When I read with my niece and nephew, they often pick out books that contain a lot of repetition and a lot of characters. They think it’s funny when tension builds as more characters are added to a conflict and the text gets wordier and more fast-paced. It’s the building blocks of creating a sense of humor and pattern recognition in young readers.
Author Freya Novak has created a story that falls perfectly into that category. At The Ragtag Hotel: The Elevator Ride is a 23-page picture book featuring a large collection of animals, a guest-pleasing elevator operator, and a big elevator that begins to shrink as more bodies are added to it. Below is my review of At The Ragtag Hotel followed by an interview with Novak about her book and the process of writing it.
At The Ragtag Hotel plot summary
At the Ragtag Hotel: The Elevator Ride opens with elevator operator, Dallas Dingo, offering an elevator ride to a guest who is suffering from the heat both inside the building and out. Every so often, they land on a new floor where another guest, always a different animal from a different country, asks for a ride up to the 14th floor.
The guests are uncertain about whether or not there is room for them. However, Dallas Dingo assures everyone, though with a lack of confidence, that they can squeeze everyone on.
As different animals of varying sizes crowd the elevator, it feels as though they might not all make it up. It’s also unclear as to where they’re all going until the end when all of that tension is broken in a burst of energy with a very satisfying ending.
The story
Though there is a very distinct conflict and resolution, the book mainly feels like it just wants its readers to have fun. I could see kids giggling at the expressions on the characters’ faces and the building tension of the story as the elevator grows more and more crowded. It’s a classic slapstick situation where you know that everything is going to be okay, but you still love the nail-biting build up that precedes its cathartic climax.
In between the fun, there are some very cleverly worked in animal and language lessons. The animals each greet Dallas Dingo in their native language. These greetings are set in bold, capital letters with a little note at the bottom of the page to explain which language they are speaking to English-speaking readers.
Not only do these greetings help to show where each animal can be found in the world, but there are also little animal facts sprinkled in the dialogue at the end of the book. I thought that was a cute way to feed the readers some practical information without feeling like an injected schoolbook lesson that distracts from the story.
The characters
Dallas Dingo is a great protagonist for this story. I love how professional he is at his job and how hard he tries to hide his reservations about letting so many animals on the elevator at once. But he’s also dedicated to his job and intent on getting everyone up to the coveted 14th Floor in order to get them out of the heat. But understandably, he can’t always hide the look on his face that suggests that they might not make it.
I love how willing everyone is to let the distressed new animal on each floor despite the heat, growing lack of space, and urgency shown by each guest. It presents a group of diverse people showing empathy and compassion to one another without complaint, and I think that’s a great message to spread to kids.
The illustrations and format
The illustrations by Anastasiya Halionka are the perfect companion to this story. Each illustration spans the two-page spread of the book. They are colorful and detailed, depicting different angles of this small space within and just outside of the elevator. She also masterfully depicts both natural and artificial lighting as well as the feeling of being overheated and the movement lines to capture the hot atmosphere and search for relief from that heat.
Halionka manages to make the animals the stars of each scene with expressive looks and gestures. However, there’s enough blank space for several sentences of text to fill the page and tell the story.
I like that the story contains a lot of dialogue so that we get to see what’s happening from the point of view of the characters and not the omniscient narrator. I also like the bold blue text that is used to emphasize important words. It gives it a kind of comic book feel while still feeling like a picture book. It also injects so much personality into the story in just a few sentences per page.
The vocabulary in the book is a little advanced. So, I’d recommend it to older picture book readers who may want to read it on their own. But the story should entertain readers as young as pre-school age who want someone to read the book and act it out for them.
My recommendation
I recommend At The Ragtag Hotel to any reader who is looking for a funny, well-written animal book. I could see readers wanting to relive the events of this story over and over again, particularly on a hot summer day.
My rating
An interview with Freya Novak
How long did it take you to write this book? What was the most fun part? The most challenging?
At The Ragtag Hotel: The Elevator Ride was written over several weeks, not including the professional editing. The most exciting aspect of the creative process was discovering the diverse traits and personalities of each animal.
You write on your website that your favorite authors growing up were L.M. Montgomery, Enid Blyton, and Beatrix Potter. What do you think drove you to these particular authors’ writing styles? Are there any subtle nods to their work in your book?
The authors in question are remarkable storytellers, capable of understanding their characters and bringing them to life, making them feel as authentic as our closest friends. I also enjoy exploring the many layers of my characters. The Elevator Ride is merely the beginning of the Ragtag Hotel series. I aim to breathe life into my characters so they, too, become unforgettable friends.
What made you decide to include the greetings from the characters in different languages and interpret those greetings into English?
Australia celebrates multiculturalism, and as a proud Australian, I want to highlight the diverse and rich variety of languages worldwide. I will include new vocabulary in future books to expose children to stories and languages from different cultures.
Is the Ragtag Hotel based on a real hotel or a few different hotels?
It’s entirely fictional. The name Ragtag Hotel was chosen due to the eclectic group of characters, their different cultures, and unique personalities.
Does the fact that the animals all want to go to the 14th floor touch on the superstition that many hotels do not have a 13th floor, and this adds to Dallas Dingo’s fears of being able to get everyone up to that floor?
No, not at all. Most hotels in Australia range from ten to twenty floors. I thought it would be a nice compromise to settle somewhere in the middle. It was simply a practical choice. No superstition involved.
What was the process of working with illustrator Anastasiya Halionka? Was there anything about the completed illustrations that pleasantly surprised you?
I chose Anastasiya because I was captivated by her illustrations. When she first showed the drafts, I loved the idea of the illustrations spanning two pages, which made the visuals more enchanting. When she added color, I fell in love all over again.
Her artistic vision for the characters far surpassed my own, and I’m very grateful for her contributions. The only hiccup was the cover page. A few adjustments were needed to fit the typesetting, but she handled it very well. I plan to work with her again on the next book in the series.
The subtitle suggests that there are more adventures in the works at The Ragtag Hotel. Is there anything you can share about what’s next for you and the hotel?
In the upcoming book, prepare to explore the lives of the characters with an unexpected twist. And naturally, Dallas plays a crucial role in resolving their problem. Get ready to learn new words in Spanish, Swahili, Filipino, and Lingala.
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