SINGAPORE – Nickelodeon Asia will premiere a new original TV movie, Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library, based on author Chris Grabenstein’s acclaimed children’s book, which airs on Friday, 26 January. Nickelodeon stars Casey Simpson (Nicky, Ricky, Dicky & Dawn) and Breanna Yde (Nickelodeon’s School of Rock) join Russell Roberts (The Twilight Saga: New Moon) and newcomers AJ Rivera and Klarke Pipkin will be in the fantastical adventure about a group of friends whose overnight stay in their town’s new high-tech library turns into a daring, dangerous adventure of escape.
World-renowned game maker, Luigi Lemoncello (Russell Roberts), has built his latest creation – a new state-of-the-art library filled with whimsical and eccentric rooms, where hardcover books fly kids to shelves in the sky, and massive doors open into fantastical worlds. Kyle Keeley, Lemoncello’s biggest fan, is chosen to be one of the first to experience the fun, along with his best friend Akimi, a bookworm named Sierra (Klarke Pipkin), a goofball named Andrew Peckleman (A.J. Luis Rivera Jr.), his rival Charles Chiltington (Ty Nicolas Consiglio), and others. The kids must use their wits to complete riddles and collect clues that lead them out of this unique playground of imagination. When excitement turns to jeopardy, this world of wonder begins to spiral out of control as literary characters run amok and chaos ensues. It’s up to the kids to make everything right again or else they won’t be the only ones escaping.
Nickelodeon’s original TV movies are a key part of the network’s content mix, creating vehicles for Nickelodeon’s stars to be seen in new and different roles and stories. Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library joins Nickelodeon’s original TV movie slate, which includes two upcoming original TV movie –Hey Arnold!: The Jungle Movie, and Blurt starring Henry Danger’s Jace Norman and internet sensation JoJo Siwa, scheduled to air later this year.
Chris Grabenstein’s novels with Random House Children’s Books have more than one million copies in print and hundreds of weeks combined on the New York Times bestseller list. Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library has spent over 100 weeks on the bestseller list, received nominations for 42 state award lists, and is published in 19 countries and in 19 languages throughout the world. Grabenstein’s additional middle-grade novels include Mr. Lemoncello’s Library Olympics, The Island of Dr. Libris, Welcome to Wonderland: Home Sweet Motel, Welcome to Wonderland: Beach Party Surf Monkey, and the forthcoming third Lemoncello Book, Lemoncello’s Great Library Race, which will be published on Oct. 10.
Jim Head, Scott McAboy and Michael Sammaciccia serve as executive producers. Amy Sydorick serves as producer. The TV movie is written by Brian Jarvis & Jim Freeman and Alex Reid, and was directed by Scott McAboy (Splitting Adam).
