Definitely not a Holiday Inn

Your imagination will go on hyperdrive when reading Floors by Patrick Carman.  Merganzer Whippet, a billionaire with a passion for ducks, built the Whippet Hotel, unlike any other place you (or I) have ever been.  Each room is outlandish, from the Pinball Machine (watch out for the flippers) to the Cake Room (reminded me of Willy Wonka) to the Flying Farm (duck!).  But Merganzer disappeared 100 days ago, and the hotel is falling apart.  Leo, who lives at the hotel with his father (the maintenance man), has found a mysterious purple box with a message; whether he's zooming to the roof on the Double Helix or coming down in the crowded duck elevator, it's now up to Leo to save the place he calls home.  Hold onto your hat and get ready for action - this fast-paced adventure is just plain fun.  I bet there's a sequel...

This is for you, puzzle lovers

If you like to solve puzzles, you might want to check out The Seventh Level by Jody Feldman. The main character is Travis Raines, a likeable seventh grader. He would love to get into the Legend, a secret group at his middle school that plans pretty cool events. When he finds a shiny blue envelope with a strange message in this locker, he can't believe it...does the Legend actually want him? Soon he's solving clues and figuring out puzzle after puzzle, but some of the tasks he's assigned don't really make sense...they have a not-nice undertone to them and they're coming in a different kind of blue envelope. Doesn't sound like the Legend, but who could they be coming from? The pacing is uneven (starts off SLOW) and the plot's a little confusing at times, but this is still a fairly entertaining story, especially if you enjoy solving along with Travis.

A Chicago mystery

It's fun (for me, anyway) to read a story based in Chicago, like Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliett.  Vermeer was a painter in the 1600s, and Petra and Calder are friends who are trying to solve the mystery of a Vermeer painting that disappeared on its way to the Art Institute.  Several random events are described, as well as a cast of interesting characters, and it's hard to figure out how in the world they'll all fit together (but they do in the end). The book includes chapter illustrations containing a puzzle that relates to the mystery, too.  Some of the clues and patterns the kids discover are pretty cool, but some seem too coincidental.  Even though I wasn't crazy about the ending (kind of weak), I enjoyed going to the computer a few times throughout the book to see more details of the Vermeer paintings described.