Sammy Keyes and the Hotel Thief

March 30, 1998
Sammy Keyes has no keys, nor does she need them. Living illegally with her grandmother in a senior citizens' residence, she enters and exits through a jiggered fire door and finds her way into a number of other restricted areas with equal ease. Although she's a girl detective starring in a new series (her second adventure, Sammy Keyes and the Skeleton Man, is planned for a fall release), Sammy is no Nancy Drew. She's smart-mouthed and hard-hitting, unpopular at school and on the outs with the law. Readers follow the sleuth through her saucy first-person narrative as she tries to find a burglar who's made a number of hits in her neighborhood--one of which she witnessed while spying on her neighbors with binoculars. The solution will likely come as a surprise, and the sleuth delights from start to finish. Van Draanen's novel exhibits all the zesty charm of her previous How I Survived Being a Girl. For example, Sammy's vice principal "looks like he could be a professional wrestler if he'd let his hair grow out and get a suntan." Although this young gumshoe is not yet a professional herself, she's well on her way--and certainly worth watching. Keep your binoculars trained on Sammy Keyes. Ages 10-13.

Starred review from September 4, 2000
HYouthful-sounding actress Sands adroitly steps into the high-tops of smart-mouthed seventh-grade sleuth Samantha "Sammy" Keyes in this crisp adaptation of Van Draanen's fast-paced Edgar-winning mystery. Listeners are immediately swept into the story when Sammy relates that she's observed a crime while looking at the Heavenly Hotel through her grandmother's binoculars. Not only did she witness a man stealing money, the man saw her, too--and she waved at him. As the mystery behind the burglary unravels, and Sammy reveals details of her unusual home life (she lives illegally with her grandmother in a senior citizen's residence that doesn't allow children), Sands keeps listeners hooked, balancing shades of adolescent exasperation with exuberance and spunk. The story is further fleshed out with Sammy's misadventures at her new school, including a scuffle with a classroom nemesis and her attempts to keep two steps ahead of a nosy neighbor and an antagonistic police officer who could wreck everything. Young listeners are sure to embrace this solid entry in the Live Oak Mysteries series. Ages 10-up. (Nov.) FYI: The second Sammy Keyes title, Sammy Keyes and the Skeleton Man, also read by Sands, is being simultaneously released.

August 17, 1998
Sammy, an intrepid girl detective, discovers a number of secrets about the hotel across the street from her home. "The solution will likely come as a surprise, and the sleuth delights from start to finish," said PW. Ages 10-13.