The Legend of Last Library by Frank L. Cole, 288 pages. Shadow Mountain Publishing, 2024. $19.
Language: G (0 swears, 0 “f”); Mature Content: PG; Violence: PG
BUYING ADVISORY: EL, MS - ADVISABLE
APPEALS TO: SEVERAL
When scavenging for paper can pay for her grandfather’s medical bills, Juni (13yo) is willing to go anywhere to find a scrap of it. After Juni convinces her two friends to check the off limits buildings in Harker’s Village, Quaze (14yo) hits the jackpot: ten entire pages. But Quaze keeps the pages for herself and abandons the group, not knowing that the plastic Juni takes will lead to more paper than they could ever dream of.
Cole plays with the effects of having little to no paper in a post-apocalyptic world. Juni’s story offers one possibility while the roles of technology and paper in the book invite readers to think about their importance in our own lives. The adventure is wrought with emotional pitfalls, physical danger, and the temptation to help oneself instead of mankind as a whole. The only negative is that the story felt too short.
The majority of characters, including Juni, are implied White. Kobyn is implied Latino, and Lutz is described as having “dark” skin. The mature content rating is for illegal activity, and the violence rating is for assault.
Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen
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