3 Below (Floors Series #2)

by Patrick Carman

Overview

There's mystery and adventure on every floor.

Now that Leo has uncovered a few secrets behind the wacky Whippet Hotel, he'll have to save it!

Leo has explored the zany, wonderful Whippet Hotel from basement to top floor, with trains, flying goats, and mazes (among other things) in between. But even Leo doesn't know every secret of the Whippet -- and when he discovers that there's more beneath the hotel than he'd thought, it doesn't take long for more adventures to unfold!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780545798587
Publisher:	Scholastic, Inc.
Publication date:	04/28/2015
Series:	Floors Series , #2
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	5.20(w) x 7.50(h) x 0.90(d)
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.

Editorial Reviews

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

Just when all seems headed to a happily ever after, new step-brothers Leo and Remi are recruited by the owner of the mysterious Whippet Hotel to save their beloved home from disaster. A huge debt threatens to send the hotel into foreclosure. Merganzer D. Whippet, the hotel's eccentric owner, sends Leo and Remi on an adventure that propels them from the roof to the subbasement to unravel puzzles and identify the clues that will provide the cash needed to save the hotel. Bernstein's voice is clear and animated, bringing each personality to life in distinct characterizations. The engineering of the soundtrack set the pace of his voice a little slower than normal speech, however, so that Bernstein often sounds as if he is speaking at three quarters normal speed. As a result, the recording often sounds plodding and unnatural. The story keeps the listener's attention in spite of this rhythm. The warm consideration Leo and Remi feel for each other, as they acknowledge their new relationship status, is appealing. Danger never gets too close for comfort and the action is nonstop—up and down, literally and figuratively, as the two boys' race against the clock this way and that, in the duck elevator. Unabridged on five compact discs and the second in Carman's "Floors" series, this book could be used to encourage a reluctant reader to become interested in print books and would be a good addition to an upper elementary, or middle school library, or resource center. Reviewer: Hazel Buys

Children's Literature - Hazel Buys

On the eve of their parents' wedding Leo and Remi are summoned by Merganzer D. Whippet, erstwhile owner of the zany Whippet Hotel to embark on a perilous adventure to save the beloved hotel. Merganzer owes $700,000 in back taxes and the boys are given a key card with instructions to travel to the sub-basement and return with four Floogers, a zip rope, and the iron box. Travelling by duck elevator to the unknown subterranean level the boys gather clues which easily lead them to the money they need. As they gleefully place the check into the hands of the nefarious Ms. Sparks, who is plotting to take over the hotel, they learn the amount need is $7,000,000! Back they go through the bizarre labyrinth unraveling obscure clues, meeting a mad scientist, and exploring the Realm of Gears while attempting to keep one step ahead of Mr. Carp whose job it is to keep the boys from success. All the while the clock is ticking to the midnight deadline as Leo and Remi race to the finish aided by the hotel, that moves and shifts to bring them within reach of their goal. It is difficult to sum up this multi-layered plot but it is sufficient to say this is one wild and crazy read. Carmen moves the plot along at fast pace that never allows the readers' attention to lag. The residents of the hotel are as eccentric and complicated as the Whippet Hotel itself and there is plenty of action, humor, and outlandish and clever inventions in this fantastical adventure. This is book two in the "Floors" series but it does stand alone and its madcap plot will send first time readers to search out book one. Reviewer: Beverley Fahey

Children's Literature - Beverley Fahey

Gr 4?6—Fans who enjoyed Floors (Scholastic, 2011) and want more of the same should be pleased with Leo and Remi's latest excursion. The fate of the wild and wacky Whippet Hotel is once again in the hands of 10-year-old Leo Fillmore. Merganzer Whippet, the eccentric owner of New York City's most unusual hotel, has just discovered that the building is dangerously in debt. The brilliant inventor has recruited Leo and his friend, Remi, and has given them a quest to recover the items necessary to avert disaster. The two boys must venture deep into uncharted territory in the subbasements of the hotel to retrieve what Merganzer needs. This lightweight fantasy adventure provides puzzles to solve, fabulous rooms and inventions to explore, and large dollops of humor meant to tickle the funny bones of reluctant readers. This second installment doesn't deviate from the tried-and-true formula: one-dimensional villains get thwarted, children are given free rein for thrilling adventures without too much danger, and the designer of the drama is conveniently pulling the strings so that everything comes out right in the end.—Stephanie Whelan, New York Public Library

School Library Journal

Leo Fillmore, 11 years old and proprietor of New York City's most engagingly eccentric hotel (Floors, 2011), returns with a juicy, potentially calamitous dilemma. When Leo learns that Merganzer D. Whippet, ex-owner of the Whippet Hotel (now in Leo's capable if fumbly hands) and maker of wacky inventions, had neglected to pay the hotel's taxes to the tune of $700,000, he has to unravel Merganzer's strange instructions in order to save the joint from sale to an avaricious developer. (Actually, it is $7 million, but Merganzer is challenged in the 0's department.) But it is as though Merganzer is speaking in tongues: "Remember!...Four Floogers, a zip rope, and the iron box!...An isle of Penguins, a boy named Twist, Robinson Crusoe!" Carman, however, is an intricate yet bell-clear storyteller, all the many wheels freely spinning but meshed, and soon a Flooger is as obvious and necessary as the pink rhinoceros in the diamond mine. The characters are slap-happy and tomfool without overdoing their weird behavior, though Carman may be at his best in creating the very strange world of the hotel, from its magical, duck-infested rooftop to the Realm of Gears in the super-sub-basement. Then, when all seems lost, in rides the cavalry, as is only right. An adventurous romp, as atmospheric as incense and as smooth as lemonade on a summer day. (Magical adventure. 9-12)

Kirkus Reviews