Hotel Flamingo: Holiday Heatwave

Alex Milway's Hotel Flamingo: Holiday Heatwave is a sunny animal-hotel adventure for 7 year olds about a royal visit that lands in the middle of a heatwave.

What happens

Anna owns Hotel Flamingo, where the staff and the guests are all animals. One blazing summer morning a limousine pulls up and out steps Ms Chinstrap, a very official penguin in little round glasses. The King and Queen Penguin would like to stay. In three days!

The hotel's packed already. A tour bus has just dropped off twenty-six warthogs who want mud for their baths, a rat with gold teeth and a lizard who's very pleased with how he looks.

Then there's the folder of royal requirements. The beds are much too soft (penguins prefer rocks). The chef must make squid scones. And the swimming pool needs an iceberg, in record-breaking heat, when there's no ice left to buy anywhere.

That last bit is no accident. The Glitz, the very exclusive hotel down the road, has bought it all up. Its owner Mr Ruffian (a lion) expected the royals at his place, and he's promised to make their visit impossible.

So Anna tries the port for ice. Then she tries the beach for rocks, and somebody down by the water screams SHARK. (It isn't a shark.)

Before long, things are going wrong in ways that don't look like bad luck. The red carpet froths up under the royal feet. Someone has cut the air conditioning wires. Is one of the guests working for Mr Ruffian? T. Bear the doorman turns detective to find out.

It's very funny to read. Madame Le Pig, the chef, is caught standing in a giant saucepan squashing berries with her trotters, and she's outraged at being interrupted. The king talks in wonderfully silly slang and thinks a soggy carpet is "top-notch whizzer".

And Anna gets things wrong, which is nice to see in a hero. She's so busy chasing perfection for the royals that her other guests end up shivering and cross. She has to remind herself that EVERYONE is welcome at her hotel.

This is the second book in the series, and it's easy to pick up from here. You're told who everyone is and why the Glitz is the enemy. The chapters are very short too, which helps if your reader is just getting going with chapter books.

What to read next

If this one goes down well, Carnival Caper comes next. Summer's over and the carnival is coming to Animal Boulevard. Anna has a week to get a float built, and a world-famous rock band is sneaking in after midnight.