The Hotel Under the Sand

Mythopoeic Fantasy Award nominee for Children's Literature 2010, Andre Norton Award nominee 2009.

Appealing to boys and girls alike, this beguiling adventure explores classic fantasy themes from a unique young heroine’s perspective. Nine-year-old Emma loses everything she has in a fearsome storm and finds herself alone in the wilderness of the Dunes – an area desolate since the mysterious disappearance of a resort known as the Grand Wenlocke. Finding a friend in Winston, the ghostly bellboy who wanders the Dunes, Emma learns that it has been more than 100 years since the hotel with an unsavory reputation vanished; but, unbeknownst to either of them, the long slumbering resort has just begun to stir. Allying herself with a motley crew of companions – the ghost bellboy, a kindhearted cook, a pirate with a heart of gold, and the imperious young heir to the Wenlocke fortune – Emma soon learns that things are not always as lost as they seem, especially if you have a brave heart and good friends.