Floors (review)

With suites such as The Pinball Machine and The Room of Rings and guests that include ducks as well as people, the Whippet Hotel is more like a funhouse than a four-star luxury resort—and that is just fine with Leo, the ten-year-old son of and assistant to the hotel's resident maintenance man. Leo and his dad know almost as much about the hotel's secret nooks and crannies as its owner and creator, the enigmatic, duck-loving Merganzer Whippet. Now, however, Mr. Whippet is missing, the hotel is on the fritz, and a mysterious Italian businessman has his sights on taking the Whippet down. After receiving a series of clues from Mr. Whippet himself, Leo realizes it is up to him—and a few of the hotel's feathered guests—to prevent the demise of the grand hotel. Willy Wonka comes to the Ritz in this sometimes humorous but mostly predictable outing that has Leo undergoing a series of tests until he can rightly take his place as Merganzer's successor. Familiarity will be the key appeal here: the bad guys are instantly recognizable, the good guys are everyday folks with plenty of wit and determination, and hints laid out in the first few chapters will make the twist ending foreseeable even to the most inexperienced reader. Although this lacks the more subversive elements of Dahl's classic, the Whippet has plenty of absurdity to spare, and kids with a penchant for the eccentric won't mind wandering its rooms with Leo.