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The Secret Library
Travel through time with National Book Award Finalist Kekla Magoon in a page-turning fantasy adventure about family secrets and finding the courage to plot your own life story.
Since Grandpa died, Dally’s days are dull and restricted. She’s eleven and a half years old, and her exacting single mother is already grooming her to take over the family business. Starved for adventure and release, Dally rescues a mysterious envelope from her mother’s clutches, an envelope Grandpa had earmarked for her. The map she finds inside leads straight to an ancient vault, a library of secrets where each book is a portal to a precise moment in time. As Dally “checks out” adventure after adventure—including an exhilarating outing with pirates—she begins to dive deep into her family’s hidden history. Soon she’s visiting every day to escape the demands of the present. But the library has secrets of its own, intentions that would shape her life as surely as her mother’s meticulous plans. What will Dally choose? Equal parts mystery and adventure—with a biracial child puzzling out her identity alongside the legacy of the past—this masterful middle-grade fantasy rivets with crackling prose, playful plot twists, and timeless themes. A satisfying choice for fans of Kindred and When You Reach Me.
Since Grandpa died, Dally’s days are dull and restricted. She’s eleven and a half years old, and her exacting single mother is already grooming her to take over the family business. Starved for adventure and release, Dally rescues a mysterious envelope from her mother’s clutches, an envelope Grandpa had earmarked for her. The map she finds inside leads straight to an ancient vault, a library of secrets where each book is a portal to a precise moment in time. As Dally “checks out” adventure after adventure—including an exhilarating outing with pirates—she begins to dive deep into her family’s hidden history. Soon she’s visiting every day to escape the demands of the present. But the library has secrets of its own, intentions that would shape her life as surely as her mother’s meticulous plans. What will Dally choose? Equal parts mystery and adventure—with a biracial child puzzling out her identity alongside the legacy of the past—this masterful middle-grade fantasy rivets with crackling prose, playful plot twists, and timeless themes. A satisfying choice for fans of Kindred and When You Reach Me.
10 pages, Audiobook
First published May 7, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 262 reviews
May 3, 2024
The Secret Library follows Dally, a biracial 11 year old girl who lives with her white single mother. Dally's grandfather has recently passed and her mother's main focus is grooming her to one day take over the family business. Dally decides to open a letter from her grandfather that she was instructed not to open until age 21 and discovers the instructions to a library hidden in an old Black neighborhood. The library has volumes upon volumes of books specific to individuals and their family histories which including everything from miscellaneous events to well kept family secrets. Through these books Dally is able to time travel back to the time period they're dated and follow her family history.
I understood what the author was trying to do here but it felt disjointed. She has too many ideas for this book and I think it would've flowed better if it had been a series of chapter books rather than one book. I'm also not sure if the 8-12 audience will be fully invested in this unless they're history buffs. The type of storyline she explores here is one I'm used to seeing in adult fantasies where readers already have some historical background and are able to understand and reflect on the stories better. Though she tried to explain some of the concepts Dally does not sound like an 11 year old girl. And she acts more as an avatar for the readers to look into her adult ancestors stories rather than leading her own.
The ending also didn't resolve the initial storyline between her and her mother in a meaningful way.
Full review below
https://womenofcolorreadtoo.blogspot....
I understood what the author was trying to do here but it felt disjointed. She has too many ideas for this book and I think it would've flowed better if it had been a series of chapter books rather than one book. I'm also not sure if the 8-12 audience will be fully invested in this unless they're history buffs. The type of storyline she explores here is one I'm used to seeing in adult fantasies where readers already have some historical background and are able to understand and reflect on the stories better. Though she tried to explain some of the concepts Dally does not sound like an 11 year old girl. And she acts more as an avatar for the readers to look into her adult ancestors stories rather than leading her own.
The ending also didn't resolve the initial storyline between her and her mother in a meaningful way.
Full review below
https://womenofcolorreadtoo.blogspot....
August 4, 2024
2.5⭐️ and that’s only because I saw the potential. This book was on my anticipated reads list and I was so excited to dig in. I’ve never been so let down. Firstly, I started to DNF this book at chapter 11 when they get to talking about how the Black father was stealing from the jewelry counter and then the white woman saves him. At that point I knew in my heart that this book was gone be on some bullshit.
Being that I’m Black, I understand that there is never a moment in our lives (especially living in America) that we don’t have to talk about these topics, especially when sending our children out into the world, but this book being marketed as middle grade is quite the interesting move. The way that this 11 year old Black girl is moving about as she time traveled to the Jim Crow and chattel slavery era is absolutely unreal. The way that the US is at war on education and the way that Black American history is already diluted to almost extinction, why would this book need to exist? There is a point when the girl is explaining to someone that race is a social construct and then in the same sentence starts yelling at this person that they are Black because of the amount of Black blood in their veins. That is pure insanity. Like wtf are you talking about. The social construct is based on phenotype. At no point were slavers passing out dna kits. Like let’s BFFR. All in all, save your money, and more importantly save your time. And please don’t give this to impressionable middle grade age children. You will only be aiding in the erasure of actual Black American history. 🫤🫤🙃🙃
Being that I’m Black, I understand that there is never a moment in our lives (especially living in America) that we don’t have to talk about these topics, especially when sending our children out into the world, but this book being marketed as middle grade is quite the interesting move. The way that this 11 year old Black girl is moving about as she time traveled to the Jim Crow and chattel slavery era is absolutely unreal. The way that the US is at war on education and the way that Black American history is already diluted to almost extinction, why would this book need to exist? There is a point when the girl is explaining to someone that race is a social construct and then in the same sentence starts yelling at this person that they are Black because of the amount of Black blood in their veins. That is pure insanity. Like wtf are you talking about. The social construct is based on phenotype. At no point were slavers passing out dna kits. Like let’s BFFR. All in all, save your money, and more importantly save your time. And please don’t give this to impressionable middle grade age children. You will only be aiding in the erasure of actual Black American history. 🫤🫤🙃🙃
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 6, 2024
I do not enjoy giving low ratings and I believe I have a reasonable appreciation for what a difficult job it is to write an entertaining and coherent book. I respect Ms. Magoon and have read and enjoyed other books of hers.
The Secret Library has a powerful conceit - There is a library that is not only hidden but that contains secrets. Secrets that visitors can access, enter and view in real time.
