Diary of a Mad Brownie by Bruce Coville

Angus Cairns is a brownie from Scotland. He is bound to the McGonagall family by a curse laid on his father by the Queen of Shadows. He has to travel to America to attach himself to the youngest female of age in the family.

Angus's job is to tidy up after his family and his new girl Alex Carhart is determined to be as messy as possible. It takes adjustments on both sides to live together in peace. But that's just the beginning. Angus' curse also affects the men living in the house. Alex's father and brother both take up writing poetry - and they are very bad at it.

Only returning to the Queen of Shadows a precious thing that she lost will lift the curse. Can Angus and Alex figure out what it is and how to return it to the Enchanted Realm?

Kathi Linz

Floors by Patrick Carman

In the book Floors by Patrick Carman, Leo is the son of the maintenance man at the Whippet Hotel. The two of them live in the basement of the hotel. This building stands in Manhattan on some of the most valuable real estate in the country. It is only a few stories high and is surrounded by a large garden with a pond for the ducks. The hotel was built by Merganzer Whippet who specializes in strange inventions. His hotel has rooms like the Cake Room, the Train Room, and the Robot Room. The eighth floor is built like a haunted house. The guests are odd to say the least.

Mr Whippet is good friends with Leo, but he has been missing for 100 days. Suddenly, Leo starts finding boxes that present him with a puzzle and the answer to the puzzle. There are floors between the floors unlike anything one would find in any other hotel in the world. Often the puzzles have to do with rings. Someone keeps sending Leo messages to help him with the puzzles.

Between his box adventures, the hotel is being sabotaged and Leo and his dad have to fix things. Ms. Sparks, the hotel manager is mean.  She is looking for any reason to fire the employees. A couple of men in a limousine are trying to buy the hotel out from under the missing Mr. Whippet.

Leo manages to survive all the tests and in the end he is rewarded for his love of the hotel he helps take care of.

Kathi Linz