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THE GRAND HOTEL OF FEELINGS

Name: THE GRAND HOTEL OF FEELINGS
Author: Lidia Branković
ISBN: 9781800660410

by Lidia Branković ; illustrated by Lidia Branković ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 5, 2023

Quirky and expressive social-emotional learning.

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A host of personified emotions stroll into a hotel while the manager strives to understand them all.

The Grand Hotel of Feelings is a large, opulent building with sparkly chandeliers and expansive windows. As the manager explains, there is always space available; every feeling is welcome, “no matter how difficult.” Sadness, for example, a greenish-blue creature with many tentacles, often floods the bathroom with tears. The manager has learned to listen very carefully. If not, “I won’t hear what Sadness is telling me and then he will stay for a very long time.” Gratitude, on the other hand, is a solid, dependable, white being who likes to sit quietly next to others, though it can be easy to take her for granted. Emotions can be tricky to understand; readers will appreciate that the author offers a tangible way to grasp the enormity. Here, the feelings are transient, and the manager learns new coping mechanisms from each visit. The only human at the hotel, the manager has pale skin and long white hair, while the emotions are an eclectic variety of colors, shapes, and sizes. The final page may raise eyebrows, with depictions of other hotels, some of which feel rooted in cultural stereotype (such as a vaguely Middle Eastern–looking palace, with a brown-skinned character riding a flying carpet). (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Quirky and expressive social-emotional learning. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2023

ISBN: 9781800660410

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Cicada Books

Review Posted Online: June 8, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2023

Categories:

CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

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THE PUMPKIN THIEF

From the Leaf Thief series

by Alice Hemming ; illustrated by Nicola Slater ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 28, 2026

More fun antics to satisfy returning fans and snag new ones.

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Not even the arrival of autumn can cool down this impetuous squirrel.

Although Squirrel is skeptical about Bird’s vegetable patch (“Nothing is HAPPENING!”), Bird does produce five (count them) lovely pumpkins. Squirrel picks out a favorite: “The enormous orange one.” Bird hints that Squirrel might want to help out; Squirrel sets out to fetch some work gloves and returns to find only four pumpkins. The frequently distracted Squirrel notices more gourds disappearing and leaps to the conclusion that a thief is near. And where’s Bird?! Has Squirrel’s pal also been taken? Diligently detecting, Squirrel finds clues—peck marks, footprints, and more—and produces a sketch of the suspect. As readers will guess, each clue turns out to point to one of Squirrel and Bird’s friends. Turns out Bird was delivering pumpkins to their pals while saving the big one to give to “my very best friend,” Squirrel. But why does Squirrel haul it up a tree? “So the Pumpkin Thief can’t find it, of course!” A page of pumpkin facts provides the learning component common to all titles in this series. Once more, readers will enjoy the pleasure of prediction and repetition, Squirrel’s silly persistence, Bird’s generosity, and the vibrant color illustrations, balancing orange with green.

More fun antics to satisfy returning fans and snag new ones. (Picture book. 4-8)

Pub Date: July 28, 2026

ISBN: 9781464268076

Page Count: 32

Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky

Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2026

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2026

Categories:

CHILDREN'S ANIMALS | CHILDREN'S SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY | CHILDREN'S SOCIAL THEMES

- BOOK REVIEW
THE SUN THIEF
by Alice Hemming ; illustrated by Nicola Slater

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THE SNOW THIEF
by Alice Hemming ; illustrated by Nicola Slater

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THE BISON AND THE BUTTERFLY
by Alice Hemming ; illustrated by Nancy Leschnikoff

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ON THE FIRST DAY OF KINDERGARTEN

by Tish Rabe ; illustrated by Laura Hughes ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 21, 2016

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of...

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Rabe follows a young girl through her first 12 days of kindergarten in this book based on the familiar Christmas carol.

The typical firsts of school are here: riding the bus, making friends, sliding on the playground slide, counting, sorting shapes, laughing at lunch, painting, singing, reading, running, jumping rope, and going on a field trip. While the days are given ordinal numbers, the song skips the cardinal numbers in the verses, and the rhythm is sometimes off: “On the second day of kindergarten / I thought it was so cool / making lots of friends / and riding the bus to my school!” The narrator is a white brunette who wears either a tunic or a dress each day, making her pretty easy to differentiate from her classmates, a nice mix in terms of race; two students even sport glasses. The children in the ink, paint, and collage digital spreads show a variety of emotions, but most are happy to be at school, and the surroundings will be familiar to those who have made an orientation visit to their own schools.

While this is a fairly bland treatment compared to Deborah Lee Rose and Carey Armstrong-Ellis’ The Twelve Days of Kindergarten (2003), it basically gets the job done. (Picture book. 4-7)