Publication Date: August 11, 2008 | Series: Sammy Keyes
The elusive Lady Lana (a.k.a. Sammy’s mom) ran off to Hollywood nearly a year ago to get “discovered.” But when Sammy discovers that her mom has changed her name, dyed her hair, and told everyone she’s only 25, she decides Lana needs a little reality check. I mean, it’s one thing to have her mom ditch her. But it’s another to find out she’s created a life for herself where Sammy can’t possibly exist.
But Hollywood is a shock. Everyone is pretending here. No one is who or what they seem in this starlet-eat-starlet world. So when a woman is killed in the room next door, Sammy’s hard-pressed to find someone who doesn’t have a motive . . . including her own mom.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
The sixth Sammy Keyes book is one of the most exciting yet, as Sammy and her friend Marissa decide to blow town and take a bus to the seedy, insane town of Hollywood to surprise (and shake some sense into) Sammy's mother, the elusive Lady Lana. When they arrive, they discover that she's transformed herself into the glamorous, platinum-blonde, "25-year-old" actress Dominique Windsor, who certainly could never have spawned a 12-year-old--let alone a scruffy, no-nonsense girl like Sammy. The plot thickens, however, as Lady Lana's masquerade backfires in the most dreadful of ways and Sammy is left to save the day and solve the biggest mystery of her life. (Ages 10 and older)
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
From School Library Journal
Grade 4-7 Fans of the Sammy Keyes mysteries will enjoy Tara Sands' spirited telling of Wendelin van Draanen's melodramatic tale of mystery and abandonment (Random, 2001). She does a fine job of bringing the feisty Sammy to life, capturing the heroine's sense of adventure and her longing to connect with her estranged mother. Sammy's mom decided to go to Hollywood to become a star and left Sammy with Gram. Sammy and her friend Marissa take a bus to Hollywood to find her mom. Hoping to find glamour and beauty, the girls encounter a world filled with seedy characters and harsh realities. Sammy's mother, who now calls herself Dominique and wants to pass herself off as a 25-year-old starlet, is not thrilled when Sammy appears. The story offers a satirical look at what it takes for a woman to make it in Hollywood. When one of Dominique's rivals ends up dead, Sammy thinks her mom may have murdered the woman. Many twists and turns follow, keeping listeners hooked. Although the author overplays the message that Hollywood is filled with duplicitous people who should learn to be themselves, fans of the series and of mysteries in general will enjoy this energetic tale. Brian E. Wilson, Evanston Public Library, IL Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to the
Audio CD
edition.
"Through writing, I open up my heart and soul in ways I never could in everyday life. The joy, the pain, the wonder and loneliness I felt in growing up, meld into stories which I hope will help kids believe in themselves and have compassion for those around them."--Wendelin Van Draanen
Wendelin Van Draanen is the winner of the 1999 Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Children's Mystery Book for Sammy Keyes and the Hotel Thief. Sammy Keyes and the Search for Snake Eyes is a 2003 Edgar Award nominee.
Visit Wendelin Van Draanen's Web site at www.wendelinvandraanen.com for the lastest on The Gecko and Sticky, Sammy Keyes, Shredderman, and more!
