Halloween Motel

When a family mistakenly checks into the wrong motel for Halloween, they do not realize just how scary the other guests are.

Amazon.com Review

All seems to be going well one late October evening when a boy and his parents check into a motel for some Halloween fun. And yet, isn't the desk clerk, Frankie Stein, with his bloodshot eyes and green skin, just a trifle odd? And don't the other guests seem just a little creepier than they should be? It isn't until the trick-or-treating with apple-eating vampires, stinky bigfoot monsters, and an evil scientist is over, and the family is kicked out of the hotel for being too weird, that they discover a horrific mistake has been made. They're not at the Halloween Motel, as they first thought; they're at the infinitely spookier Holiday Motel! Young readers will howl with ghastly delight at the hilarious hijinks of the poor, unsuspecting family and the unnatural motel residents. Joe Rocco's wildly meandering illustrations lure us in just as the boy and his parents are drawn in on that fateful, frightful night. Chock full of silly rhymes, slime, gore, and exceedingly goofy creepy creatures, this Halloween book is a real treat. Author-illustrator team Sean Diviny and Joe Rocco conspired to create another wacky wonder of a picture book called Snow Inside the House. (Ages 4 to 8)--Emilie Coulter

From School Library Journal

Kindergarten-Grade 2-An amusing holiday read-aloud, told in rhyme, with illustrations that kids will pore over. On October 31st, a boy and his parents check into what they think is the Halloween Motel. They're given a "skeleton key" to Room 13, where the headboard is a tombstone, the claw-footed furniture kicks, and the telephone is dead. "The snack machine had BOTTLED SLIME and Bar-B-Que Bat Wings,/Bloody-flavored Bubble Gum and bags of Wiggly Things-." Dressed in costume, the family goes trick-or-treating from room to room, marveling at the other visitors' clever "disguises," including a witch, a vampire, a mummy, and a ghost. After receiving complaints about three "weirdos," Frankie Stein, the desk clerk, informs them that not only are they at the wrong motel, but also that they are bothering the other guests. Putrid purples, acid greens, bilious yellows, and bruise-toned blues dominate the detailed cartoons. Varied, eye-catching typefaces are utilized throughout.Maryann H. Owen, Racine Public Library, WI Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Ages 5-8. It's Halloween, and a boy and his family have reservations at the Halloween Motel, a goofy and creepy place, with a bellhop named Frankie Stein, monsters as guests, and doors that open with a skeleton key. By the end of the rhyming tale, however, children discover that everything is not quite as it appears. Occasionally, the words are difficult to read, especially when black letters appear on top of dark illustrations, but the text is full of puns and good humor, and it's alive with adjectives (often printed in funky display type) that will increase the fun. The detailed, cartoonlike pictures reveal new jokes and joys with every reading. Marta SegalCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

About the Author

Sean "Hunka-Hunka Halloween" Diviny was a houseboy at The Flanders Hotel in Ocean City, cashier at The Carlyle Hotel In New York City, and front office manager at The Chateau Marmont Hotel in Los Angeles. He currently dwells In the Jungle Room at Heartbreak Hotel.

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