Floors (Floors Series #1)

by Patrick Carman

Overview

Charlie had his chocolate factory. Stanley Yelnats had his holes. Leo has the wacky, amazing Whippet Hotel. The Whippet Hotel is a strange place full of strange and mysterious people. Each floor has its own quirks and secrets. Leo should know most of them - he is the maintenance man's son, after all. But a whole lot more mystery gets thrown his way when a series of cryptic boxes are left for him . . . boxes that lead him to hidden floors, strange puzzles, and unexpected alliances. Leo had better be quick on his feet, because the fate of the building he loves is at stake . . . and so is Leo's own future!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780545388405
Publisher:	Scholastic, Inc.
Publication date:	12/16/2011
Series:	Floors Series , #1
Sold by:	Scholastic, Inc.
Format:	eBook
Pages:	272
Lexile:	870L (what's this?)
File size:	4 MB
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Patrick Carman is the bestselling author of numerous series for young readers, including The Land of Elyon, Elliot's Park, Skeleton Creek, Atherton, Trackers, Dark Eden, and 3:15. He got his start as a storyteller weaving bedtime tales for his two daughters. He lives in Walla Walla, Washington, with his family.

Chris Turnham has had a long career working as a visual development artist in the animation industry for clients including Sony Pictures Animation, LAIKA, and DreamWorks Animation. This is his debut picture book. He is based in Los Angeles.

Read an Excerpt

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.

Editorial Reviews

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.)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for Floors

"Carman has not only created a beguiling building but populated it with a sympathetic company of oddfellows, plus a few nefarious creatures . . . Readers will come to feel totally invested in the hotel, just as they will come to love Leo." -Kirkus Reviews

"Carman 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." -Publishers Weekly

"This story will tug at the imagination of any readers with a healthy appetite for adventure." -School Library Journal

"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." -Booklist

From the Publisher

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)

Kirkus Reviews