Rating: 
Summary: The only mystery is how this book got published...
Review: The term 'Mystery' must be used very loosely these days, as that is most certainly not what I would call this slow-paced disappointment.I remember reading a list of 'Golden Rules' for mystery writers, written by a popular mystery writer of the ninteen thirties. Sammy Keyes break the most important of them all: 'Never let a secondary character, or one from out of nowhere be the perpetrator.' I imagine the person who wrote that never imagined any mystery book to break this rule so wrecklessly as 'Sammy Keyes and the Hotel Thief' does. For shame, Ms. Van Draanen!
Rating: 
Summary: I wish I could choose 999999999999 stars or more!Not just 5
Review: This book blew me away! It's just how a mystery should be! It has suspense and everything! No wonder it won the Edgar award! Sammy is a girl whose mother ran away when she was little. Sammy lives with her Grandmoter now. She's looking out the window with binoculars and guess what she sees? A MAN PAWING TROUGH A PURSE! Sammy doesn't call the police- she waves. The theif sees her now. She's really worried. Later on, she figures out who the theif is. But how will she prove?
Rating:
Summary: Great book for ages 10-13! I loved it!!!
Review: This book had exciting, thrilling parts that made you want to read this book forever!! This book is a must for mystery book lovers!!
Rating:
Summary: Captivating, suspenseful, and funny
Review: This is a wonderful book. It is full of humorous asides, red herrings, and concise, revealing character sketches. Sammy is a great heroine, a young lady with, as one of the book's characters says, "a lot of bubbles in her soda." She is smart, funny, quick, stubborn, and apparently indestructible. If one reads VERY carefully, one can solve the mystery, but the clues are subtle and cleverly placed. I had a great time reading this book, and getting to know Sammy Keyes. Honestly, I wished she lived next door.
Rating: 
Summary: This book rules
Review: What would you do if your mom left you with your grandma and just so she can go to Hollywood and become famous and not bring you? That's what happened to Sammy Keys. Her mom left to become famous and never came back to get Sammy. Sammy grew up hating her mom instead of calling her mom she calls her Lady Lana. She does that because she doesn't consider her mom a mom. She grew up living with her grandma and were Sammy grandma lived Sammy wasn't aloud to be. So she had to sneak in the whole time with out getting caught. So one day she got cought by a person that was living 2 doors away form grams. So Grams had to get everything strained out so she told Sammy to go outside with boicnulars and look around but grams said, "don't go by the Heavenly Hotel." Well what does Sammy do she goes and she checks out the hotel? Well while she is looking though the window with her bonoculars she found a man going threw a women's purce though the window. Sammy realized it was a robber. So she studied the man but he had a mask on. Sammy wasn't thinking though because she decided that she would wave to the man instead of run and go get help. The man didn't notice who she was though so she got lucky. Later that day she found her friend Marisa. She stopped and talked to her. Well after they were done talking she went back to walk home but she went by the Heavenly Hotel and saw a lot of cops and people surrounding it. She went in to see what was wrong and so when she went in she got involved on saying that she says who did it and (etc.). So the officer asked for her address but she didn't have one because she stayed with her grams and the people aren't supposed to no that she lives there so she gives Marisa's house address. Well the cops one-day went to talk to Sammy but she wasn't at the house so Marisa called her over to tell her that cops were over. Well Sammy rushed over there and Marisa said that Sammy was in the shower would be out in the minute. She told the cops everything she new. Would the cops believe her and take her word on what she saw and knows? I recremond this book to anyone that is in 6th grade into 8th grade. I say this because it is a good book and it isn't just for girls. IT can also be for boys because Sammy does some real guy things. She punches a girl in the nose, Goes were she isn't supposed to be, and lies to the cops. This was kind of a page turner because the ice cream man that goes around everywhere and not no mention he is death and has bad hearing he was the person that stole the money. When I was reading this book it wasn't hard to concentrate on because the more and more I read the more I wanted to get into the book. I kind of concentrated with Sammy because when she punched that girl in the nose it was for a good reason I would have done the same thing if she always talks about my best friend and me. I enjoyed the genre of the book. It was non-fiction because it wasn't real. I don't really like real books because they seem to be boring but this non-fiction book was good because the author just made up stuff to put in the book. The style of writing was great because at some of the chapters the author just left you in mystery on what was going to happen so you had to just read the next chapter to find out what happens. There were a few surprises that where in the book. One of them was when Sammy's grandma didn't care that she punched that girl in the nose. All Sammy's grandma did was talk to her a little bit and didn't say anything else. Yes almost every chapter ended with a cliffhanger. When I came up to one of those I just wanted to keep reading and not stop. If one chapter didn't end with a cliffhanger I would want to stop and not read for the rest of the day. This book was not boring at all. It always left me in suspense and wanted to keep reading. Plus I don't like reading that much but I did relate to that book a lot. My mind only wondered when I was thinking what was going to happen next otherwise it didn't wonder at all. The plot was pretty good because it was in a small place were stuff happens it wasn't in the best place in the world. It was good because it matches with the kind of place we live in today. The people that would enjoy reading it would be people from 6th grade to 8th grade and guys would like it to because it has violence and guys like to read about violence and girls like to read about romance.
Rating:
Summary: This book deserves more than five stars...
Review: When I was in second grade (I am going into fourth now) I loved to read mysteries and I still do!!! My teacher was passing out book orders and I was flipping through them when I saw it: Sammy Keyes and the Hotel Thief. I thought it looked good because the description mentioned a spunky heroine. It also mentioned that it had won the Edgar Allen Poe Award. Being in second grade, I thought that it was by Edgar Allen Poe. (Of course I knew who he was...everybody does!!! So I ordered it. The day before my birthday the book orders came. It was the first one I read. It was WICKED good!!!!!!!!!! It should have 99999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999 stars!!!!! My favorite part was: And what do I do? I duck. And who does she hit? Mr. Caan
Rating:
Summary: Funny and Suspenseful
Review: While living with her grandmother in a nursing home, as in The Mixed up Files, Sammy is not allowed to live in the facility (museum) and must sneak in and out. The rest home is across the street from a "seedy" hotel, where Sammy Keyes discovers a secret while spying on the questionable characters coming and going from the hotel. Sammy is a very likable and funny character and she often finds herself in trouble. This book has a surprising ending, which makes Sammy an intriguing character and prompts young readers to continue reading the Sammy Keyes series. This book also won the 1999 Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Children's Mystery Book. Other books suitable for the same age range are Holes, and Abby and the Bicycle Caper.
Rating:
Summary: Philip's Review of Sammy Keyes and the Hotel Thief
Review: With little to do while living at her grandmother's house, Sammy Keyes decides to look outside with her binoculars. What she doesn't plan to see is a bearded man stealing from a nearby hotel! The problem is that no one believes her, but she continues to try to solve this mystery.
Sammy Keyes and the Hotel Thief is an excellent book. It manages to create a compelling mystery, but at the same time, supplies a moderate dose of humor, which is a hard combination to accomplish. The content matter is taken through the eyes of 7th grader Sammy Keyes, which allows the target audience (11+) to relate easily. The story does come a bit lacking as a mystery. There are no shady characters, clues are few and far between, there are no red herrings, and suspects are overabundant for the clue amount. What is there is good, however, and the story keeps flowing at a steady pace. There is no inappropriate language, but due do its target audience, this book is good for ages 11 and up.
If you're looking for a mystery, the story falls short here. If you're looking for a compelling story, however, Sammy Keyes and the Hotel Thief delivers.
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