Mr. Lemoncello's Great Library Race

The story takes place in the fictional town of Alexandriaville, Ohio, home to a high-tech public library built by eccentric billionaire game maker Luigi L. Lemoncello. The library features holographic displays and a Wonder Dome ceiling made of video screens. Kyle Keeley, a competitive, game-loving middle schooler and member of the library's young board of trustees, serves as the central character.

The novel opens with Kyle losing a trial run of Mr. Lemoncello's newest holographic board game to his nemesis, Charles Chiltington, a snobbish classmate. Rather than researching a trivia answer, Kyle gambles on a guess and loses, establishing his central flaw: a tendency to jump to conclusions instead of doing thorough research. During the same visit, Mr. Lemoncello introduces Chester "Chet" Raymo, the library's new head imagineer, and demonstrates the Nonfictionator, a device that generates interactive historical holograms capable of answering questions.

Meanwhile, in Kansas City, Missouri, rival game makers Frederick and David Krinkle watch a children's focus group savage their latest product while praising Mr. Lemoncello's games. The brothers reveal they have already placed a "recruit" to spy on Mr. Lemoncello.

Mr. Lemoncello invites his young trustees to dinner at his mansion, where he unveils a top-secret holiday game called Fantabulous Floating Emoji and locks its blueprints in a floor safe, sharing the combination, R-E-A-D, with all the trustees. Katherine Kelly, a trustee from Kansas City, writes the combination in her notebook. Mr. Lemoncello then announces the Fabulous Fact-Finding Frenzy: Teams of two will race to research historical figures for new interactive exhibits. The winning team will tour North American libraries with the exhibits and receive the first copies of the game.

Without anyone's knowledge, the Krinkle brothers visit the library and edit Mr. Lemoncello's Wikipedia page with false claims. They also visit the Lemoncello-abilia Room, a third-floor gallery of Mr. Lemoncello memorabilia, carrying a briefcase for purposes not yet revealed.

The competition begins with an elimination round. Kyle teams with his best friend, Akimi Hughes, and they answer correctly but arrive one spot too late. However, Dr. Yanina Zinchenko, the library's head librarian who is in Russia, arranges for a sixth exhibit about Mr. Lemoncello himself, allowing Kyle and Akimi to advance. Mr. Lemoncello then reassigns partners: Kyle is paired with Abia Sulayman, a serious, academically rigorous fellow trustee from Boston, while Akimi joins Angus Harper, a fellow trustee from Texas.

The first research leg sends teams to investigate Thomas Edison. Kyle repeatedly jumps to easy answers, but Abia insists on deeper research. When the final clue asks who invented the lightbulb, another team answers "Thomas Edison," which is ruled incorrect because many scientists contributed to the invention. Abia's thorough approach saves their team, establishing the complementary dynamic between Kyle's quick instincts and Abia's methodical rigor.

In the second leg, Kyle and Abia fly to Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, to research the Wright brothers. They discover that a boy named Johnny Moore became the youngest witness to the first powered flight in 1903. Akimi and Angus win the parallel Emily Dickinson leg, discovering that Dickinson's poems can be sung to the Gilligan's Island theme because they share the same poetic meter. The competition narrows to Kyle and Abia versus Akimi and Angus.

The final leg sends both teams to research Mr. Lemoncello himself. Kyle finds a coded message at Mr. Lemoncello's childhood home that he recognizes as a quote about why the public library meant so much to the young Lemoncello. The pair races back to the library, where Abia discovers a game box in the Lemoncello-abilia Room labeled "Family Frolic" by Irma Hirschman, copyrighted 1969, five years before Mr. Lemoncello's 1974 patent for his first game, Family Frenzy. The two games are nearly identical. Kyle is devastated by the implication that his hero stole his breakthrough idea, and both teams agree to pause the competition and investigate together.

Angus finds a website portraying Hirschman as a wronged grandmother living in a homeless shelter near Kansas City. However, Abia discovers that no patent was ever filed under Hirschman's name. Mr. Lemoncello then reveals that someone has also cracked his floor safe and stolen the Fantabulous Floating Emoji blueprints.

The contestants fly to New York, where Mr. Lemoncello's longtime lawyer, Max Khatchadourian, examines the Family Frolic box and notes that the photograph on the lid has suspiciously vivid colors for something printed in 1969, concluding the box was manufactured recently.

Kyle, Akimi, and Angus attend a press conference in Kansas City where Irma Hirschman, sponsored by the Krinkle brothers, tearfully accuses Mr. Lemoncello before reporters, while Abia stays on the jet researching. Kyle and Angus recognize that Hirschman uses the catchphrase of Mrs. Maplebutter, a character from old syrup commercials. Research reveals that the actress behind Mrs. Maplebutter is Beth Bennett, and her 1969 theatrical headshot is the exact image on the Family Frolic box, proving the game is a fabrication.

Back in Ohio, Charles Chiltington's mother leads a public rally demanding Mr. Lemoncello's removal, and Mayor O'Brady shuts down the library. The Krinkle brothers announce they will take over as entertainment directors and host a Grand Gala reopening event, with Raymo apparently at their side, though Mr. Lemoncello privately assures Kyle that Raymo volunteered to go undercover. The team identifies bookmobile driver Jessica Bennett, Beth Bennett's granddaughter, as the person who stole the safe combination from Katherine's notebook and delivered the blueprints to the Krinkles.

Kyle leads a covert nighttime mission into the locked library with Abia and fellow trustee Miguel Fernandez while Akimi and Angus distract the guards. They locate a carton containing Mr. Lemoncello's original Family Frenzy patent and prototype materials, but a second carton with evidence that the Krinkles once paid an employee to steal another game concept has already been claimed by the brothers. When the evidence accidentally ends up in the Krinkles' possession, Kyle despairs, but holograms of the exhibit subjects deliver speeches about overcoming failure, inspiring a new plan.

Kyle has Raymo activate a hidden camera in Mr. Lemoncello's office, then enters through a secret passage with Abia and Miguel. They trick the Krinkle brothers into openly confessing on camera: The brothers admit they paid Beth Bennett to play Irma Hirschman, paid an employee decades earlier to steal another game idea, and had Jessica Bennett steal the emoji blueprints.

At the Krinkle brothers' Grand Gala the next evening, Kyle triggers holographic statues of the brothers in the rotunda's alcoves, which replay their recorded confessions to a packed audience. The Wonder Dome displays a video interview with Beth Bennett, obtained by fellow trustees Katherine Kelly and Elliott Schilpp in Kansas City, confirming she was hired to play a fictional character. Kyle presents the authentic patent and prototype evidence. A Rube Goldberg holographic chain reaction culminates in a lion cage descending over the Krinkle brothers on stage, and police approach to question them.

Mr. Lemoncello hosts a triumphant second gala and reopens the library. The Krinkle brothers face lawsuits and federal corporate espionage charges. Kyle and Abia deliver the correct final answer: The inspiration for Family Frenzy was Mr. Lemoncello's large family, including his parents, nine siblings, and pets. They are declared the winners. Kyle offers to give the prizes to Akimi and Angus, but they insist Kyle and Abia keep the games. Mr. Lemoncello resolves the matter by giving all 12 trustees copies of Fantabulous Floating Emoji and announcing that all will tour together. Abia calls Kyle by his first name for the first time, telling him they are now friends. Dr. Zinchenko privately reveals that she engineered Kyle's inclusion in the final round because she trusted him to protect Mr. Lemoncello in her absence.