The Incredible Hotel

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Pub Date 4 Aug 2020 | Archive Date 5 Aug 2020

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Description

A stunning, nostalgic picture book about a beautiful hotel and the people who stay, live and work there.

Perfect for children 4+.

If you ever go to the great city of Delaunay, take a left at the Duchess’s palace and cross the Bridge of Spires, and here you will find The Incredible Hotel. Everything runs like clockwork, thanks to Stefan the kitchen porter, who brews the coffee every morning, and dreams of being a chef. Until the morning of the Grand Ball, when a fire starts in the kitchen just as the Duchess of Delaunay arrives... can Stefan save the day?

With a style that evokes Wes Anderson-esque imaginary worlds, this is a timeless tale to read again and again from the award winning illustrator of 'JOY'. Each time you read it you will notice new details - look out for the cat and mouse hiding on every page, who have their own little story to tell!

A stunning, nostalgic picture book about a beautiful hotel and the people who stay, live and work there.

Perfect for children 4+.

If you ever go to the great city of Delaunay, take a left at the...


Available Editions

EDITION Paperback
ISBN 9780711243934
PRICE £6.99 (GBP)

Available on NetGalley

NetGalley Shelf App (PDF)

Average rating from 15 members


Featured Reviews

Review to come August 4th on my blog, August 17th on Goodreads.

I received this book from Netgalley in exchange of an honest review.

This book just looked so delightful, plus I love reading about grand hotels with fabulous interior. And it was such a fun book!

Meet Stefan, he is the kitchen porter aka the one who can dream about cakes and pies... but actually just have to fetch/carry, clean clean and more clean. I felt for poor Stefan but I was happy that he didn't let his situation interfere with his dreams. He has quite big dreams in which he makes all the cakes and wins the prices. I was definitely rooting for this little boy to make his dreams come true.

One day the Hotel gets a letter that the infamous Duchess will be visiting for the grand ball (the hotel is 100 years old, hip hip hooray). I say infamous because as we can read the duchess is now for being picky... and shutting down hotels she doesn't like. Yep. Nobody in the Grand Hotel wants that of course and so we see a big flurry of activity as the people at the hotel try to do everything they can to make the party a success, and then especially pleasing the duchess. Poor Stefan wants to help and I disliked how they all just send him away instead of asking him for his help. I get that he is a kitchen porter, but you could at least treat him much nicer. 

I did think it is hilarious that none of these people ever heard of an alarmclock. They all rely on the others. :P 

The duchess was indeed eh, I wasn't a fan of her. Though, sure, I would also be highly pissed off if someone did that to me. So on that note I could understand, the rest not so much. 

I loved the ending and what a fantastic one it was. Man, I was hungry looking at that giant thing that took 2 pages! Glitters, sparkles, umbrellas, chocolate, and more. I was so happy for Stefan, and he deserves it all. I am keeping this delightfully vague. You will just have to read the book to see what Stefan did and what happens next. 

I really loved the art in this one, it was so much fun and the details were amazing!

All in all, I had fun reading this one and I would recommend it.

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This is the Incredible Hotel, and it's turning 100 this year, so there will be a huge ball which needs to be prepared.

We have a small person aspiring to big things. As he tells the chef his dreams, he gets laughed at, and tries to prove himself that he really can do it - and winds up saving the day.

The illustrations are very colourful and detailed, and instead of taking away the stress everyone must feel I focused more on the things the picture told me, like the animal footprints, and the different people working there.
This feels like one episode while it could easily be a whole series of happenstances. I'd like to read more.

I recieved a copy of this book in exchange for a honest review.

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This book is wonderful! We loved looking for all the hidden thing on each pages and the details are stunning!

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Stefan is a kitchen porter who dreams of being a chef. He starts every day at five am, making coffee to wake up the chef, and finishes at eleven pm, washing dishes and wishing his life contained more pastries than dirty plates. When Stefan's leaves the hotel the night before an important guest is due to arrive, the Incredible Hotel discovers it may not be able to run without him, giving Stefan an opportunity to save the hotel and amaze his coworkers.

Isabelle Follath's artwork is very special. There's so much detail on every page, especially in the kitchen scenes, and I loved all the little touches Follath gives the hotel. However, the book's show stopper is Stefan's delicious profiterole tower, which my children could have admired for ages!

The Incredible Hotel is a sweet story which shows that even the smallest of roles can be vitally important, and also encourages readers never to give up on their dreams.

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At the Incredible Hotel, everything runs like clockwork. All the staff knows their roles which keeps the magnificent hotel working perfectly. On the anniversary of the hotel’s one-hundredth birthday, the hotel manager decides to throw a lavish party.

He invites the Duchess of Delaunay, a very picky woman who is known for having hotels closed down that don’t meet her requirements. She wants dancing and a huge profiterole tower. Stefan the Kitchen Porter loves to cook and tries to offer his help to the chef, but she puts him down, so he heads home to make his own profiterole tower.

The next morning, the day of the party, the place doesn’t work like clockwork and a fire even breaks out. What will the Duchess have to say and who can save the hotel from being closed down by her?

The Incredible Hotel is a fabulous children’s book featuring a very grand hotel that looks amazing. The plot focuses on the Kitchen Porter Stefan who loves his job but he wants more from life, he wants to be a chef but seen as he is just a Kitchen Porter he is laughed at.

