Home Again is the final installment in the Heartwood Hotel series. There are four books about this special hotel which is located inside a huge tree. One for each season. In this final book it is high summer and bushfires are a horrifying threat in the forest.
Early in the story another mouse arrives at the Heartwood. Her name is Strawberry and she has come from the Inn Between. I love the idea of the Inn Between "only the best hotel for mice and small creatures in the village! What a wonderful idea, to repurpose the in-between floors of a house and turn them into a specialty hotel. " The Inn Between is reminiscent of the home created by The Borrowers.
"The furniture ... was made of things she'd only heard about. Buttons and bottle caps were balanced on thimbles for tables, and there were spools of thread for chairs. Another chair was made of the top of a wooden spoon - but an enormous one."
Mona is such a special mouse. Why? Because she is motivated by kindness. An injured fox comes to the door. Everyone is afraid but it is Mona who goes outside, sees his pain and then fetches ice tea to cool his wound and pillows to make him comfortable. When the smell of smoke threatens to ruin their staff picnic plans Mona suggests an inside picnic which is just as much fun for everyone. Finally when Mona learns, after she and Strawberry have been evacuated, that Mr Heartwood is in danger because he has stayed at the hotel planning to fight the fire single handed. Mona knows she must help him so she puts her own life in danger and rushes back through the most dangerous part of the forest ready to help save their precious hotel.
Here are some teaching ideas for all four books in this series. Take a minute to explore the web site of the illustrator Stephanie Greagin. I highly recommend this series for young readers or as a class read-aloud. It is not often that every book in a series is equally good but I can say that about each book about the Heartwood Hotel. Wish I was the right species to stay there one day!
Image source: http://www.heartwoodhotel.com/rooms.html
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