Heartwood Hotel by Kallie George Full Series Review

Summary

This series of four books chronicles a year at the Heartwood Hotel, making note of all four seasons. When Mona the mouse stumbles upon the hotel while escaping a storm, she quickly finds a home. After losing her parents at a young age, Mona has always been on her own. Now, the hotel provides a warm home and friends. She learns why Tilly the squirrel is so mean to her and Tilly comes to find a surprise, too. She encounters many life experiences like making hard choices, celebrations, and meeting new friends. She learns why it’s so important that the hotel is hidden and saves the hotel more than once from terrible dangers. Through these struggles, Mona and everyone at the hotel become more than just friends, they are family.

Reading Level: Ages 7-10
Read Aloud Age: 5+

Mom Thoughts

This was a very interesting series. The chapters are short and sprinkled with charming black and white illustrations. While everything about the way this series looks screams “younger readers,” there are actually many serious and sometimes intense themes: Mona is an orphan and lost her parents at a very young age to a storm; Tilly is also an orphan and lost her family to a fox; Wolves plan to find the Heartwood so they can eat all of the guests during a celebration; Owls attack the Heartwood and try to eat the guests; Mona is attacked by an owl; There is a forest fire that threatens the Heartwood and Mona returns and battles through the fire.

If your younger children handle slightly intense passages, this could be a wonderful read-aloud for your family. The text is beautifully written. It reminds you of how lovely, enchanting, and transportive it can be to read words that are carefully crafted with thoughtful syntax. This is not a Christian series, but it is mostly clean of undesirable themes (see below). Overall, I enjoyed this series and think it could be loved by many families!

Language:

Shut your trap.
I told you so.
Gossiping is mentioned in passing.

Questionable Behaviors:

Squirrels drink malted honey and get out of control. (This will be above most children’s heads.)

Other:

“St. Slumber,” the winter festival character, is the being that gives animals their special gift and abilities.