Review by Booklist Review
The solitary innkeeper of a hotel says he has never known anywhere except this small town. His days are all the same, as he greets guests all anthropomorphic animals provides refreshments, and resupplies rooms. Some travelers become his friends, and as their journeys continue, they send back letters. The innkeeper's everyday existence is rendered in black and white, but these postcards and pictures appear as small spots of color that he carefully arranges on the wall of his room. At night, when he dreams of packing a large suitcase and going far away, his thoughts are presented as large-scale spreads in full color. As he imagines traveling by bicycle, car, plane, or train, he envisions being welcomed by friends around the world, with each day bringing unexpected pleasures. Adults may view the story as wistful, given that the innkeeper may or may not ever achieve his dream, but child readers will accept the possibility and view the potential journey with anticipation.--Lucinda Whitehurst Copyright 2020 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Miyakoshi (The Way Home in the Night) creates a haunting story about a hotel owner who longs to travel. Exquisitely drafted black-and-white charcoal drawings show the owner, a rodent with whiskers, nattily dressed, behind the front desk of a cozy, old-fashioned hotel, moodily lit by a single desk lamp. His guests "come and go. Many of them even became friends," but he has to keep the hotel running, and when he lies alone in his bed under the eaves, "a feeling of wanting to go far away wells up inside." He allows himself to dream of a journey in which "unexpected things happen every day." The sequence is filled with light and color--golden sand, lavender shadows--as he imagines traveling, with a "big bag," to visit old friends. But it's only a vision. He will go one day, he vows: "Someday, I will surprise everyone." The story's melancholy exploration of feeling trapped over time will resonate both with kids and, perhaps even more acutely, with the adults reading to them. Miyakoshi's dreamy vision of a smoothly functioning society inhabited entirely by animals creates an enchantment all its own. Ages 4--8. (Mar.)
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Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 3--The proprietor of a small hotel longs to travel to faraway places just like the people who stay at his establishment. Many of his guests have become friends over the years and they send him postcards from the places they visit. But postcards are no substitutes for adventures, and, especially at night, "a feeling of wanting to go far away wells up inside" him. He dreams of packing a bag and traveling to distant lands, places where "unexpected things" could even happen "every day." Perhaps he might also visit some folks who have stayed at his hotel. In the morning, though, he lives out his same routine in the same small town. However, a final image of doves soaring free above the town may forecast that our protagonist will one day follow his longings and embark on the journey of his dreams. All the characters are animals. The hotel scenes are rendered in dark charcoal that aptly match the bear owner's dull, uneventful life. Color appears only on the endpapers, which depict a vast expanse of sky that invites exploration, and, in the bear's dreams, in which he sees himself in new locales. A striking spread contains images of the many colorful postcards the bear receives from friends. VERDICT A quiet story that can spark group discussions about youngsters' dreams and ways to follow them.--Marianne Saccardi, Children's Literature Consultant, Cambridge, MA
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Review by Horn Book Review
An innkeeping badger, dapper in his bow tie and vest, invites the reader to admire his hotel ("small but cozy. It's my pride and joy") and to share his appreciation of the guests who have traveled from afar to stay there. But as much as the innkeeper loves his work, his dreams are full of the journey he will one day take to see the friends he's made among his visitors and explore the world for himself. Adult readers may feel a sense of melancholy, but the closing line-"I bet everyone will be surprised"-speaks directly to children who may also dream of possibilities for their own futures. Miyakoshi (The Storm, rev. 5/16; The Way Home in the Night, rev. 7/17) uses textured layers of black and white to illustrate the innkeeper's day-to-day life. Her use of light and shadow is particularly successful; on one spread sunlight streams in through the hotel's dining room windows, illuminating the innkeeper and his guests, so that the small scene is both intimate and full of wonder. When the innkeeper talks about his dreams, Miyakoshi shifts to color to illustrate his imaginings. Small anthropomorphized mammals sit around a table loaded with food, their faces lit by sunlight, surrounded by warm blue shadows. From the endpapers, which recall a sunrise or sunset seen from an airplane window, to the final view of the hotel, when the reader looks down as if flying off with a flock of birds, this is a beautiful picture book about hope for the future. Maeve Visser Knoth May/June 2020 p.105(c) Copyright 2020. 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
The owner of the Solitude Hotel dreams of being the traveler in this Japanese import.The squat, furry, animal standing behind the registration desk assisting a rabbit guest is hard to identify. When the protagonist also appears among an assortment of other charactersall are anthropomorphic creaturesit is also sometimes difficult to determine which one is the hotelier, although the first-person narration compels one to try. While the establishment is cozy and full of mutual storytelling, the innkeeper yearns for adventure too. The hotel scenes are in black and white, but as the narrator drifts off to sleep, the softly textured lithographs appear in color. In the dream, a bicycle, plane, and car transport the protagonist to a sunny beach, a picnic with former customers, and an encounter with a rainbow. The innkeeper awakens to the original palette only to study colorful postcards from guests in the evening. Close observers will recognize some of the images. Still awake, the protagonist imagines setting off on a journey, although this time it is rendered in black and whiteoptimists and pessimists will draw different conclusions from this decision. While some children may relate to these longings, this title feels more adult in perspective than Miyakoshi's previous stories, which, while equally evocative and dreamlike, are grounded in matters more closely connected to childhood: parties, storms, bedtime.Visually arresting but melancholy. (Picture book. 5-7) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
