Hotel Deep: Light Verse from Dark Water

by Kurt Cyrus

Take a plunge into the strange, surprising depths of this world inside the sea. In twenty-one wet and witty poems, Kurt Cyrus follows a lone sardine in search of its lost school within the dark halls of a great coral reef.

From a devious stonefish and a slippery sea snake to a blowfish with attitude and a line of goose-stepping lobsters, here is a realm awash with the weird and the wondrous, the comical and the spooky. No matter how long your stay, this is one hotel you won't want to leave!

Includes a visual "key" that leads readers to specific fish within the illustrations.

Genres: Poetry, Picture Books, Science, Animals, Nature

38 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2005

Reviews

[Just a Girl Fighting Censorship · Rating 5 out of 5]

The illustrations in this book are absolutely stunning! The painting are so beautiful I want to rip out the pages and hang them on my wall. The poems are just as beautiful. Love this one!

[Sarah Limb · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this story was fine. The pictures were very interesting in cool. I just wish there was more of a fun story. The little lost sardine was so cute, I wish he had a little more personality along with the other sea creatures.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exceptional. Perfect for my fish-obsessed four year old. But also perfect for anyone. Beautiful, charming, clever, and just dark enough to have some edge.

[Sue · Rating 3 out of 5]

The journey of a sardine through some of the wonders you can see at the Hotel Deep at the bottom of the sea.

[wildct2003 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent pictures, good text

[Andrew Robertson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A colorful book for young children, but the rhymes needed some work.

[Mary Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hotel Deep provides a different poetry experience of ocean animals - a bit complex, but also very evocative. Kurt Cyrus paints detailed scenes of ocean life, full of action and movement. Hotel Deep contains 22 linked poems that loosely tell the story of a sardine that has been separated from the rest of the school of fish, and now explores the ocean deep all by himself. Here is a favorite of mine. The sardine is swimming past some rocks on the ocean floor.

I'm a stone. A simple stone,
overgrown with crust and week.
You can see I'm just a stone.
Not a stonefish. No, indeed!

Just a random chunk of rubble
At the bottom of the sea.
I'm as harmless as a bubble.
Who could be afraid of me?

Trust your eyes. I'm just a stone.
Come in closer. Then you'll see.


Kids will love pouring over the paintings in this book, finding all the hidden surprises. I found it a little hard to follow these poems as a clear story of what happened to the little sardine, but they did contain lots of fun surprises. The poems worked much better when I dipped into individual ones and shared them with kids.

[Steve Rush · Rating 2 out of 5]

In Hotel Deep Light verse the dark, you follow a small silver sardine. You see his big adventure through the see. You see the words move as if it were a fish. The words are connected with each picture. The colors of the pages are very vibrant and help the story come to life. You see the illustrator take the words and put them nicely on the page as if they were actually there if you were to go take a dive and see some of the sights.

My son loved to look at the pictures but it was a bit much for him read. My wife read it to and was able to make it exciting for him

[Diantha · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is really good. I really like the different colors and words used. The words just aren't written on the pages but they are mingled in the pictures and incorporated in them. The pictures are full of detail and color.

The words rhyme and have a rhythm to them. But the best part of the book is still the pictures. For example one page has a bunch of fish swimming and swimming around. The colors and the words make a perfect combination to this great book.

I think children would like this book because of the pictures and the fun rhyming words.

[Katie Turley · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a poetry book with the theme of the ocean. Many of the poems are about where the different types of animals live. Some others are about the animals themselves and what they do! It is a fun way to learn about the different animals in the ocean.
I liked this book because it was easy to read and the pictures are amazing! The way that they bring the book alive helps me want to read it even more.
I would share this with my classroom in a "Ocean" section of learning. Maybe read one poem a day during the week that I am teaching this section.

[Meg Sherman · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my top five favorite books to read to my kids. Most children's books drive me crazy because I'm thinking as I read them, "I could do THIS! Why don't *I* make millions writing children's books???"

Um, yeah. I can't do what this guy does. The poetry is so unique in style and meter, and the paintings are breathtaking! Doesn't that seem like a bit too much talent for one person???

[Cathleen Grissom · Rating 5 out of 5]

1. Hotel Deep Light Verse From Dark Water by Kurt Cyrus
2. Harcourt, Inc.
3. 2005
4. Poetry Book
5. For Ages 5 to 10.
6. Themes-
7. This book is perfect for readers who already love the ocean or are learning about ocean life. Kurt Cyrus provides stunning illustrations and fun rhymes to follow a sardine on a journey through the see to rejoin it's school passing by several residents of the deep blue sea.

[Sarah Ashburn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book includes a lot of similar phonemic sounds and also includes a great deal of end rhyme. Although this book is good, I think that it is a bit hard for the skills that should be taught to young elementary students. The words in this book are very difficult and it could not be used as a practice book it would have to be a teacher read aloud.

[SmarterLilac · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book. Terrific story, beautiful prose, really nice illustrations. Why can't all children's books be like this--with heart and substance? Aspiring children's lit writers, take some notes off Kurt Cyrus' paper.

[Kathryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

So much fun to read aloud.

[Sally Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

absolutely beautiful journey of a lost sardine swimming through the deep ocean. Fun active verse along with imaginative illustration. My toddler loves it.

[Amber · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very beautifully done, not the same old sea creatures in this book.

[Alessondrahaskell · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was an ok book, it wasn't very interesting. This book was about the deep sea in poetry. If you like poetry and fish or the ocean I suggest you read this.

[Ryo Bruford · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was so impressed...this was a gorgeous, well written and thought out book. I would love to have this one for our library.

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gorgeous illustrations and clever ways of placing the text on the pages.