Full Moon Soup Or The Fall Of The Hotel Splendide

Full Moon Soup or The Fall of the Hotel Splendide

Ergodebooks.com ReviewThe seeds of disaster are sown in the first cross section of the Hotel Splendide in Alastair Graham's stunning, oversized, wordless picture book Full Moon Soup, though you wouldn't know it at first glance. From attic to basement, all seems tranquil. Under a full moon, a young couple stands arm in arm on a balcony, gazing skyward at the bright orb. A maid upstairs is dusting a lamp, as an overtaxed bellhop lugs luggage. An elderly gentleman hurries into the dining room with a newspaper. Downstairs in the basement, the cook is just about to take the fateful sip of glowing green, presumably full-moon soup. Turn the next page, and ... oh, my. All is no longer splendid at the Hotel Splendide, it seems. The moonstruck couple is visibly shaken as a pot wrenches itself from the balcony and spirals downward. Ghoulish goblins have appeared in the attic! The bedspread has attacked the maid! Is that Quasimodo under the stairwell? We hesitate to turn the page. The hotel paintings are alive! The maid is flailing under the bed! The cook is turning into a werewolf! Hotel life--and the hotel with it--continues to derail as a space ship crashes into the roof, Dracula comes out to dance, sausage links grow legs and crawl out of the freezer, mummies emerge, and the nearby canal floods the hotel basement. Young readers will eagerly devour the deliciously deranged details, tracking the characters from spread to spread to see what ridiculous events are unfolding. Your kids will find something new, odd, or hilarious in Full Moon Soup every time they look at it, which will no doubt be often! (Ages 5 to 105) --Karin SnelsonAs the chef at the Hotel Splendide takes his first sip of soup, strange things begin to happen involving scary monsters and horrible mishapsFrom Publishers WeeklyThe baroque goings-on at the Hotel Splendide demonstrate what might happen if the lunatic Monty Python crew were let loose in the Twilight Zone. This wordless book's large format and exceptionally detailed illustrations reveal an exposed section of the grand hostelry, allowing the reader to function as combination sleuth and voyeur. The imaginative tour de force begins when the chief cook samples a suspicious-looking pot of soup in his basement kitchen, and the entire cast of quirky characters is affected. Separate scenarios are enacted in the various rooms; the mayhem escalates to a fever pitch as all within are besieged by a motley assortment of ghosts, space aliens, wild animals and--ever to the rescue--the local constabulary. The literally smashing finale is truly over the top: the real culprit may or may not be exposed in the endpapers. The bill of fare at this loopy lodging offers several chuckles, a shiver or two and a challenge to tantalize even fans of the hard-to-find Waldo--though repeated viewings will be necessary for total digestion. Ages 6-up.Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.From School Library JournalGrade 4 Up-- A new contender in the race to win the hearts and minds of children who love to pore over the complex, packed pictures of such illustrators as Martin Handford and Graeme Base. There is a story in this wordless book, but no simple straight-line narrative. Readers are presented with a cutaway side view of the grand Hotel Splendide and surrounding countryside, in brightly colored elaborate cartoon style, as the moon begins to rise and the staff prepares for the evening. Page after page show the same rooms, as a cook turns into a werewolf, ghosts emerge from the attic, lovers fall off the balcony, figures emerge from picture frames, and a space ship looms ever closer to disaster. The appeal is to older children (the bathroom scenes feature three ill-fated folk, but avoid the scatological depths). The book is fun and should find fans. --Sally T. Margolis, Park Ridge Public Library, ILCopyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.From Kirkus ReviewsFor Waldo fans, another oversize wordles