As all who have been children know - not only do we create and carry our own secrets - as part of our effort to gain knowledge, we pay great attention to the secrets adults strive to keep hidden from us.
Eleven-year-old bi-racial Dally, feeling misunderstood and constrained by her mother, and grieving the loss of her much more sympathetic grandfather, is easily lured by the promise of understanding and adventure that the secret voyeurism offers.
Several things derail the plot’s promise.
The book is too long . An effort is made to cover history from 1840 to now.
The narrator over explains, describing surroundings, actions and feelings. Characters over explicate and self-justify, often in ways that do not feel conversationally real. (An eleven-year-old may believe gender is a social construct, but to use those exact words feels like adults are speaking through the child character.)
The plot crosses the wish-fulfillment rubicon and edges into the inadvertently comic.
There are the usual business-minded straw-persons: cold, humorless, exploitative and, despite devoting tons of time to business education, seemingly without any knowledge of a corporations legal obligations to shareholders.
Because producing things that people want to buy is both icky and boring there is treasure. That the treasure no doubt came from colonial exploitation followed by robbery is never examined. It is also treasure that can be tapped into when needed for one hundred plus years. Happily the five chests of gold can be found and carried from the sea floor up a rope ladder and stowed away by two children and two adults with no special equipment, in a couple hours.
You can be a pirate but never hurt anybody. Or steal anything. (Except lost treasure)
You can have ancestors who are in a gay male and biracial partnership (all absolutely possible in 1840 and two thumbs up, but don’t stop there…) AND you can get around the awkward fact of sexual reproduction by having one of the men (the pirate captain) actually be trans. My favorite detail was when Dally rescues her great-great-great (etc.) grandfathers from prison, one of them is 9 months pregnant. Something that it is hard to believe jailers or cellmates would not have noticed despite the concealing poncho he wore. Having had my water break in public I was particularly outraged by the description that had raindrop sized droplets mysteriously emanate from under the pocho.
I was super psyched when Dally discovers that there is a substantial personal cost to family-secret voyeurism - a lifelong obligation to serve as the secret-library librarian: unable to leave the building or make use of the portals. Since Dally had defied her grandad’s instructions, this servitude will happen before puberty instead of at the advanced age of 21, when you might as well be locked in a building forever. This I believe it the true lost heart of the book, a brush with the reality that in seeking to uncover family secrets, to know who we come from, to track our genealogy and drawn our family trees, we risk placing ourselves in a drone-like clerical position, living through the lives of the dead and giving over our own lives and identity, our chance to define our present, by hearkening back to the lives lived by those who came before us.
But that is clearly not the book Ms. Magoon wanted to write nor the message she wanted children to encounter. Instead of discomfort, compromise, acceptance of human frailty and self-knowledge, what we get is a fantasy in which a child can escape a parent that doesn’t get them and isn’t like them, break rules and thus costlessly (except to the mom) get exactly the counter-culture, contemporarily cool ancestors we all wish we had, be independently wealthy without work or guilt, have constant adventure without ever feeling rootless, participate in the Civil Rights movement and Gay Rights movement in between spelunking and volcano climbing, have children with no sexual partner mentioned (spouses of all stripes can be so limiting) be all-knowing, save everyone and return to find the mother you disdain and abandoned now has been taught a lesson. An extra creepy bonus is the age-bending Dally gets to indulge in. While not as problematic as an adult time travel book I read, (in which the grandson, who had a close relationship with his grandmother, got to go back in time and Oedipus like sleep with her, thus fathering his own father) Dally does live her life as her grandfather’s best friend AND then get to return as a wise elder to school her, now younger, mother. Every kid’s dream.
The Secret Library has a powerful conceit - There is a library that is not only hidden but that contains secrets. Secrets that visitors can access, enter and view in real time.
As all who have been children know - not only do we create and carry our own secrets - as part of our effort to gain knowledge, we pay great attention to the secrets adults strive to keep hidden from us.
Eleven-year-old bi-racial Dally, feeling misunderstood and constrained by her mother, and grieving the loss of her much more sympathetic grandfather, is easily lured by the promise of understanding and adventure that the secret voyeurism offers.
Several things derail the plot’s promise.
The book is too long . An effort is made to cover history from 1840 to now.
The narrator over explains, describing surroundings, actions and feelings. Characters over explicate and self-justify, often in ways that do not feel conversationally real. (An eleven-year-old may believe gender is a social construct, but to use those exact words feels like adults are speaking through the child character.)
The plot crosses the wish-fulfillment rubicon and edges into the inadvertently comic.
There are the usual business-minded straw-persons: cold, humorless, exploitative and, despite devoting tons of time to business education, seemingly without any knowledge of a corporations legal obligations to shareholders.
Because producing things that people want to buy is both icky and boring there is treasure. That the treasure no doubt came from colonial exploitation followed by robbery is never examined. It is also treasure that can be tapped into when needed for one hundred plus years. Happily the five chests of gold can be found and carried from the sea floor up a rope ladder and stowed away by two children and two adults with no special equipment, in a couple hours.
You can be a pirate but never hurt anybody. Or steal anything. (Except lost treasure)
You can have ancestors who are in a gay male and biracial partnership (all absolutely possible in 1840 and two thumbs up, but don’t stop there…) AND you can get around the awkward fact of sexual reproduction by having one of the men (the pirate captain) actually be trans. My favorite detail was when Dally rescues her great-great-great (etc.) grandfathers from prison, one of them is 9 months pregnant. Something that it is hard to believe jailers or cellmates would not have noticed despite the concealing poncho he wore. Having had my water break in public I was particularly outraged by the description that had raindrop sized droplets mysteriously emanate from under the pocho.
I was super psyched when Dally discovers that there is a substantial personal cost to family-secret voyeurism - a lifelong obligation to serve as the secret-library librarian: unable to leave the building or make use of the portals. Since Dally had defied her grandad’s instructions, this servitude will happen before puberty instead of at the advanced age of 21, when you might as well be locked in a building forever. This I believe it the true lost heart of the book, a brush with the reality that in seeking to uncover family secrets, to know who we come from, to track our genealogy and drawn our family trees, we risk placing ourselves in a drone-like clerical position, living through the lives of the dead and giving over our own lives and identity, our chance to define our present, by hearkening back to the lives lived by those who came before us.
