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    Hocus Pocus Hotel
    Hocus Pocus Hotel
    Hocus Pocus Hotel
    Ebook137 pages1 hour

    Hocus Pocus Hotel

    By Michael Dahl and Lisa K. Weber

    4.5/5

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    About this ebook

    The Abracadabra Hotel, built by and for magicians, has long been know to locals as the Hocus Pocus Hotel. Charlie Hitchcock has never stepped inside until Tyler Yu tells him to meet him there ...or else. As if the hotel's storied past isn't enough, it turns out that the place is inhabited by magicians, and while Charlie and Ty solve magical mysteries, the bully and the brain form an unlikely friendship.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCapstone Young Readers
    Release dateSep 1, 2012
    ISBN9781434259837
    Hocus Pocus Hotel
    Author

    Michael Dahl

    Michael Dahl is the prolific author of the bestselling Goodnight, Baseball picture book and more than 200 other books for children and young adults. He has won the Association of Educational Publishers Distinguished Achievement Award three times for his nonfiction, a Teachers’ Choice Award from Learning Magazine, and a Seal of Excellence from the Creative Child Awards. Dahl currently lives in Minnesota.

    Read more from Michael Dahl

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    Reviews for Hocus Pocus Hotel

    4.5/5

    6 ratings6 reviews

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    • 5/5
      When geeky middle school student, Charlie "Hitch" Hitchcock receives a note from Tyler "Ty" Yu, the school bully, he knows that he must face the music or be humiliated by his peers. Charlie goes to the address written on the dreaded note and finds himself face-to-face with Ty. But looks aren't always what they seem. You see, Ty lives in the mysterious Abracadabra Hotel, a kind of retirement home for magicians. It just so happens that one of the retired magicians, Mr. Madagascar, is missing. He simply disappeared into thin air one day. Poof! Now Ty desperately needs Charlie's help to find the AWOL magician. As the hotel manager's son, it's Ty's job to collect the rent money. If he doesn't collect the rent, he won't get paid. And if he doesn't get paid, he can't purchase the Tezuki Slamhammer 750, Edition 6, in cherry-pop lightening red. But that's not all. The Abracadabra Hotel was been built by a famous magician many years ago. While there are surprises around every corner, things have been a bit more odd than usual around the old hotel. It seems there are strange disappearances, blackouts, and maybe even a ghost. Following a trail of missing objects, the bully and the geek secretly team up to find the missing magician and discover who or what has been stealing from the hotel. With the help of the mysterious elderly elevator operator, Brack, who has a knack for appearing (and disappearing) at appropriate times and Charlie's acute visual memory, this unlikely duo form something resembling a friendship and solve puzzles along the way.The Bottom Line: "Hocus Pocus Hotel" is the first book of a clever and entertaining new series that is sure to please kids. It contains two mysteries, but each is solved separately so that readers will not get confused. Kids will love the insight into how magic tricks are done, and it teaches reasoning skills along the way. Additionally, there are plentiful color illustrations and diagrams to illustrate the magic tricks. This is a fun and fast paced book; even reluctant readers will want to give it a try. Highly recommended for kids in Grades 3 - 6. I can't wait to read the next installment, "The Return of Abracadabra."
    • 5/5
      Title: Hocus Pocus HotelAuthor: Michael DahlPublisher: Stone Arch BooksAges: 9-12Rating: 5Review: An amazing adventure for middle-graders this book is imaginative, exciting and one of a kind. Michael Dahl weaves an awesome tale of mystery and magic as two boys become an unlikely duo to solve the strange happenings at the Abracadabra Hotel. Ty and Hitch are about as different as two boys can be but they form a united front as they search for the culprits behind disappearances, strange voices, and eerie ghosts. This book was a delightfully, fun read and one that would be great for all middle-graders that love mysteries.
    • 4/5
      The Hocus Pocus Hotel by Michael Dahl is a great book for young readers. The main character's name is Charlie Hitchcock. He has a photographic memory and a knack for solving mysteries. Tyler Yu is the school tough guy that everyone wants to steer clear of. Charlie is thrown for a loop when he receives a message from Tyler asking to meet him by Abracadabra. This hotel was built by a a great magician. Things start to go awry at the hotel and Tyler needs Charlie's help.The Hocus Pocus Hotel contains two stories surrounding the Abracadabra. Charlie Hitchcock is a young Sherlock Holmes in the making. Together with Tyler, they are determined to solve the mysteries the hotel presents. This book is wonderfully written with fantastic illustrations. This book is perfect ages 8 and up. If your kids like mysteries, check this book out.
    • 4/5
      A new favorite series that my kids and I are definitely going to follow! Hocus Pocus Hotel is the first book in a new magical-mystery series created by Michael Dahl for middle graders. The Hocus Pocus Hotel is actually called The Abracadabra named after the famous magician that built it for magicians to have a place to live, practice and perform their acts. Tyler and his family live and run this hotel - but lately, they have been experiencing some odd disturbances and disappearances and Ty thinks that people are going to stop coming to stay at the hotel because they may think that it is haunted.Charlie is a smart boy that tries to keep out of trouble. When he receives a note from Ty, he thinks that it is his invitation to finally get a beating of some sort from the school bully. Surprisingly, it was a mandatory invite to meet Ty at the hotel. Ty needs Charlie's smarts and photographic memory to help him figure out the mysterious things that have been happening throughout the hotel. And Charlie is the perfect kid for the job!There are numerous mysterious to be solved! And with each one, we learn just how magicians do their magic. Charlie and his photographic memory doesn't miss a single clue and it is so much fun to see him unravel the magic tricks through illustrations that he draws to show us exactly how the trick is performed. The perfect read for any kid who loves a little mystery and finally getting to see how magic tricks are really performed!

