I love everything about this book! Why you ask?1. Obnoxious and irritating and slightly lovable main characters - Celia and Oliver Navel, eleven-year-old twins, who would rather watch television ALL DAY than go on adventures. Their parents are real live adventurers! And daredevils like Indiana Jones! The entire family lives at the Explorer's Club in New York City (a real place, by the way) where they are surrounded by other real live explorers who tell great stories of their real live adventures. But what would Celia and Oliver rather do? Watch reality TV.
2. Unfortunately, their mother has gone missing on an exploration. What was she looking for? Only the greatest library of the ancient world - the wonderful, marvelous, incredible Library of Alexandria - where all of mankind's knowledge was gathered in one place. Librarians love the very thought of it. Tragically, it was burned to the ground by the Romans in 30 B.C. But Oliver and Celia's mother thinks maybe it was just . . . misplaced . . . so she sets off to find it. And she falls into a big, evil plot.
3. Oliver and Celia reluctantly - very reluctantly - are forced to set off to rescue their mother. Which means they have to do all sorts of things they hate - like travel to Tibet, climb mountains, and even ride yaks. It's all a tremendous adventure to all sorts of incredible places I would love to explore. I would love to pet a yak - they have wonderfully soft hair that you can spin into yarn. Oliver and Celia would rather watch cable.
4. The author, C. Alexander London, is a librarian! A real, certified librarian, who has the Dewey Decimal System memorized. Or at least he did, before he started working as a journalist, a writer, and a explorer himself. I am trying to solve the mystery of his real name - C. Alexander London is a pseudonym. Hmmm. He very much reminds me of another popular author, Pseudonymous Bosch, who writes The Secret Series . . . I'll keep you informed of any discoveries I make. . .
5. The book trailer. Click here to watch it. Stay tuned to the end and you'll spot the most beautiful corgi puppy. Not that it influenced how much I love this book, even though I happen to own a corgi and everyone in my family owns corgis and . . . oh, just read the book!
P.S. I can't wait for the sequel - We Dine With Cannibals. And, Celia and Oliver - I'm sorry you don't get to stay home and watch TV.
