Title: The Secret Library
Author: Kekla Magoon
Rating: 5 Stars
Reviewed by: Shakera
Genre: Middle Grade, YA
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Date of Release: May 7, 2024
Pages: 320
Format: Hardcover (Hear Our Voices)
Welcome to The Secret Library! Well, it’s not so much that the location is a secret; I mean, it is a secret location, but it is a SECRET library. If you can find the location (you’ll need a map), you will find all the secrets hidden from you. But be warned! Some things are a secret for a reason. If you had access to the secret library, would you enter?
That is what Delilah “Dally” Peteharrington must decide when her grandfather dies. Eleven-and-a-half-year-old Dally wants to join the Adventurer’s Club at school; instead, she’s stuck in after-school tutoring, getting everything she needs early to take over the family business when it’s time. But no one has ever asked Dally what she wanted. Part of her inheritance from her grandfather was a map to an unknown location. So, during her one hour of freedom after school, Dally uses the map to track down the location, not knowing what she is looking for.
The library holds all kinds of secrets: family secrets, little white lies, minor transgressions, and so forth. You can see one secret a day, but you aren’t reading these secrets. You’re teleported into these secrets, and sometimes you’ll have to dress the part because not all secrets happen in your present.
This story covers many subjects, such as racism and LGBTQ+, and is handled beautifully. Viewing these secrets through Dally’s eyes was fun, and one would dare say adventurous. It was fun to see what makes Dally Dally. I loved seeing the world through Dally’s eyes in the 1800s. Dally as a pirate is one of my favorite scenes. Their easy acceptance of her was breathtaking. One aspect I love about the Secret Library is that when you discover the secret, you return to your world.
When you have the Secret Library, who needs the Adventurer’s Club?!
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