# The Lost Library

**Author:** Rebecca Stead & Wendy Mass
**Grade range:** Grades 4–8
**Age range:** 9–13
**First published:** 2023
**Page count:** 167
**Genre:** Middle Grade Mystery
**ISBN-13:** `9781250838827`
**ISBN-10:** `1250838827`
**Canonical URL:** https://readinglist.school/book/the-lost-library
**License:** [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) — please credit ReadingList.school when citing.

## About this book

A mysterious little free library appears overnight on a small-town lawn, watched over by a cat named Mortimer — and it holds the key to a decades-old secret about a library fire. Rebecca Stead and Wendy Mass tell a gentle mystery in three voices: a boy, a cat, and a ghost. Nominated for the 2026 Sasquatch Book Award (grades 4-8), the Washington Library Association's statewide young-readers' choice award.

## Themes

- mystery
- books
- secrets
- friendship

## Where this book is assigned

### Great Lakes Great Books Award

- **recommended** · 4th grade · Michigan — [source: Michigan Reading Association — Great Lakes Great Books Award (student-choice, grade-band shortlists; annual, since 1989). Winner/honor/nominee rolls Grades 4-5, 6-8, 9-12.](https://michiganreading.org/Great-Lakes-Great-Books)
- **recommended** · 5th grade · Michigan — [source: Michigan Reading Association — Great Lakes Great Books Award (student-choice, grade-band shortlists; annual, since 1989). Winner/honor/nominee rolls Grades 4-5, 6-8, 9-12.](https://michiganreading.org/Great-Lakes-Great-Books)
- **recommended** · 6th grade · Michigan — [source: Michigan Reading Association — Great Lakes Great Books Award (student-choice, grade-band shortlists; annual, since 1989). Winner/honor/nominee rolls Grades 4-5, 6-8, 9-12.](https://michiganreading.org/Great-Lakes-Great-Books)
- **recommended** · 7th grade · Michigan — [source: Michigan Reading Association — Great Lakes Great Books Award (student-choice, grade-band shortlists; annual, since 1989). Winner/honor/nominee rolls Grades 4-5, 6-8, 9-12.](https://michiganreading.org/Great-Lakes-Great-Books)
- **recommended** · 8th grade · Michigan — [source: Michigan Reading Association — Great Lakes Great Books Award (student-choice, grade-band shortlists; annual, since 1989). Winner/honor/nominee rolls Grades 4-5, 6-8, 9-12.](https://michiganreading.org/Great-Lakes-Great-Books)

### Kentucky Bluegrass Award

- **recommended** · 4th grade · Kentucky — [source: Kentucky Association of School Librarians — Kentucky Bluegrass Award Winner's Circle (grades 3-5 + 6-8; annual since 1983)](https://www.kasl.us/kba/kba-winners-circle)
- **recommended** · 5th grade · Kentucky — [source: Kentucky Association of School Librarians — Kentucky Bluegrass Award Winner's Circle (grades 3-5 + 6-8; annual since 1983)](https://www.kasl.us/kba/kba-winners-circle)
- **recommended** · 6th grade · Kentucky — [source: Kentucky Association of School Librarians — Kentucky Bluegrass Award Winner's Circle (grades 3-5 + 6-8; annual since 1983)](https://www.kasl.us/kba/kba-winners-circle)
- **recommended** · 7th grade · Kentucky — [source: Kentucky Association of School Librarians — Kentucky Bluegrass Award Winner's Circle (grades 3-5 + 6-8; annual since 1983)](https://www.kasl.us/kba/kba-winners-circle)
- **recommended** · 8th grade · Kentucky — [source: Kentucky Association of School Librarians — Kentucky Bluegrass Award Winner's Circle (grades 3-5 + 6-8; annual since 1983)](https://www.kasl.us/kba/kba-winners-circle)

### Washington Sasquatch Book Award

- **recommended** · 4th grade · Washington — [source: 2026 Sasquatch Book Award Nominees (Washington Library Association)](https://www.wla.org/2026-sasquatch-nominees)
- **recommended** · 5th grade · Washington — [source: 2026 Sasquatch Book Award Nominees (Washington Library Association)](https://www.wla.org/2026-sasquatch-nominees)
- **recommended** · 6th grade · Washington — [source: 2026 Sasquatch Book Award Nominees (Washington Library Association)](https://www.wla.org/2026-sasquatch-nominees)
- **recommended** · 7th grade · Washington — [source: 2026 Sasquatch Book Award Nominees (Washington Library Association)](https://www.wla.org/2026-sasquatch-nominees)
- **recommended** · 8th grade · Washington — [source: 2026 Sasquatch Book Award Nominees (Washington Library Association)](https://www.wla.org/2026-sasquatch-nominees)

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_Generated from primary-source citations indexed on ReadingList.school. For the full HTML view with reading-list cross-references, see https://readinglist.school/book/the-lost-library._