"'Pb-pb-b-b-b. Pb-pb-b-b-b.' With these magic vocables, Ralph the mouse revs up a dream come true--his very own motorcycle. Living in a knothole in a hotel room, young Ralph has seen plenty of families come and go, some more generous with their crumbs than others. But when young Keith and his parents check in to the hotel, Ralph gets his first chance to check out. He has always fantasized about venturing beyond the second floor, maybe even outside....

"Mia Tang has a lot of secrets. Number 1: She lives in the Calivista Motel and every day, while her immigrant parents clean the rooms, she manages the front desk. Number 2: Her parents hide immigrants. And if the mean motel owner, Mr. Yao, finds out they've been letting them stay in the empty rooms for free, the Tangs will be doomed.Number 3: She wants to be a writer. But how can she when her mom thinks she should stick to math because English is...

After Dr. Gillman helps Wendy, she feels indebted to him and races around the hotel, trying to help everyone else she sees as payment, but Wendy soon spreads herself too thin.

"Ever since her dad died, 11-year-old Jerry Blum and her mom have bounced around dead-end towns, staying in a series of rundown motels where her mother picks up housekeeping work and Jerry can get around in her wheelchair. But the Slumbering Giant motel is different. Lights blink on and off in the surrounding trees, a mysterious radio station plays only at midnight, and people disappear into the woods, never to been seen again. Not to mention that...

Young Lakas convinces his friends Tick A. Boom, Firefoot, and Fernando to fight against their eviction, while fighting for needed repairs and the right to have karaoke parties in the lobby of the hotel that they call home.