The Ninja Librarians: The Accidental Keyhand by Jen Swann Downey (review)

A comfortable life in a quiet suburb of New Jersey has afforded twelve-year-old Dorrie very little opportunity to put her fencing skills (or, really her theatrical skills at pretend fencing) to the test against a true villain. All that changes, however, when she and her older brother Marcus stumble through a portal in the janitor’s closet of their local library that leads them to Petrarch’s Library, the headquarters of the Lybrariad, a group of Lybrarians dedicated to the protection of ideas and intellect throughout the world and history. These Lybrarians are as skilled in the art of subterfuge as they are in cataloging, can easily wield a ninja star or a sword as well as a card catalog, and use both their information and weaponry skills as they travel to different times in history to root out censorship and oppression, and Dorrie and Marcus yearn to join them as apprentices. Unfortunately, Dorrie and Marcus’ sudden presence means something is terribly wrong with the Lybrariad’s functioning and that the group’s arch-nemesis, the Foundation, may have found a way in. The delightful premise will be an obvious hit with librarians and their fans, and the very specific library humor and inside jokes are perhaps most suited for those kids who spend their lunch hour hanging around the reference desk or shelving books for fun. The plot meanders down a few too many blind alleys, however, and several subplots, including Dorrie’s rivalry with not one but two mean girls, detract from the main storyline. A host of memorable characters—especially a bitingly snarky Cyrano de Bergerac cast as Dorrie’s mentor—compensate, though, and the multiple allusions to history’s unsung heroes of intellectual freedom will likely send a few readers to the 900s.