But that is clearly not the book Ms. Magoon wanted to write nor the message she wanted children to encounter. Instead of discomfort, compromise, acceptance of human frailty and self-knowledge, what we get is a fantasy in which a child can escape a parent that doesn’t get them and isn’t like them, break rules and thus costlessly (except to the mom) get exactly the counter-culture, contemporarily cool ancestors we all wish we had, be independently wealthy without work or guilt, have constant adventure without ever feeling rootless, participate in the Civil Rights movement and Gay Rights movement in between spelunking and volcano climbing, have children with no sexual partner mentioned (spouses of all stripes can be so limiting) be all-knowing, save everyone and return to find the mother you disdain and abandoned now has been taught a lesson. An extra creepy bonus is the age-bending Dally gets to indulge in. While not as problematic as an adult time travel book I read, (in which the grandson, who had a close relationship with his grandmother, got to go back in time and Oedipus like sleep with her, thus fathering his own father) Dally does live her life as her grandfather’s best friend AND then get to return as a wise elder to school her, now younger, mother. Every kid’s dream.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 1, 2025
DNF at 149
There were two references to trans kids and one non-binary. Then there was two guys who had feelings for each other. The MC said that her and most of the kids at school understood that gender was just a social construct. What on earth?!?!?!?! Nope, this is a middle grade book. I can not recommend this book to anyone.
There were two references to trans kids and one non-binary. Then there was two guys who had feelings for each other. The MC said that her and most of the kids at school understood that gender was just a social construct. What on earth?!?!?!?! Nope, this is a middle grade book. I can not recommend this book to anyone.
May 22, 2024
A lot going on and not a lot of it made sense or flowed well together
June 5, 2024
I enjoyed a lot of this audiobook. It had an intriguing concept, interesting characters and storyline. But the last 20 minutes killed it for me. I just couldn’t get behind the twist and the ending.
August 10, 2025
2.75/5
the way this ended was actually bonkers??? especially for a middle grade novel???? nothing in this book went the way i thought it would and i fear that is derogatory......
the way this ended was actually bonkers??? especially for a middle grade novel???? nothing in this book went the way i thought it would and i fear that is derogatory......
October 21, 2024
Dally is grieving the death of her beloved grandfather. In his will, he left her a mysterious map that leads to a Secret Library, a library full of books that, when opened, will transport the reader back in time to learn a secret. Dally begins visiting the library every day. She goes back in time and sees her father when he was young. She sees the day that her parents first met, and she meets her ancestors who used to be pirates. But once she knows each secret, Dally has to decide what to do with that knowledge.
This book started out so fun, and it quickly devolved into a platform for the author to preach their own ideology. It ruined my enjoyment of the book, because the story was obviously constructed specifically to address certain issues that the author wanted to bring to the forefront. I wish authors would just focus on telling a good story, instead of forcing their political views onto the reader.
I ended up skimming through the last third of the book just to be done with it all.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a free and honest review.
This book started out so fun, and it quickly devolved into a platform for the author to preach their own ideology. It ruined my enjoyment of the book, because the story was obviously constructed specifically to address certain issues that the author wanted to bring to the forefront. I wish authors would just focus on telling a good story, instead of forcing their political views onto the reader.
I ended up skimming through the last third of the book just to be done with it all.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a free and honest review.
May 16, 2024
I’ll be back later with my thoughts…
Ok I’m back let’s get to it.
I must start by noting I have nothing to compare to this to. This story is full of adventure,secret’s,family, and a magical library.This story is a bit of a roller coaster and Dally is looking forward to the journey. I recommend this book for young people, more specifically those that may be new to readers
Ok I’m back let’s get to it.
I must start by noting I have nothing to compare to this to. This story is full of adventure,secret’s,family, and a magical library.This story is a bit of a roller coaster and Dally is looking forward to the journey. I recommend this book for young people, more specifically those that may be new to readers
April 29, 2024
4.75 The Secret Library is not just a library that is secret to many, but one that collects all types of secrets written in books.
A traveler can pick a book from the section of Little White Lies, Locker Combinations, Hiden Places... or perhaps read a book from the Childhood Mischief, Family Secrets, or Unrequited Love sections. There are many in this magical library with rules to obey, of course, and Dally can visit one per day. Her grandfather who kist passed, has left her this secret, and she finds the library.
At the age of 11 and almost half, her journey is just beginning. One that connects her to her roots, past, and family. Empowering and diverse, this middle grade will surprise the readers with short glimpses and journeys to the past, including pirates and treasure hunting. A time-traveling adventure with a brave ending. Sometimes, breaking the rules is the only way to do right.
Themes: LGBTQ, black inheritance, acceptance, fighting for what is right, fighting for change, doing the right thing, family values, racism, discrimination, friendship, protecting nature. The author is mindful of virtues and values.
Ps. The cover is gorgeous. Congratulations to artists, designers, and publisher for making it shimmering and with a beautiful hardcover cover.
A traveler can pick a book from the section of Little White Lies, Locker Combinations, Hiden Places... or perhaps read a book from the Childhood Mischief, Family Secrets, or Unrequited Love sections. There are many in this magical library with rules to obey, of course, and Dally can visit one per day. Her grandfather who kist passed, has left her this secret, and she finds the library.
At the age of 11 and almost half, her journey is just beginning. One that connects her to her roots, past, and family. Empowering and diverse, this middle grade will surprise the readers with short glimpses and journeys to the past, including pirates and treasure hunting. A time-traveling adventure with a brave ending. Sometimes, breaking the rules is the only way to do right.
Themes: LGBTQ, black inheritance, acceptance, fighting for what is right, fighting for change, doing the right thing, family values, racism, discrimination, friendship, protecting nature. The author is mindful of virtues and values.
Ps. The cover is gorgeous. Congratulations to artists, designers, and publisher for making it shimmering and with a beautiful hardcover cover.
December 10, 2024
This had so much potential - it was a bit awkwardly done at points, but it still seemed to be going well.
And then the ending came out of nowhere. It felt like Magoon had plotted everything out until the end and then she had to come up with an ending but she kept procrastinating and threw something together last minute. It was SO bad and so many plotholes and overall, basically told kids who have difficult relationships with their parents "Time-travel".