The book is not only about this magnificent hotel and its staff but about believing in your dreams and not letting anyone laugh at you and tell you that you can’t do something that you truly want to.

The illustrations throughout are superb. You have to look closely to see all the intricate detail and wait until you see the profiterole tower, it is mouthwatering, and I don’t even like profiteroles!!

The book is so beautiful and really is an adorable read.

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This story is set at The Incredible Hotel - one that usually lives up to its name. It's the 100th year of the hotel so it's celebration time & special guests are expected.

Usually, the hotel runs so smoothly but we soon see something goes wrong early in the morning & the special day doesn't start as expected.

There's a huge party planned but how will they get everything ready? The special guests don't know everything is going crazy - they're expecting a fantastic day of fun & great food.

We meet Stefan a very hard-working kitchen porter who dreams of cooking & baking. He practices at home but has to keep to his own duties at work.

Have you ever seen a tower of profiteroles? They're so delicious by themselves but how does Stefan's tower turn out at home? Is it amazing or a terrible disaster?

Back at the hotel guests arriving expect the best but it's not quite ready yet.
Nobody is ready for the emergency that happens either.

Stefan's dream of being a chef seems so far away but he manages to impress the right people & never gives up on his ambition. He knows hard work will pay off if he believes in himself.

This is a great story on its own but the level of detail in the beautiful illustrations is truly amazing. Anyone reading this could spend time enjoying the pictures & exploring all their hidden extras & surprises.
The story & pictures would be a great launch point for many conversations & could easily be used to encourage reluctant readers to grow an interest in books.

Love it!!

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There was some good interaction following the story around the pages, that allowed my son to follow the illustrations whilst I was reading the text to him. A joyful story about a person who dreams of bettering themselves and achieving their best.

Very enjoyable, well illustrated and about the right length of a story for young children. Would recommend to other readers who have young children that like visual stories.

This review is based on a free digital ARC copy provided by NetGalley. My views are provided based on the book content only

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This is a delightful book for young children, with a short, but engaging story beautifully illustrated in a way that will appeal to its intended audience, particularly with the nicely tucked away cats and mice in the illustrations to look out for. A 4 year old grandson was entertained and interested in both story and illustrations.

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Stunning illustrations - what a beautiful book! The story is not the most exciting one, but it still would teach a few lessons to the young ones! Make sure you have a box of profiteroles and/or a few eclairs in the fridge ready once you finish reading this story to the children!

With many thanks to the publisher and @NetGalley for providing this book in exchange for a review.

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Booked yourself a summer hotel stay? With desserts like this, I quite fancy checking myself into The Incredible Hotel in this brilliant book by Kate Davies and Isabelle Follath!

It’s a wonderful hotel where everything runs like clockwork. Or at least it does when Stefan, the kitchen porter is on the case, working from the moment he wakes up until almost the second he goes to sleep. When he’s (most unfairly) dismissed from his job just as the hotel receives an important visitor, everything goes farcically wrong and it seems likely that the resulting bad publicity will spell the end of the business. But Stefan’s pastry-making skills (and the visitor’s sweet tooth) just may be able to save the day…

The artwork in this book is just stunning, with lots of little details to discover the more you read it. We particularly love spotting the cat and mouse on every page, who tell a little story of their own.

Stefan has a strong work ethic and bags of talent though as a lowly kitchen porter he doesn’t get anywhere near the recognition he deserves. That is, until he saves the hotel. We are so glad that all of his hard work results in a job offer and that those that dismiss him finally acknowledge his skill and determination.
With thanks for our gifted e-copy in exchange for an honest review.

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This was absolutely delightful. I loved it and so did my kids. The imagery, the imagination. The little cat and mouse. I’ve read it four times with them already and we will read it many more times in the future. It’s just beautiful

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The Grand Budapest Hotel meets The Great British Bake Off in this wonderfully whimsical picture book about a dazzling hotel and one little kitchen porter's determination to pursue his dreams.

Kate Davies has written a timeless tale with The Incredible Hotel, bringing to life a brilliantly diverse group of characters and sparking discussions around values and kindness. Whilst Isabelle Follath's gloriously detailed illustrations capture a charming story of their own. With hidden details and a sneaky cat and mouse on each page, young readers will be mesmerised from start to finish! Plus, the strikingly mouth-watering profiterole tower is an absolute show stopper!

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This book was so cute! I am not the target market with this book, but I loved as an adult, too.
The story was cute and a little bit magical (even though there was no magic in it). I love books about hotels :D
My favourite part was the pictures. I loved the art style, and they were so beautiful.
I really loved this one.

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"The Incredible Hotel" is an amazing children book which is also enjoyable for adults. The illustrations are adorable, full of details and it's so much fun to look for all the small details in this luxury world. I really enjoid the style of the pictures and spent a lot of time watching all the incredible things in this wonderful hotel - I really would like to go there on holliday one day :)

The story itself is cute, it is short, but with a great heroe. We accompany Stephan, the citchen porter. He is the boy for the small rather unimportant jobs who dreams to be chef of the hotel himself. Then on day of the Grand Ball a fire starts in the kittchen and suddenly it is Stephan's job to save the day...

I really recommend this book to everyone how likes well done books. Of course it is a children book in the first place and the story is quite simple, but the illustrations are so adorable that it is also for adults a real pleasure to read this book.

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