Floors

July 18, 2011
Carman (the Skeleton Creek series) delivers a madcap mystery reminiscent of Roald Dahl and Ellen Raskin, complete with bizarre inventions, a mystery involving a missing billionaire and his fortune, and even a crazy elevator or two. At New York City's Whippet Hotel, guests stay in rooms like the Pinball Machineâfeaturing giant flippers, bumpers, and pinballsâand the Central Park Room, an exact reproduction of the famed park. When Leo Fillmore, the 10-year-old son of the hotel's maintenance man and himself an assistant maintenance crew member, discovers a mysterious purple box while walking the hotel's ducks, he embarks on a mystery that has him sneaking into hidden rooms, evading a pesky six-year-old and other guests, and riding a train through a tunnel of fire. With the help of his friend Remi and a tiny, talkative robot named Blop, Leo discovers more boxes and more mysteries while trying to avoid running afoul of the hotel's shrewish manager, Ms. Sparks. Sparks, a one-note nemesis, is one of the book's rare sour notes, but Carman delivers so much fun that readers aren't likely to notice. Ages 9â12.

April 15, 2011

Here is the Whippet Hotel, a very strange place: Each of its floors has its own eccentric personality, especially the hidden ones.

Carman has not only created a beguiling building but populated it with a sympathetic company of oddfellows, plus a few nefarious creatures (except the ducks, because, as readers are told, " 'Always bring a duck.' Words to live by." Readers will come to feel totally invested in the hotel, just as they will come to love Leo, the maintenance man's 10-year-old son, in whose hands the fate of the rickety old joint rests when four strange boxes arrive. Cryptic utterances—"A flying goat will be of use"—are fun because there's always at least a sideways understanding of what it might mean, and there are clues that the reader can follow like breadcrumbs to the last, cheering pages. But it is the atmosphere that takes over, whether it is as heart-gladdening as when "the coffeepot filled the basement with the rich smell of morning," or as curious as one of those ducks, whose "breath smelled like daffodils." ("You've been eating the flowers on the grounds again, haven't you?" Leo asked.)

The author is a fine storyteller; he rides the mystery right up to the edge invests his characters with quirks that aren't merely cute but essential to the person's identity. (Magical adventure. 9-12)

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

November 1, 2011

Gr 4-6-Designed and built by Merganzer D. Whippet, duck-obsessed billionaire inventor, and filled with secret rooms and wacky inventions (some dangerous), the Whippet Hotel in New York is a place unlike any other. Only the most elite and eccentric dare stay there. It is the only home that Leo, the 10-year-old son of the maintenance man, has ever known. Lately, something is amiss. Merganzer has disappeared without a trace, and the hotel is falling apart. Is someone trying to sabotage it, or is there some other reason that everything seems to be breaking down at once? Following a series of mysterious clues left in boxes he comes upon, leading him to even more mysterious hidden rooms, Leo uncovers the truth, and he learns he is much more important to the hotel's future than he could have imagined. This story will tug at the imagination of any readers with a healthy appetite for adventure. Even reluctant readers will delight in Leo's escapades.-Alissa J. LeMerise, Oxford Public Library, MI

Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

October 15, 2011
Grades 4-7 The Whippet Hotel's truly unique, with features like the Cake Room, where delicious sweets are stocked daily, and the Flying Farm Room, which is populated by flying animal holograms. But since owner-architect Merganzer Whippet vanished 100 days earlier, the hotel's caretakers, 10-year-old Leo and his father, are completely in charge of looking after the guests. Then Leo discovers a mysterious box with a note that warns Leo of the hotel's future and includes enigmatic instructions for tasks that, when completed, might help protect it. With only days to succeed, Leo jumps into an adventure-filled, suspenseful quest through secret rooms on hidden floors to locate other boxes. Aided by a young friend, a feisty duck, and a chatty robot, Leo must use his wits and courage to save the hotel before the letter's deadline. Mixing mystery; colorfully drawn, offbeat characters; and some Willy Wonkaevoking flourishes, this series starter offers an absorbing, entertaining read with an appealing and sympathetic protagonist. Fantastical inventions and humorous scenarios abound, but the story also sensitively explores themes of loss, healing, and family.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)