Be My Guest! Elevator Bird by Sarah Williamson

THIS IS ELEVATOR BIRD. HE WORKS AT THE HOTEL.

IT TAKES A BIG TEAM TO RUN A HOTEL.

As an employee, Elevator Bird is the hotel manager, Mr. Rumpley's dream employ. He is very polite. He chats amiably with the guests and gives them tips on places to go and see in town. He compliments the other employees, like the Wormies, who are the porters, Jane and Olivia, the reception turtles, and Mousey, the housekeeper,  for their appearance and work.

ELEVATOR BIRD HAS A KIND WORD FOR EVERYONE.

But after his workday is done, Elevator Bird has to retire to the hotel basement, where he shares space with the furnace and the plumbing.

HIS QUARTERS ARE CRAMPED AND CREAKY.

His friend Mousey visits with him there after her work is done, and one night Elevator Bird admits wistfully that he's always wanted a room with a view of the city lights.

And Mousy knows just what to do. He tells Mr. Rumpley about Elevator Bird's dream, and all through the day he and the rest of the staff tiptoe up the back stairs to prepare a surprise for Elevator Bird. Elevator Bird yawns his way through an exceedingly slow day for elevator operations, until that night Mr. Rumpley tells him he is needed up on the roof right away... ... where he discovers all his friends ready to party to celebrate his new rooftop quarters with an excellent view of the bright lights of the city, in Sarah Williamson's story of kindliness, Elevator Bird (Alfred A. Knopf/Random House, 2020).

With charming mixed media illustrations of the various hotel workers and guests, this old-fashioned story of mutual kindness and respect is a jolly story of good personnel relations and friendship itself. A gently humorous story of a job well done which leaves a warm feeling in the reader in this unusual picture book. "Sophisticated and sweet," says Kirkus Reviews.