What's the Name of That Book??? discussion

I'm looking for a book that i read about five years ago. At some point in it a young boy opened a hat box and got kidnapped and taken to a mysterious hotel. It was on another planet and outside was like a desert. There was also some sort of puppet show theatre mentioned in it. I feel like it also had something to do with a cruise ship. The hotel that he was in had a lot of strange creatures in it. One was an old man I think. Another was a flower. The details are a bit foggy, but I'm pretty sure that the puppet show was actually run by an organization that was evil and the same people who kidnapped the boy. It might have been a girl that was kidnapped. I'm not entirely sure.

Picture book, chapter book? Illustrations? If yes, what style were they in? Remember the cover? Author male or female?

It was a fairly largeish chapter book. The version I read was a hardcover. I can't remember the name of the author or what was on the cover, but I remember that the cover was a dark turquoise color.

A long shot - Splendors and Glooms (also: "Fire Spell") by Laura Amy Schlitz?

Caitlin, since so many members are looking for children's fantasy, you will really help people if you add plot details to your header. We like people's headers to be as descriptive as possible (you can leave out spoilers though). If you are unable to edit your header a mod can do it for you.

Caitlin, are you still looking for this or did you find it?

This is an old query but the book sounds it could be like the first in the Mariah Mundi series, The Midas Box (also published as "Mariah Mundi" I believe) by G.P. Taylor.

An outside possibility would be the much older The Box of Delights by John Masefield.

Lobstergirl wrote: "Caitlin, are you still looking for this or did you find it?"

No response, moving to Abandoned.