'The best books, reviewed with insight and charm, but without compromise.'
- author Jackie French

Wednesday 17 April 2019

Review: Hotel Flamingo


Anna has a lot to deal with when she inherits Hotel Flamingo from her great-aunt.

Hotel Flamingo has seen better days. It's run-down and untidy, and its only staff are a doorman who is a bear (named T. Bear) and a ring-tailed lemur receptionist (called Lemmy).

However, Anna is determined to return Hotel Flamingo to its glory days, and welcome guests once more.

She wants it to be a genuine competitor to the flashy Glitz on the hill.

Hotel Flamingo soon secures a team of enthusiastic new staff to join T. Bear and Lemmy: a giraffe, koala, mouse and hippo. There's also Madame Le Pig, the rather precocious new chef.

What Anna needs next are guests -- to add to the elderly tortoise upstairs, just awakened from hibernation.

Anyone else might turn away the family of cockroaches who asked for a room, but Anna wants Hotel Flamingo to be open to anyone. She has a big idea, too, and it involves a lot of pink flamingos.

There will be bumps along the way, but Anna is determined that Hotel Flamingo will return to being the sunniest hotel on Animal Boulevard.

Hotel Flamingo is a positive and uplifting story with appealing characters, and a plot that bounces along at a swift pace. Accompanying cartoonish illustrations by author/illustrator Alex Milway are sweet and, like the chapter breaks, are generously spread throughout.

An endearing book for beginning and newly independent readers.

Title: Hotel Flamingo
Author/illustrator: Alex Milway
Publisher: Bonnier, $12.99
Publication Date: March 2019
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9781848127753
For ages: 5--7 years
Type: Junior fiction