Beyond disappointed
contains gender conversations, gay relationships, discussion of racism
And then the ending came out of nowhere. It felt like Magoon had plotted everything out until the end and then she had to come up with an ending but she kept procrastinating and threw something together last minute. It was SO bad and so many plotholes and overall, basically told kids who have difficult relationships with their parents "Time-travel".
Beyond disappointed
contains gender conversations, gay relationships, discussion of racism
May 30, 2024
Pushing Trans agenda
September 9, 2024
This had a promising premise, but then I felt like the plot got very convoluted and rushed by the end.
September 30, 2024
Like many people, I get mad at books I don't like. Over time that anger typically fades as I gain some distance from when I read it. Writing a review can spark some of it anew as I am forcibly tapping into something that did not bring me joy. Even so it's generally more muted.
This book still gets my blood pumping to this day even months after the fact. I read this in July and the simple thought of it upsets me again. I could barely think about writing this review because I get hopping mad all over again. It's partially the wasted time, partially the fact that similar to Chester Keene Cracks the Code (also by Kekla Magoon, also not liked by me) I could not fathom what the author was thinking in putting this out for a middle grade audience.
The entire conceit of this novel is built on the erroneous and harmful idea that if your parent does not understand you as a child, they will absolutely never understand you.
Dally makes a horribly shortsighted decision to disappear into the past to live out her life growing up alongside her own grandfather before ultimately taking on the permanent position of librarian to the secret library because at twelve she's having normal, everyday conflicts with her mother. Most kids are going to reach a point where they start to recognize that the caregivers in their lives are fallible human beings. It's an important step in all caregiver-child bonds. But, kids should never be led to believe that change is not possible.
It is obviously true that there are times when change is not possible. It's true that there are kids who have abusive or otherwise deficient caregivers. It's true that kids should not be fed false hope or encouraged to hold out for a fantasy that an awful caregiver will ever become exactly what they need or want.
That being said, it is impossible at twelve for a child to draw this kind of permanent conclusion. Familial dynamics are so complex and multi-faceted. The kind of relationship I had to my own parents differed a lot from twelve to sixteen to twenty one to now. There were years in there where I wholeheartedly believed nothing would ever improve. Yet, I was completely, utterly wrong. If I had run away at twelve I never could have found that out.
Now, obviously children are experiencing everything for the first time so they lack perspective on the wider world out there. That's normal and totally expected. I don't blame Dally for feeling the way she does. What I'm upset about is the fact that the author ended a middle grade book this way. This kind of bittersweet, downer ending is way better suited to a more mature audience who could appreciate and understand the thematic significance. Particularly because while middle grade does not always have happily-ever-after happy endings, it's never this bleak.
And you have to categorize it as bleak because the only alternative is that a child is supposed to think there are legitimate merits to the decision Dally made which is even worse. Dally made the absolute wrong choice. You cannot even argue that she made the 'right' choice for herself because again, she's a kid who cannot predict the future. Especially since her mother never gave any indication she was beyond learning or growing.
I will admit that there is something in this messaging about listening to your kids or risk losing them forever except I think it's ridiculous that Dally's mother is a villain for trying to do right by her daughter in the best way she can when part of the reason she's even the way she is, is because Dally's beloved grandfather took pains to doom Dally to repeat this cycle.
In her journeys through the books Dally meets some of her ancestors. Eventually she connects with her grandfather. Like I alluded to above, towards the end of the novel on a journey through one of the books she chooses to stay with him in the past to adventure by his side, thereby completely rewriting history.
She becomes her grandfather's best friend, gets married, has kids, - all the major milestones -before retiring to be the permanent librarian at the Secret Library. Apparently, the library always chooses someone to be the librarian and you have to do it or stop coming to the library, but if I recall correctly something does keep drawing you to it so it's virtually impossible to avoid. However, you do have a bit of power over it in the sense that you could return at a later date giving yourself time to live a life before getting stuck.
Dally's reasoning for choosing to stay to live out her life in the past is because she 'realizes’ her mother will always be dismissive of her needs and she wants to have a real life before being forced to be the library keeper for as long as she's able.
This makes her grandfather a literal supervillain.
He has been in and out of the library - not to mention he's a library board member on some kind of secret council - since he was a child. You can't choose your own adventure in the secret library technically because the library kind of low-key guides you, but in literal decades of time spent visiting the library and hanging out with Dally I'd think that he'd have got the full story by the time his daughter is born. Yet, he does absolutely nothing to avoid completely robbing his daughter of her child.
He doesn't seem to care about her at all. All he cares about is Dally. And I'd argue he doesn't care about Dally that much because he actively sets in motion the events of the novel to make sure she'll end up choosing to live out her life in the past. Why would he want that for Dally? Why would he want that for his daughter? How is it good that his so-called best friend had to grow up with this deep emotional wound because he prioritized having Dally grow up beside him over what would be better for her overall wellbeing? I just can’t see how this man watched this little girl grow up and decided she would be better off not having her mother in her life when her mother is only cleaning up his mistakes.
He knew that the business was having financial problems. He had to know that those financial problems are part of what led to Dally's mother becoming so rigid. Instead of trying to fix it in order to leave her a better company to not force Dally down this path, he only gives her meaningless platitudes about not needing to worry so much and spending more time living than working. Except we're told at one point that she actually had to get him booted from the board which suggests that the situation was a lot more complex than he made it out to be so I'm not surprised that she blew him off. The fact that without her hard work thousands could potentially be out of work is brought up once, but quickly glossed over.
He actively encourages Dally to pursue this course of action by leaving her the letter that leads her to the secret library in the first place. When Dally’s father died he suggested that Dally’s mother move back into the great manor to help her in her time of need, and the fact that what seemed like an act of love was probably only done so he could manipulate Dally into the proper position was particularly insidious.
On a different yet not unrelated note, the main thread through Dally’s ancestor tour is following a little group of pirates. The two main pirates are the white captain and one of the Black crewmen who are in a secret relationship with one another. This was hard enough to swallow as we do not get much by way of backgrounds on either of these characters to explore how this relationship could be consensual considering the current circumstances - i.e. the fact that this has to be taking place in the period of the trans-Atlantic slave trade or some time soon after.
