The Lost Library

 Rebecca Stead has written a delightful middle grade book in The Lost Library.  

I picked this up because I thought it might be about banning books, which is my current obsession.

This is a entertaining read that will keep those young readers, and even this old one, intrigued throughout.

It is the story of a small town where the library burned down years ago and was never rebuilt.  When the remaining books from the library are put outside in a little free library, young Evan comes by and takes two books.  He is surprised to discover his father had checked out one of them as a child.  The other was checked out by a famous author, about how to write a mystery novel.  Evan uses the book to start his investigation.  He father, who grew up in town, is being very secretive about his relationship to the library.

We meet three ghosts, a cat, and some daredevil mice.  There is the mystery of how the fire started and even a famous author, who uses a pseudonym who might have once lived in town.  Evan will use all the clues he can find to figure out the mystery.