Marvelous Middle Grade Monday
The Hotel Balzaar (Candlewick Press, 2024) by Kate DiCamillo is a sweet story of stories within a story. It’s beautifully illustrated by Júlia Sardà.
Marta and her mother live in a hotel where Marta must be as quiet and invisible as a small mouse while her mother works. Marta obeys until a countess with a parrot arrives and invites her to visit. The stories the countess tells don’t seem connected and Marta is not sure they are even true, but they give her hope.
Part of The Norendy Tales, this book is aimed at ages 7-10, but I think older readers will enjoy as well. The first book in the collection is The Puppets of Spelhorst and coming in September is a third, Lost Evangeline. The books stand alone but share a world.
Kate is a two-time Newbery winner who writes picture books, early chapter books, and middle grade novels. Read more about this award winning author here.
Júlia is an author as well as an illustrator–read about her here and see samples of her work here.