Floors

Patrick Carman

Book - 2011

Ten-year-old Leo's future and the fate of the extraordinary Whippet Hotel, where his father is the maintenance man, are at stake when a series of cryptic boxes leads Leo to hidden floors, strange puzzles, and unexpected alliances.

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jFICTION/Carman, Patrick
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Subjects
Published
New York : Scholastic Press 2011.
Language
English
Main Author
Patrick Carman (-)
Edition
1st ed
Physical Description
261 p. : ill. ; 22 cm
ISBN
9780545255196
Contents unavailable.
Review by Booklist Review

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 Wonka-evoking 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.--Rosenfeld, Shelle Copyright 2010 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

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 Machine-featuring giant flippers, bumpers, and pinballs-and 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 9-12. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review

Gr 4-6-Odd ducks of both the web-footed and human variety alternately help and hinder junior handyman Leo and his pal Remi as Leo attempts to discover the whereabouts of the Whippet Hotel's owner before it's too late. Fans of Pseudonymous Bosch will love this book and its sequel, 3 Below (2012). Audio version is available from Audible and Playaway. (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review

Ten-year-old Leo Fillmore lives in the basement of the Whippet Hotel with his father, the building's maintenance man. When the duck-obsessed hotel owner disappears, Leo takes it upon himself to find the man before the hotel falls into the wrong hands. The plot is action-filled but convoluted, with an ending that sets up another volume. (c) Copyright 2012. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review

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 Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

From Floors "You will prosper in the field of wacky inventions." -- Final words of New York business tycoon Walter E. Whippet, spoken to his son, Merganzer. Walter E. Whippet's son, Merganzer, was an impulsive young man of fifteen when he raced into his father's room just in time to hear those fateful words. Merganzer had just finished his tenth consecutive year of boarding school, during which time his father had been busy building a financial empire. Needless to say, the two had never been close. The words were not the sort of thing Merganzer's father was known for saying. People close to the old man would have expected something like "Buy cheap, sell high! And whatever you do, don't squander the family fortune." But twelve seconds later, Walter E. Whippet was dead. "You will prosper in the field of wacky inventions" were the only words of advice Merganzer had. If only Merganzer had known they were spoken by a man who'd been talking gibberish for weeks. Things might have turned out differently. Excerpted from Floors by Patrick Carman All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.