Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
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, tooÄand 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. (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 4-6-Mystery fans will welcome Samantha Keyes, a feisty 13 year old who lives with her grandmother in an apartment designated for retirees only. At home one day, Samantha trains her binoculars on the world outside. That's when she witnesses a robbery in the hotel across the street. She can't call 911 because that would give away the fact that she's spying and the authorities might discover that she is living with Gram. Instead, she waves at the thief. So begins her adventure. Later, when Sammy tries to tell police what she knows, she is hampered by their unwillingness to listen and by her need to keep her living situation a secret. Readers will love the clever way she catches the crook and they are sure to identify with this likable teenager who inadvertently gets herself into trouble. The book is full of strong characters, including Samantha's friend and fellow sleuth Marissa; Madame "Gina" Narisha, astrologist and robbery victim; Officer Borsch and Tall `n' Skinny, the investigators assigned to the crime; and Rockin' Rick, the town's favorite DJ. There are plenty of suspects and even Sammy is not immune to being accused. Pair this book with Bruce Coville's The Ghost in the Big Brass Bed (Bantam, 1991) or other titles in which the female protagonist must prove to the adults that she saw what she saw.-Linda L. Plevak, Alamo Area Library System, San Antonio, TX (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
Part spooky mystery, part savvy school story, and part comedy, these first two entries in the fast-paced Sammy Keyes series make ideal choices for audio. Listeners will enjoy meeting and rooting for feisty Sammy and her two loyal sidekicks as they solve mysteries-from missing first editions to a hotel robbery-and maneuver their way through the world of snotty junior-high rivalries. Narrator Tara Sands keeps the pace lively and portrays Sammy and the other female characters with ease. Though she creates a credible buzzing voice for Chauncy (in Skeleton Man), who uses a voice amplifier because of a tracheotomy, Sands is generally less successful portraying male voices. Officer Borsch and his various partners verge on stereotypes-although this is partly in keeping with the author's larger-than-life characterization. Overall, these are satisfying audio productions whose taut plots, snappy dialogue, and comic interludes willkeep listeners engaged from beginning to end. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Van Draanen (How I Survived Being a Girl, 1997) debuts a live-wire young sleuth in this nonstop whodunit. The day before starting seventh grade, Samantha peers through her grandmother's binoculars and spots the latest in a rash of burglaries. The burglar spots her right back, setting in motion a headlong chain of events that, over the next few days, takes Sammy and her rich but loyal friend Marissa from back alleys to the roof of the local mall in an effort to finger the crook while escaping his clutches. Meanwhile, Sammy also has to cope with a hostile police officer, a new school, malicious classmate Heather, andin the seniors-only highrise where she lives with Grams while her own mother pursues a Hollywood careera suspicious neighbor. Heather's villainy and subsequent public humiliation may be overdone, but Van Draanen expertly keeps all the subplots at a rolling boil while strewing the tale with red herrings, suspects, and clever clues. Children will admire Sammy's inadvertent genius for ruffling feathers as much as they'll like her sharp powers of observation and deduction; she is a tough new gumshoe with another caper scheduled for fall. (Fiction. 10-13)
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