The Library of Ever by Zeno Alexander

Rating: Needs Parent Supervision

Reading Level: Mid-late Elementary

Gosh this one is tricky.

Overall there are many positives. A resounding theme is: “Knowledge is light,” and the main character demonstrates courage, wit, helpfulness, and perseverance.

Now for potential concerns:

• Age of the earth conservatives won’t like references to bonsai plants and sharks arguing over who is older (to which sharks win at millions of years).
• Anti censorship. The villains don’t want kids to have access. Although I’m a firm believer that the gospel can stand up to any idea or question, I also believe in censoring for age appropriateness or images (e.g., porn) that are not helpful. There is a dangerous opportunity here for young minds to confuse oppression with wisdom in age-appropriate censorship.
• Gender identity conservatives may not appreciate the mentor figure. I’m not actually sure if this is intended to have an agenda but the heroine’s mentor figure is a stoic, gruff girl librarian named Malachi. The heroine mentions that it is usually a boy name to which the mentor agrees and moves on. It didn’t bother me, but that might be an issue for you.
• Bad relationship with parents/authorities. The parents and nanny are just hopeless, frivolous, and lack any depth of character. I’m always keen to have books that model healthy relationships with authority; this is not one of them.

Please see also my review of Rebel in the Library of Ever to see if the sequel develops some of these themes in healthy ways or whether they become somewhat toxic.