When an eccentric elderly newcomer arrives at the Mermaid Hotel, the suspicious daughter of the hotel's managers unexpectedly bonds with the prickly lady, who encourages her to join in quirky adventures.

Eloise is a little girl who lives at the Plaza Hotel in New York.

During the Depression, a young Memphis boy trains his pet duck to do tricks in the fountain of a grand hotel and ends up becoming the Duckmaster of the Peabody Hotel.

"Inspired by the author's grandfather's experiences living in a lodge in the woods, a story of how people and animals survive a forest fire in a small Canadian town"--