Adventures at Hound Hotel: Cool Crosby

Adventures at Hound Hotel is a series of early chapter books for young readers. In Cool Crosby, Alfie and his twin sister, Alfreeda, are both excited for the German Shepherd, Crosby, to stay at their family’s dog kennel, the Hound Hotel. Their excitement causes a case of sibling rivalry when Alfie wants to build Crosby an obstacle course but Alfreeda wants to put on a play with Crosby instead. They argue and mess up their chores, much to their mother’s chagrin. She patiently tries to get them to look at the situation in a calmer manner and to defuse their anger with each other.

Overall, this is a nice story for young animal lovers. There is good information about different dog breeds in the book, as well as a deeper story about how Alfie and Alfreeda learn to get along and settle their differences more constructively than by losing their tempers.

The book has nice full-color illustrations, although many pages don’t have any illustrations at all. The vocabulary is simple enough, yet still challenging for young readers who are transitioning from beginning readers to full-chapter books.