Spotlight on The Lost Library

The Lost Library, co-written by Rebecca Stead and Wendy Mass, is a delicious morsel of a book. I easily read it in two sittings (could have been one, but life intervened) and enjoyed it from start to finish. There were mysteries that could be satisfyingly guessed at, suspense, humor, and a happy ending.

The book is told from multiple perspectives, including that of a cat, a ghost, and a kid. All of the characters love the small town where they live. The hamlet has been without a library for years since the building burned down in an accident. When a Little Free Library is set up with some of the books from the old library, the characters are drawn together and the story of what really happened that night years ago comes to light.

In an article in Publishers Weekly, Mass and Stead shared that they came up with this collaboration late in 2020. They had co-written before, 2018’s Bob, and felt to urge to work together again especially during the isolation of the early pandemic when the solitary writer’s life had lost some of its charm. In that article, the two also mention how magical Little Free Libraries can be — how they can appear suddenly with just the book you need.

This is a book that celebrates libraries and readers — all readers. Pick it up today and see what you think. I challenge you not to finish it in one sitting!