Magoon made it a thousand times worse when she introduced the fact that the white captain was not male, but was gender nonconforming. No specific terminology is utilized and there is not enough information to draw a precise conclusion about where this character falls on a spectrum. They go by he/him pronouns except part of this seems to be in order to get by as a pirate not necessarily because he identifies as a man and when this is revealed to Dally - the pirate gives birth - she asks him directly if he's a girl and he is generally noncommittal. Again, this could just be because he is lacking in proper terminology to communicate. But, it left me wrongfooted as this revelation opened up a whole can of worms that had no follow through.
I’m pretty sure the general idea behind this choice was to show that queer identities and unconventional families have always existed, but it was too complex a dynamic to be included in this book.
How these two individuals got together when one was white and assigned female at birth being raised potentially on the very same plantation where they were being taught that Black man are essentially animals to use as they please, has dubious connotations. Especially considering the fact that there is a terrible history of white women raping and coercing Black men into horrific ‘relationships’ with them.
I’m not sure this relationship could ever work for me personally as the author would have to work exceedingly hard to overcome an almost insurmountable ethically and morally compromised dynamic that is interwoven into the very fabric of the country to justify that an equal friendship was possible let alone a romance.
Middle grade can be weighty. I’ve read fantastic middle grade on major, burdensome topics handled masterfully. But, I cannot think of any way to do this particular plot point justice without giving the intended readers a far too simplistic view of slavery and/or romanticizing these two individuals' choices. It is much better suited for young adults or even adults instead as those two age groups would allow for the mature exploration that this concept desperately needed.
I got the impression Magoon wrote this only with gender identity and sexuality in mind while completely ignoring the intersectionality of race.
I think making the fact that Dally was intended to be the new librarian the twist hurt the novel tremendously. This could have been a very interesting story about Dally recognizing the weight of what it takes to truly pursue what you want out of life where the morality and burden of her choice were explored in the actual narrative. Instead, the book plays out as a mostly normal if not a bit average middle grade until randomly pulling the rug out from under the reader by eschewing all nuance in favor of an unnecessary shock. Of course, all of this still does not work unless the age group is upped a bit and Magoon is willing to dive deeper into her themes.
I could say more, but I will leave it here. If you got this far thinking I would recommend this book I’ve got a bridge to sell you.
This book still gets my blood pumping to this day even months after the fact. I read this in July and the simple thought of it upsets me again. I could barely think about writing this review because I get hopping mad all over again. It's partially the wasted time, partially the fact that similar to Chester Keene Cracks the Code (also by Kekla Magoon, also not liked by me) I could not fathom what the author was thinking in putting this out for a middle grade audience.
The entire conceit of this novel is built on the erroneous and harmful idea that if your parent does not understand you as a child, they will absolutely never understand you.
Dally makes a horribly shortsighted decision to disappear into the past to live out her life growing up alongside her own grandfather before ultimately taking on the permanent position of librarian to the secret library because at twelve she's having normal, everyday conflicts with her mother. Most kids are going to reach a point where they start to recognize that the caregivers in their lives are fallible human beings. It's an important step in all caregiver-child bonds. But, kids should never be led to believe that change is not possible.
It is obviously true that there are times when change is not possible. It's true that there are kids who have abusive or otherwise deficient caregivers. It's true that kids should not be fed false hope or encouraged to hold out for a fantasy that an awful caregiver will ever become exactly what they need or want.
That being said, it is impossible at twelve for a child to draw this kind of permanent conclusion. Familial dynamics are so complex and multi-faceted. The kind of relationship I had to my own parents differed a lot from twelve to sixteen to twenty one to now. There were years in there where I wholeheartedly believed nothing would ever improve. Yet, I was completely, utterly wrong. If I had run away at twelve I never could have found that out.
Now, obviously children are experiencing everything for the first time so they lack perspective on the wider world out there. That's normal and totally expected. I don't blame Dally for feeling the way she does. What I'm upset about is the fact that the author ended a middle grade book this way. This kind of bittersweet, downer ending is way better suited to a more mature audience who could appreciate and understand the thematic significance. Particularly because while middle grade does not always have happily-ever-after happy endings, it's never this bleak.
And you have to categorize it as bleak because the only alternative is that a child is supposed to think there are legitimate merits to the decision Dally made which is even worse. Dally made the absolute wrong choice. You cannot even argue that she made the 'right' choice for herself because again, she's a kid who cannot predict the future. Especially since her mother never gave any indication she was beyond learning or growing.
I will admit that there is something in this messaging about listening to your kids or risk losing them forever except I think it's ridiculous that Dally's mother is a villain for trying to do right by her daughter in the best way she can when part of the reason she's even the way she is, is because Dally's beloved grandfather took pains to doom Dally to repeat this cycle.
In her journeys through the books Dally meets some of her ancestors. Eventually she connects with her grandfather. Like I alluded to above, towards the end of the novel on a journey through one of the books she chooses to stay with him in the past to adventure by his side, thereby completely rewriting history.
She becomes her grandfather's best friend, gets married, has kids, - all the major milestones -before retiring to be the permanent librarian at the Secret Library. Apparently, the library always chooses someone to be the librarian and you have to do it or stop coming to the library, but if I recall correctly something does keep drawing you to it so it's virtually impossible to avoid. However, you do have a bit of power over it in the sense that you could return at a later date giving yourself time to live a life before getting stuck.
Dally's reasoning for choosing to stay to live out her life in the past is because she 'realizes’ her mother will always be dismissive of her needs and she wants to have a real life before being forced to be the library keeper for as long as she's able.
This makes her grandfather a literal supervillain.
He has been in and out of the library - not to mention he's a library board member on some kind of secret council - since he was a child. You can't choose your own adventure in the secret library technically because the library kind of low-key guides you, but in literal decades of time spent visiting the library and hanging out with Dally I'd think that he'd have got the full story by the time his daughter is born. Yet, he does absolutely nothing to avoid completely robbing his daughter of her child.
He doesn't seem to care about her at all. All he cares about is Dally. And I'd argue he doesn't care about Dally that much because he actively sets in motion the events of the novel to make sure she'll end up choosing to live out her life in the past. Why would he want that for Dally? Why would he want that for his daughter? How is it good that his so-called best friend had to grow up with this deep emotional wound because he prioritized having Dally grow up beside him over what would be better for her overall wellbeing? I just can’t see how this man watched this little girl grow up and decided she would be better off not having her mother in her life when her mother is only cleaning up his mistakes.
