Heartwood Hotel by Kallie George

I kept hearing about this book on Everyday Reading and finally decided to read it with the boys after they were too scared of the first chapters of The BFG to keep going (we will have to come back to that one in a year or so). This was a totally sweet, younger-kid-friendly version of Redwall, like Everyday Reading promised. Mona the mouse accidentally stumbles across this hidden hotel in a hollowed out tree, and finds a new home at the hotel as a maid there. The story was cute enough, but I kind of found it a little bit dull. I never got super interested in the characters or the kind-of lame drama between Tilly the squirrel and Mona. The boys loved it, though. They were really excited about listening to it every time.

There are three other books in this series, and I'm going to check them out for Dane. I want to read some other books with them, but I bet he'd like reading the others.