Help! I'm a Prisoner in the Library!

I was surprised at how entertaining this story actually was. Many books of this short length speed through and leave out as much as they can in order to get to the end, but this one managed to be well rounded in its own way. There is humor for older readers or adults reading to younger children and the plot includes just enough suspense to keep the story going in a realistic way. There are times when things happen quickly for plot purposes, but again one must consider the length of the book. Reading this story helps you realize that though something may be frightening at first, once you explore it, you might find something new and exciting.

The library that Mary Rose and Jo-Beth Onetree are prisoners in is the Finton Memorial Library for Children. It's as well for Miss Finton, the librarian, that the girls are the daughters of Mr. 'Last-Minute Harry' Onetree. If their father hadn't put off getting more gas while driving the girls from their home in Fort Worth to visit their Aunt Madge in Indianapolis, his car wouldn't have stopped during a blizzard. If Jo-Beth hadn't needed to go to the bathroom, the girls wouldn't have gone into the library. If Mary Rose hadn't been so interested in the 'kid hack' display (and Miss Finton hadn't missed finding them), they wouldn't have been locked inside when the library closed.

Remember that blizzard? It took out the electricity and the show more phone lines. The girls are frightened, especially when something speaks to them as it flies past. Still, when they hear a noise upstairs, Mary Rose investigates. Jo-Beth comes along because she's afraid to stay downstairs without her big sister.

The library is a marvelous place and the girls have a good adventure. Jo-Beth's lively imagination adds to the fun. (I particularly enjoyed her ponderings when Miss Finton exclaims, 'If that doesn't beat buttered parsnips!')

The illustrations are nice. It certainly is a library I'd love to visit if it were real.

I want to look for the other books in this series! show less

Two girls go to a children's library in Indianapolis to use the restroom while their father sets off on foot in the beginnings of a blizzard to get gasoline. The library closes while they are inside, and the resident librarian is unaware they are in the building. I did not like the depiction of the library as a scary place or of the image the librarian projected. The plot seemed rather implausible at many times. It's a book upper elementary girls might enjoy.

Rather implausible, but still fun and satisfying. Better for ages 8-10, or younger if you're reading it to them. Too bad the girls don't actually wind up spending that much time among all the books - I would have preferred a book about them enjoying staying up reading and sharing conversations about what they read, maybe inventing some make-believe from the stories or histories.

A Great Book To Share

Reading this book aloud and sharing it with others is definitely the way to go. It has just enough suspense and humour to keep children interested, and just enough points for discussion to make it worthwhile for a good text to share and discuss. The character maybe me more of caricatures, or at the very least exaggerated, but they are familiar enough for the reader to identify with, and the descriptions are well enough written for a book of this kind. A short and enjoyable read.

The dialogue is somewhat stilted, and the girls aren't very interesting (except for their names, why would an author call two characters Mary Rose and Jo-Beth.) though the story was interesting. "Kids don't faint, only grown-ups faint." Tell that to my eight-year-old fainting self.

I really liked this book! First, I liked the plot of the story. The plot was suspenseful, in order to gain the audiences attention. The two main characters were stuck inside the library with creepy noises, and object which created the suspenseful plot. Second, I liked the illustration. This chapter book had an illustration in almost every chapter. Although, the illustrations were not very detailed it allowed the reader to have something to look forward to. For example, in chapter four there is a picture of the girls in the library hearing a thump in the ceiling. The main message of the story is that things are not as great as they seems, and looks can be deceiving.