Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians - Chapter 05

At one point Alcatraz mentions that the second most frightening experience of his life involved an elevator and a mime.  The kids were confused.

6YO: “What’s a mime?”

Me: “Someone that doesn’t talk and only makes motions.”

The actual dictionary definition is "the theatrical technique of suggesting action, character, or emotion without words, using only gesture, expression, and movement."  So I don't think I did too bad on the spur of the moment.  As they were still confused I realized that somehow they'd never heard about mimes before.  I'm not sure how that happened, I thought they were used in shows everywhere, even if only as jokes.

I later showed them the following video so that they’d know what a mime does and they asked me if the box/room he was stuck in was real.

When the characters approached the library the book featured this illustration that I showed to everyone.

6YO: “That doesn’t look like… That’s not a library. It’s too scary!”

Can you tell we frequently go to normal libraries?

Me (reading): “Rutabaga.”

6YO: “Why does it keep saying rutabaga? What does it mean?”

8YO: “Daddy, why does it keep saying rutabaga?”

Me: 🤷‍♂️

You can read Sanderson’s notations on the book here, where he notes that Rutabaga is his favorite joke.