s. Juxtaposed with the inappropriately serious outfits of the Midwest team, Kyle’s thoughts contrast him sharply with Marjory.

“I’d like to say a few short words. ‘Terse,’ ‘diminutive,’ ‘stubby,’ and ‘I,’ which is one of the shortest words I know.”

Lemoncello’s punning on the cliché “a few short words” is typical of the wordplay that characterizes him. This piece of dialogue is structured like Charles’s dialogue in which he lists synonyms for short words that he believes make him sound more educated and impressive. Here, Lemoncello has the opposite intent—to entertain and make light of himself—demonstrating how different he and Charles are.

“‘Do not use the elevators or your craft will stall.’

‘No worries,’ said Miguel. ‘We always use the spiral staircases.’

Akimi and Goddard stared at him.”

Goddard, explaining how to create the Seagull glider, cautions the team not to use the flight control surfaces referred to in aviation as “elevators.” Miguel misunderstands this to mean the everyday kind of elevators that carry passengers from floor to floor in a building. This zeugma contributes to the humorous tone of the story and illustrates The Power of Teamwork: Each member of Kyle’s team has a specialty, and Akimi’s is her intelligence, so she can understand Goddard while Miguel cannot.

“It was like being inside that movie Jurassic Park. All the creatures Kyle had read about and studied in the dinosaur books downstairs were now streaming across the giant video screen in front of him.”

Kyle’s amazement and enthusiasm as he begins the pterodactyl-flying game support the text’s technology motif. The video game supplements and clarifies the book research he has already done, making it a useful addition to his understanding.

“‘I’m afraid Mr. Lemoncello doesn’t like libraries qua libraries.’

Marjory nearly gasped. ‘You use the word “qua”?’

‘Yes,’ said Andrew. […] ‘But only when its usage is appropriate.’”

Andrew’s diction is an amusing callback joke referring to Marjory’s use of the word “qua” in Chapter 9. It also characterizes Andrew as like Marjory in some ways—he is erudite and devoted to traditional libraries. The second part of his statement makes it clear that, unlike Charles, Andrew uses language to communicate, not to impress. Unlike both Charles and Marjory, Andrew is not a show-off.

“Libraries were all about order, control, precision, and predictability!”

Marjory’s views on libraries directly contradict Lemoncello’s. Her exaggerated sense that everything in a library must be orderly and controlled is a comical straw man argument that portrays more conservative approaches to libraries as ridiculous.

“‘Way to go, mon capitaine,’ said Akimi. […] ‘Next time, try to remember you’re on a team.’”

Akimi’s sharp words follow Kyle’s insistence on answering the rebus puzzle in game nine himself, even though it is Sierra who actually knows the correct answer. Akimi reminds Kyle of The Power of Teamwork, which is what has so far allowed them to succeed in the competition.

“Yeah. They might say that. Or they might say, ‘You win some, you lose some.’ But what counts is how you play the game.”

When Kyle begins obsessing about winning and seems to discount The Power of Teamwork and The Joy of Intellectual Challenges, Miguel tries to give him valuable advice. In this moment, Miguel represents the kind of champion that Lemoncello is looking for.

“‘That’s not where the book we’re looking for is and you know it!’ Kyle shouted at her.

Marjory didn’t say a word. In fact, she looked a little airsick.”

Kyle’s comment that Marjory “knows” that the book isn’t in the area where she has stopped her hover ladder creates dramatic irony. The reader already knows something that Kyle does not: Marjory “knows” that the book is also missing from the area where it is supposed to be, and why. The descriptive detail of Marjory’s “airsick” look implies that either Marjory is already regretting her role in the scheme or that, as usual, she has dominated her teammates and secured a starring role in the game, despite being unsuited to the role of riding a hover ladder.

“‘Hip, hip, hooray,’ said Mr. Lemoncello as he limply shook the winner’s hand. […] ‘Yippee, huzzah, and various other exclamations of glee.’”

Although Lemoncello has been sarcastic toward Susana in previous encounters, this is the first time he aims sarcasm directly at the children. The diction “limply” and his uncharacteristic dialogue are intended to convey how deep his apparent disappointment is.

“Here come the bulldozers and the wrecking ball! So long, library; hello, parking lot. Oh, the horror. The horror.”

Lonni Gause’s memory of what happened to the former Alexandriaville Public Library is also a prediction about the future of the Lemoncello Library, increasing tension regarding the library’s fate. Her final words are a humorous allusion to the most famous line from Joseph Conrad’s novella Heart of Darkness: “The horror! The horror!”

“Game eleven will celebrate your freedom to express yourself with snarky scorn as well as everyone else’s freedom to read. Today’s first game will be all about banned books.”

Dr. Zinchenko’s comment to Marjory foreshadows the real purpose of Lemoncello’s games. It also makes clear one of the most important tenets of the principle of freedom of expression: Zinchenko does not particularly like what Marjory has to say, but she knows that it is important to defend Marjory’s right to say it.

“He wished he had drawn a ‘Find the Missing Books Card’ instead.”

When Kyle looks at his college scholarship card, he realizes suddenly that winning the games is not as important to him as helping Lemoncello and the library. This foreshadows later events, when not only Kyle but all the Olympians are willing to risk their college scholarships in the game against Woody to stop him from burning the library books.

“Oh, you mean the ones Marjory Muldauer said she won all by herself?”

Marjory’s teammate’s irritation with Marjory’s self-centered approach to the competition is clear in her comment to Kyle about the team’s medals. The disgust that the team feels about Marjory’s behavior reinforces the novel’s thematic claims about The Power of Teamwork.

“But why does your uncle need all these books? Is he some kind of squirrel nut?”

Kyle’s diction creates a pun out of the word “nut,” making Andrew laugh. This moment characterizes Kyle as someone who loves wordplay, just as his hero Lemoncello does—underscoring The Joy of Intellectual Challenges—and shows that he loves to be silly and entertain people even in high-stakes situations.

“Kyle grinned. ‘That’s okay. I’m sure Diane knows the answer.’”

Kyle has learned The Power of Teamwork from his experiences during the Library Olympics. He enjoys being known as an expert at riddles, but he allows Diane to be the one to solve the riddles during the hunt for the missing books. This shows real growth in Kyle’s character, as he is focusing on the team effort instead of on his reputation.

“By being willing to sacrifice everything you thought you came here to win, you have all proven yourselves true champions.”

After Kyle solves Woody’s riddle, Woody’s congratulations to the Library Olympians clarifies for them what the real stakes of Lemoncello’s game have been all along. The Olympians are “true champions” of freedom of speech and have proven that they understand The Importance of Libraries by being willing to sacrifice their personal goals on behalf of the Lemoncello Library.