He knew that the business was having financial problems. He had to know that those financial problems are part of what led to Dally's mother becoming so rigid. Instead of trying to fix it in order to leave her a better company to not force Dally down this path, he only gives her meaningless platitudes about not needing to worry so much and spending more time living than working. Except we're told at one point that she actually had to get him booted from the board which suggests that the situation was a lot more complex than he made it out to be so I'm not surprised that she blew him off. The fact that without her hard work thousands could potentially be out of work is brought up once, but quickly glossed over.
He actively encourages Dally to pursue this course of action by leaving her the letter that leads her to the secret library in the first place. When Dally’s father died he suggested that Dally’s mother move back into the great manor to help her in her time of need, and the fact that what seemed like an act of love was probably only done so he could manipulate Dally into the proper position was particularly insidious.
On a different yet not unrelated note, the main thread through Dally’s ancestor tour is following a little group of pirates. The two main pirates are the white captain and one of the Black crewmen who are in a secret relationship with one another. This was hard enough to swallow as we do not get much by way of backgrounds on either of these characters to explore how this relationship could be consensual considering the current circumstances - i.e. the fact that this has to be taking place in the period of the trans-Atlantic slave trade or some time soon after.
Magoon made it a thousand times worse when she introduced the fact that the white captain was not male, but was gender nonconforming. No specific terminology is utilized and there is not enough information to draw a precise conclusion about where this character falls on a spectrum. They go by he/him pronouns except part of this seems to be in order to get by as a pirate not necessarily because he identifies as a man and when this is revealed to Dally - the pirate gives birth - she asks him directly if he's a girl and he is generally noncommittal. Again, this could just be because he is lacking in proper terminology to communicate. But, it left me wrongfooted as this revelation opened up a whole can of worms that had no follow through.
I’m pretty sure the general idea behind this choice was to show that queer identities and unconventional families have always existed, but it was too complex a dynamic to be included in this book.
How these two individuals got together when one was white and assigned female at birth being raised potentially on the very same plantation where they were being taught that Black man are essentially animals to use as they please, has dubious connotations. Especially considering the fact that there is a terrible history of white women raping and coercing Black men into horrific ‘relationships’ with them.
I’m not sure this relationship could ever work for me personally as the author would have to work exceedingly hard to overcome an almost insurmountable ethically and morally compromised dynamic that is interwoven into the very fabric of the country to justify that an equal friendship was possible let alone a romance.
Middle grade can be weighty. I’ve read fantastic middle grade on major, burdensome topics handled masterfully. But, I cannot think of any way to do this particular plot point justice without giving the intended readers a far too simplistic view of slavery and/or romanticizing these two individuals' choices. It is much better suited for young adults or even adults instead as those two age groups would allow for the mature exploration that this concept desperately needed.
I got the impression Magoon wrote this only with gender identity and sexuality in mind while completely ignoring the intersectionality of race.
I think making the fact that Dally was intended to be the new librarian the twist hurt the novel tremendously. This could have been a very interesting story about Dally recognizing the weight of what it takes to truly pursue what you want out of life where the morality and burden of her choice were explored in the actual narrative. Instead, the book plays out as a mostly normal if not a bit average middle grade until randomly pulling the rug out from under the reader by eschewing all nuance in favor of an unnecessary shock. Of course, all of this still does not work unless the age group is upped a bit and Magoon is willing to dive deeper into her themes.
I could say more, but I will leave it here. If you got this far thinking I would recommend this book I’ve got a bridge to sell you.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 14, 2024
Dally Peteharrington is a Biracial preteen who discovers a map that was left as an inheritance by her late Grandfather. The map leads her to a library, not just any library but a secret library. The secret library holds family secrets, little white lies, and minor transgressions. The themes of the book focuses on identity, racism, LGBTQ+, and family. The Secret Library is enchanting, thrilling, discoveries and full of adventure. Check out the cool magical design inside of the dust jacket.
Thanks to author Kekla Magoon, @hearourvoicestours and Candlewick Press for the opportunity to highlight this amazing middle grade book.
#hearourvoicestours #TheSecretLibrary #middlegradebooks
Thanks to author Kekla Magoon, @hearourvoicestours and Candlewick Press for the opportunity to highlight this amazing middle grade book.
#hearourvoicestours #TheSecretLibrary #middlegradebooks
September 10, 2024
Riveting and wildly creative. Dally (Delilah) is introduced to The Secret Library by her beloved grandfather. Is it a library that’s a secret or a library that catalogs all kinds of secrets? Yes. Brilliant method of showing the advances we’ve made in our culture towards accepting our diverse identities and life experiences while at the same time illuminating the ways that we haven’t changed really at all. Except for the novel written for adults, James, I haven’t read a book quite this creative in a very long time. Brava.
August 29, 2024
Time travel, grief, generational trauma, redlining, trans masc pregnancy, social constructs, librarians, pirates… this book goes so hard for middle grade.
May 6, 2024
3.5-4 This was a good middle grade book. Totally different than what I thought it was going to be.
May 19, 2024
5 stars
I read an ARC from the publisher
It's not that the library is a secret (it is) but that it's a library of secrets. And when Delilah Peteharrington's best friend and grandfather dies, he leaves her a map to find it and a chance to continue their many adventures by visiting secrets from the family history and learning just who Delilah is and what she can do. Never one to shy from the harsh truths, Magoon takes her Dally to the real messy sometimes unpleasant history of the united States, and in particular the fictional Wellston, South Carolina where Dally has lived.
I read an ARC from the publisher
It's not that the library is a secret (it is) but that it's a library of secrets. And when Delilah Peteharrington's best friend and grandfather dies, he leaves her a map to find it and a chance to continue their many adventures by visiting secrets from the family history and learning just who Delilah is and what she can do. Never one to shy from the harsh truths, Magoon takes her Dally to the real messy sometimes unpleasant history of the united States, and in particular the fictional Wellston, South Carolina where Dally has lived.
June 29, 2024
It's not often that a book surprises me, but this one sure did! I loved Dally's adventures, especially those on a pirate ship!, and her exploration of her family history. There were so many surprises in the very last few chapters that my mind is still reeling. I need to get my hands on a print copy so I can check out that family tree!! Thanks to Libro.fm and Candlewick for the advanced listening copy!