      1 person found this helpful

    • 5/5
      Background: The Hocus Pocus Hotel is really called the Abracadabra, and it has some weird things happening. Rumors of ghosts and crazy occurrences plague the staff and unique guests. The Abracadabra Hotel is really a retirement place for old magicians as well as a hotel and Hitch, the school nerd and Tyler, the school bully and son of the hotel manager, team up to correct the problems.Review: This was an adorable read. The story was mysterious and an adventure full of fun characters and magician history. The boys are an interesting pair, the nerd and the bully working together to right the rumors about the hotel with smarts and spirit. The Hocus Pocus Hotel has beautiful illustrations throughout and diagrams to help explain some of the boy's findings. It was a quick read, and it was very fun. This will be a series of books and my copy had a preview of the next installment...which I will have to go pick up.This would be a great book for reluctant young readers, probably ages 5-8 ish....but a fun read for anyone.
    • 4/5
      This a fun read that is also educational. The Hocus Pocus Hotel is basically a retirement home for magicians, though anyone can stay--if they can stand the mysteries. Ghosts in the halls, disappearing people, mysterious thefts abound until Tyler, the hotel manager's son, enlists his school's brainiac and master puzzle solver to figure out what it going on. It's a page turning mystery AND a teaching tool because, as the boys solve the mysteries, they show how the "tricks" were done, often with diagrams. This book should catch the young male reluctant reader as well as any reader who is "magic curious". And, this is the first in a planned series--the next book comes out in January 2013.

    Book preview

    Hocus Pocus Hotel - Michael Dahl

    Penthouse

    Charlie Hitchcock needed a big, angry dog.

    He needed a bodyguard.

    He needed guts.

    But, unluckily, Charlie didn’t have any of those things.

    Which is why he walked out of school at the end of the day to face his fate alone. Well, he was by himself, but he wasn’t alone. Kids were lined up on both sides of the sidewalk, staring at him as he walked past.

    Good luck, Charlie.

    It’ll be over soon.

    Remember, Hitch, tuck and roll.

    You’re doomed, loser.

    Both sides of the sidewalk were thick with kids who wanted to watch him leave school that afternoon. There were friends and well-wishers. There were kids who’d never heard of Charlie until that day, the kind of kids who went to car races hoping to see a crash. And there were enemies.

    Slowly, Charlie trudged past them all. A few of them shook his hand.

    One girl cried.

    Another kid asked Charlie for his autograph. Maybe it’ll be worth something, the boy explained. After, you know, you’re destroyed.

    After more shouts of support, nervous whispers, laughs, and jeers, Charlie reached the end of the sidewalk. He sighed. Before he walked across the street, where he would be officially off school property, he turned around. The crowd had split apart, as his audience left the school grounds, moving away from him as quickly as they could.

    Charlie shivered in the cold October breeze. He dug deep into his pocket and pulled out the piece of wrinkled notepaper he had been handed earlier in the day, between English and American History.

    The paper had been shoved into his hand by the biggest seventh-grader at Blackstone Middle School, Tyler Yu.

    Ty had never spoken to him in the six years they had known each other. In fact, Ty never spoke to anyone. Charlie sometimes wondered if the biggest bully in school was able to speak at all.

    Charlie had heard him yell, though, and grunt and shout. Because the one thing Tyler Yu did and did well, the one thing he was famous for, was fighting. His muscles and his temper were always getting him into trouble. After-school battles between Ty and other students were legendary. And they always started with a note.

    For the thirty-seventh time that day, Charlie read the note.

    So why had Ty picked on Charlie this time? And why had he given him an address for somewhere in the middle of the city? Ty’s fights usually took place in the woods behind the school.

    Thirty minutes of walking the busy sidewalks of Blackstone brought Charlie to the alley behind Gideon Street. A blue neon sign shined near the entrance. The sign was in the shape of a top hat with a blue neon rabbit peeking out of it.

    He should have gone home and hidden under his bed. That’s what his best friend Andrew told him to do when Charlie showed him the note during American History. It was also what Andrew told everyone else when he spread the news throughout the school.

    I told him to go home and hide under his bed, Andrew kept saying. But he won’t do it.

    Charlie couldn’t help it. He may not have felt brave, but he wanted to see this thing through to the end.

    Charlie looked up at the sign again.

    The one thing that always drove Charlie nuts was not knowing the answer to a puzzle or riddle or secret. Charlie was curious, and Ty’s note was a puzzle.

    He had to know what it meant.

    Hey! an unfamiliar voice muttered.

    Charlie made out a tall shadow in the middle of the alley.

    It was Ty, standing next to a big metal garbage bin.

    So that’s why he told me to come here, Charlie thought. So he could throw me in with the rest of the trash.

    Ty was wearing jeans, a T-shirt, his chain-wallet, and a pair of scuffed work boots. That was what he always wore. Along with a hard, sour expression.

    He looks angry, thought Charlie. And he did. Even his spiky black hair looked angry.

    Suddenly, Ty tossed open the lid of the garbage bin. The heavy lid swung back and struck the side of the brick building with a loud bang.

    Hurry up, Hitch! ordered Ty.

    Charlie walked closer. At least the garbage is in plastic bags, he thought. Maybe it won’t smell so bad.

    I said, hurry up! Ty said. He lifted three giant

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