Hotel Strange #3: His Royal Majesty of the Mushrooms

In the third book of the graphic novel series, Hotel Strange, the residents of Hotel Strange are making blackberry jam when Kiki goes out to pick more berries and discovers an abandoned crown and scepter. As soon as he picks these up and places the crown on his head, a village of Mushrooms swarms Kiki, proclaiming and praising him as their King. Kiki is thrilled to use this opportunity to pass off his chores to his new-found subjects. The other residents at Hotel Strange have mixed responses to Kiki’s new role; Marietta scoffs, but Mr. Leclair joins in pretending that Kiki is King and even names himself as Kiki’s General. It is all fun and luxurious for Kiki until the Mushroom villagers take him back to the palace only to find it infested with viscous croco-mites which are eating through the entire village and palace. Kiki starts to realize that being a King comes with a lot of responsibility, as he is faced with having to save the entire village from being eaten by croco-mites. His plan does not work, and seeing how croco-mites come together as a giant croco-mite monster, Kiki is relieved when the real Mushroom King shows up! Now Kiki can resign from his royal duties. Hotel Strange: His Royal Majesty of the Mushrooms is a graphic novel originally written in French and the authors are a married couple who wrote the series together. Florian Ferrier is also a producer of animated television programs, and Katherine Ferrier is the co-author and illustrator of the series. Each photo tells the story while the text is mostly a dialogue between the characters. The illustrations are a major part of the story and capture the feeling and tone of each episode. His Royal Majesty of the Mushrooms is filled with adventures, all the while remaining heart-warming and funny, with quirky characters who end up in absurd situations.