Read
December 24, 2025This was almost a DNF. I have a really hard time quitting books though 😂🤷🏻♀️ I wanted to like it. The premise sounded awesome! Time travel, learning past family secrets, and it all taking place in an elusive library! I wanted to like it, but I definitely did NOT and here’s why.
The intended audience for this book is 8-12 years old. Goodreads tags this book with genres like “family, adventure, historical fiction, etc” but there are underlying things present that if I didn’t read it myself, I would have thought it would be OK for my young daughter. However, it is my opinion (and I might be in the minority but I don’t care) that this book is NOT for kids!
This book pushes an agenda, and I was floored by certain parts. Remember, 8-12 years old is the target audience. Here are some (not all) things that I couldn’t believe made it into this book labeled “family, adventure, historical fiction, etc”. Again, for 8-12 year olds!
“…someone at school had hosted a multi-gender sleepover last year, and the parents had gotten riled up about it. Dally didn’t see what the big deal was. One of the kids invited was nonbinary and used they/them pronouns. Another was trans. She and her classmates understood that gender was a social construct, even if some of their parents were too old-fashioned to get it.”
Secret conversation between Eli (ship captain) and Pete (deckhand) “Eli’s words were punctuated by a soft sound Dally couldn’t place…the soft sound again. Dally peeked around the rock. It was the sound of kissing. Dally clamped a hand over her smile.”
“ ‘Eli?’ Dally blurted out. ‘Are you a girl?’
Eli smiled through exhaustion [just birthed a baby]. ‘Well, I wouldn’t go that far,’ he said. ‘I’ve been Eli for a long time and I like it better that way. But…’ Eyes still closed, he offered a two-fingered mock salute. ‘Eli, formerly Eliza, at your service.’ “
I’m not going to say much else. I’ll just leave that there, and my feelings will probably be understood. It made me feel so disappointed that stuff like this could be in a children’s book. This book should, at the very least, come with a LGBT/gay something kind of genre label. This particular storyline of Eli/Eliza is significant to how Dally learns about her family history, so it’s important to the overall plot. It’s not like it’s some side info that’s there and gone. I just felt like the author had a great opportunity here to craft a wonderful adventure story without trying to push an agenda into it. But sadly, that didn’t happen.
This book had promise. I’m extremely disappointed. It was not for me. And shouldn’t be for any 8-12 year olds either.
The intended audience for this book is 8-12 years old. Goodreads tags this book with genres like “family, adventure, historical fiction, etc” but there are underlying things present that if I didn’t read it myself, I would have thought it would be OK for my young daughter. However, it is my opinion (and I might be in the minority but I don’t care) that this book is NOT for kids!
This book pushes an agenda, and I was floored by certain parts. Remember, 8-12 years old is the target audience. Here are some (not all) things that I couldn’t believe made it into this book labeled “family, adventure, historical fiction, etc”. Again, for 8-12 year olds!
“…someone at school had hosted a multi-gender sleepover last year, and the parents had gotten riled up about it. Dally didn’t see what the big deal was. One of the kids invited was nonbinary and used they/them pronouns. Another was trans. She and her classmates understood that gender was a social construct, even if some of their parents were too old-fashioned to get it.”
Secret conversation between Eli (ship captain) and Pete (deckhand) “Eli’s words were punctuated by a soft sound Dally couldn’t place…the soft sound again. Dally peeked around the rock. It was the sound of kissing. Dally clamped a hand over her smile.”
“ ‘Eli?’ Dally blurted out. ‘Are you a girl?’
Eli smiled through exhaustion [just birthed a baby]. ‘Well, I wouldn’t go that far,’ he said. ‘I’ve been Eli for a long time and I like it better that way. But…’ Eyes still closed, he offered a two-fingered mock salute. ‘Eli, formerly Eliza, at your service.’ “
I’m not going to say much else. I’ll just leave that there, and my feelings will probably be understood. It made me feel so disappointed that stuff like this could be in a children’s book. This book should, at the very least, come with a LGBT/gay something kind of genre label. This particular storyline of Eli/Eliza is significant to how Dally learns about her family history, so it’s important to the overall plot. It’s not like it’s some side info that’s there and gone. I just felt like the author had a great opportunity here to craft a wonderful adventure story without trying to push an agenda into it. But sadly, that didn’t happen.
This book had promise. I’m extremely disappointed. It was not for me. And shouldn’t be for any 8-12 year olds either.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 25, 2024
5 stars for a great adventure story full of time travel and family lore and heartbreaking loss and a magical, mercurial library and the most unexpected, and satisfying, ending I have read in a long time. The audiobook pulls you in and doesn't let go. So good.
May 25, 2024
DNF 27
May 8, 2024
Spoiler alert: Skip the “representation” paragraph towards the end of this review unless you’re OK with ruining a surprise.
Be sure to put emphasis on the “secret” part of the library in order to get a better idea of what’s going on in Keyla Magoon’s (The Seasons of Styx Malone, The Vice Principal Problem, Camo Girl, + more) newest. Yes, a library full of secrets but so much better than simply reading books that reveal someone’s secret. Kekla’s main character, 12 year old Dally/Delilah uses a map from her recently passed away grandfather and walks into a library only visible to a select few and filled with books that allow the reader to go to a certain time in the past and watch AND participate with someone who reveals a secret. Dally begins to discover that her wealthy family is more than she has been told, experiences times with her deceased father when she wasn’t even a thought, and learns that her mother was not always the cold, business-minded, almost absent mother she has now. The adventures into the world of secrets takes middle grade readers onto pirate ships, stops on the Underground Railroad, and more. There are some complicated family tree branches to try and follow and many readers of time travel stories may wonder about the space-time paradox and the interactions Dally has with her own father, grandfather and mother, but hopefully they can put aside any of those inconsistencies and just enjoy the story of a magical place and the mystery of family.
Representation: Dally is biracial (Caucasian & Black) and there are other important characters who are also Black, Caucasian or biracial; brief references are made to trans and non-binary kids at Dally’s school; at one point readers will believe that two key, male characters are in a romantic relationship, holding hands and even kissing but it is revealed later that one of the “men” is actually a woman who has been hiding that fact for years in order to experience the adventuring life she wants.
A recommended title with no profanity, sexual content or violence for grades 4-7 although the page count of 368 may be off-putting to some.
Thanks, Candlewick Press, for giving away finished copies to librarians at the 2024 Texas Library Association annual conference.
Be sure to put emphasis on the “secret” part of the library in order to get a better idea of what’s going on in Keyla Magoon’s (The Seasons of Styx Malone, The Vice Principal Problem, Camo Girl, + more) newest. Yes, a library full of secrets but so much better than simply reading books that reveal someone’s secret. Kekla’s main character, 12 year old Dally/Delilah uses a map from her recently passed away grandfather and walks into a library only visible to a select few and filled with books that allow the reader to go to a certain time in the past and watch AND participate with someone who reveals a secret. Dally begins to discover that her wealthy family is more than she has been told, experiences times with her deceased father when she wasn’t even a thought, and learns that her mother was not always the cold, business-minded, almost absent mother she has now. The adventures into the world of secrets takes middle grade readers onto pirate ships, stops on the Underground Railroad, and more. There are some complicated family tree branches to try and follow and many readers of time travel stories may wonder about the space-time paradox and the interactions Dally has with her own father, grandfather and mother, but hopefully they can put aside any of those inconsistencies and just enjoy the story of a magical place and the mystery of family.
Representation: Dally is biracial (Caucasian & Black) and there are other important characters who are also Black, Caucasian or biracial; brief references are made to trans and non-binary kids at Dally’s school; at one point readers will believe that two key, male characters are in a romantic relationship, holding hands and even kissing but it is revealed later that one of the “men” is actually a woman who has been hiding that fact for years in order to experience the adventuring life she wants.
A recommended title with no profanity, sexual content or violence for grades 4-7 although the page count of 368 may be off-putting to some.
Thanks, Candlewick Press, for giving away finished copies to librarians at the 2024 Texas Library Association annual conference.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 26, 2025
Perhaps more 3.5 stars since I found the attempt to square the circle at the end somewhat weak. Dally is not thrilled with her mother’s attempts to run every minute of her current and future life. She doesn’t have friends, even if she has financial security. She badly misses her adventurous grandfather, a feeling apparently not shared by her mother. The book was magical right up to the last chapter. Then Magoon had to account for the extra life led by Dally and didn’t do a good enough job according to this adult reader who has read other time fantasy titles. A child might be content with this book. Still definitely recommended. I’m off to read other reviews and see what others thought. Ok, I’m back from reading other reviews. Many more or less agreed with me and downgraded to 2 stars. Some agreed with me and gave 5 stars. Conclusion: this definitely has weakness in terms of time traveling. I rather agree that the mother is harshly painted. Otherwise there was a lot of good parts to this story. Lowering to 3 stars.
September 7, 2024
Beautiful cover, intriguing plot with lots of potential, but I probably wouldn’t recommend this book.
It felt like the author missed the mark. Being bicultural and part of a biracial family I was excited about the characters mixed heritage, but I do not like the way differences were described in the book. There is an assumption that all characters are white unless described as “other”. Drives me nuts when authors do this and usually you see it with white authors. It was a little surprising the author was biracial herself.
Personally, I find it abrasive when I encounter it while reading. Also, I assumed the character would eventually encounter slavery and segregation and she did, but it was romanticized. Then there was the focus on the adult nonbinary couple’s relationship. It’s a kids book! Kids don’t care THAT much about adult relationships.
Overall, the plot was weak and felt rushed.
I hate coming down hard on a book especially one by an author whose heritage so clearly resembles my own, but I guess I wanted a different story for my kids and this felt like more of the same.
It felt like the author missed the mark. Being bicultural and part of a biracial family I was excited about the characters mixed heritage, but I do not like the way differences were described in the book. There is an assumption that all characters are white unless described as “other”. Drives me nuts when authors do this and usually you see it with white authors. It was a little surprising the author was biracial herself.
Personally, I find it abrasive when I encounter it while reading. Also, I assumed the character would eventually encounter slavery and segregation and she did, but it was romanticized. Then there was the focus on the adult nonbinary couple’s relationship. It’s a kids book! Kids don’t care THAT much about adult relationships.
Overall, the plot was weak and felt rushed.
I hate coming down hard on a book especially one by an author whose heritage so clearly resembles my own, but I guess I wanted a different story for my kids and this felt like more of the same.
October 3, 2024
This is significantly better written than the other adjacent books I've been reading recently -- Haig's Midnight Library with its selection of time traveling books of personal significance, and Ibanez's What the River Knows, a magic-tinged historical fiction about a girl finding her voice while facing family mysteries. The Secret Library has better pacing and characterization, though there are some anachronisms and the plot straps up a bit hastily. The protagonist has very interesting and varied adventures with some great sidekicks, and predictable plot crises of middle grade novels are mostly avoided.
October 13, 2024
I think this is a middle grade ft. a young biracial kid Dally Petteharrington who is trying to live her life by being adventurous after the passing of her beloved grandfather.
This one has a magical secret library as the title implies and the author discusses a lot about Black history in the US which then led to the main character's dilemma being a biracial kid living in this modern times. It sometimes felt a bit too much but I understood what the author wanted to impart.
Enjoyed this book I think I finished it in less than two days, 4stars!
This one has a magical secret library as the title implies and the author discusses a lot about Black history in the US which then led to the main character's dilemma being a biracial kid living in this modern times. It sometimes felt a bit too much but I understood what the author wanted to impart.
Enjoyed this book I think I finished it in less than two days, 4stars!
May 28, 2024
The Secret Library is full of adventure, mystery, time travel and a magical library! It was fun getting to know Dally and learning what makes Dally Dally! There are plenty of interesting twists, there one that I definitely wasn't expecting! This story covers many subjects, identity, friendship, racism, family, LGBTQ+ and more, and each topic is handled beautifully. Overall it's a fun and exciting book full of adventure, mystery, secrets and much more that the kids will definitely enjoy! Thank you StoryGram Kids, Kekla Magoon and Candlewick Press for sharing this book with me!
June 21, 2024
What you really need to know is that this is both a secret library (as in hidden away from most of the world) and also a library full of secrets. Dally is grieving the death of her beloved grandfather. And at odds with her business minded mom who refused to let Dally have any adventures. They are a wealthy family and Dally attends a prestigious private school -- but because of their money and her mom's desire to sort of shield her from the world - she has no real friends now that her grandfather has died. What to do? Create her own adventure, of course! But it will change her world in ways she could never imagine.
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