How in the world did I wind up writing a book about a kleptomaniacal, talking gecko lizard? I'm the first to admit-talking animals are not my thing. First person, realistic fiction-that's what I like. And yet, after Sticky appeared as a sidekick television character in my Shredderman series and uttered his first "Holy guaco-tacarole!" I was hooked. He's so funny. And so full of mischief. I always develop a backstory for my characters to get to know them. Even if they're secondary characters, I have to understand their background and motivations before I let them into the story. The premise of the third Shredderman book (Meet the Gecko) is that a television crew comes to town to shoot an episode, and Shredderman helps out the star of the show. Not wanting to deal with the legal complications of using a real television show, I made up my own: The Gecko and Sticky. In the process, I came up with the hero (Dave Sanchez-a boy who has the "superpower" of being able to walk up walls, and is known as the Gecko), the sidekick (Sticky who is, as you already know, a talking gecko with . . . h'hem, sticky fingers), the villain (the deadly, diabolical, and definitely demented Damien Black), and Damien's sidekicks (the Bandito Brothers, who are, in fact, not brothers, but a thieving mariachi band). It was definitely wilder than anything I'd come up with before, but hey-it was just a made-up TV show, right? Ah, how diabolically infectious made-up TV shows can be! Sticky, you see, got under my skin. His "Ay-ay-ay"s and his "What the jalapeno was that?" and his "You cut me to the quick, senor" enchanted me, and I was sorry when his role in the Shredderman books was over. After the Shredderman quartet was complete, I began getting lots of fan mail from kids (and teachers) asking me to please write more Shredderman books. It was tempting, because I love Nolan and the gang. But I'd completed my mission with the quartet; so instead, I started writing The Gecko and Sticky. My first attempt resulted in an over 200-page manuscript. That was closer to a Sammy Keyes novel than a Shredderman book. So I hacked it up, threw it out, and started all over. My next try had me at 150 pages-still too long, and something about it wasn't quite right. So I chucked it and asked myself what in the world I was thinking, writing in the voice of a lizard. But then on a flight from New York to California, I started hearing a voice. It wasn't my voice. Or the guy snoring in the seat beside me. It was, you know, a voice. One in my head. Yeah, we writers hear them, and although we will almost certainly deny it if you press us about it, we also listen. It's how I wrote Swear to Howdy; how Bryce appeared in Flipped; where Holly's poems came from in Runaway . . . and it's how the narrator took over the storytelling for The Gecko and Sticky. It's a man's voice in my head. (Okay, I concede that I might need some help.) But he's funny as all get-out, and I like to listen to him. He's the voice of someone who loves the art of storytelling; of someone who will hold a child's wide-eyed attention as he shares the wild antics of a boy and his mischievous gecko; of someone I'd plead, "Just one more chapter, please?" So I hope that explains it, because I really must go. He's talking to me again and I've got to get back to Dave and Sticky. They are, after all, in the midst of some deep, diabolical doo-doo . . .
When my mother recommended the mystery Sammy Keyes and the Hollywood Mummy to me at a Scholastic Book Fair, I thought to myself, This book does not look good; mysteries are usually never interesting books. Well, I thought wrong. The wonderful mystery written by Wendelin Van Draanen turned out to be one of the best novels I have ever read. In fact, as I was reading The Hollywood Mummy, I could not put the book down, it was so well written.
What really pulled me into this book was the riveting plot that Mrs. Van Draanen thought of. She made the plot have many twists and turns inside of it, so you really never knew who the culprit was. At the same time, the plot just made you want to keep reading, and never wanting to stop. For example, Wendelin Van Draanen made the end of each chapter such a `cliff-hanger', you just read on to the next chapter without even noticing. Another example is in chapter five, when Sammy, Lady Lana, and Marissa are breaking into LeBrandi's room so that they can wake her up. They cannot find anything to unclick LeBrandi's lock, and as they are searching through drawers, they uncover a significant clue in the mystery. What happens during that situation just makes you not want to put the book down. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes mysteries and suspense. I am sure that the next books I shall read are going to be other Sammy Keyes books.
Happy Readings---- Julia
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The books in this series just keep getting better. This one was so exciting! I just couldn't put it down when I got near the end. In the beginning of the book, Sammy and her best friend, Marissa hop a bus to Hollywood to try to bring Sammy's mother back. She went off to Hollywood a year ago to try to become a star. Sammy finds out that her mother, Lana, has completely changed her look, and had a fake ID made up saying she's 25 and born on Valentine's day, when really she's 35. She obviously can't have a 13 year old daughter, so she tells everyone else in her acting agency that Sammy and Marissa are her nieces. But that night, an actress that looks just like Lana, and is trying out for the same part that Lana is trying out for, is murdered. Sammy suspects her mother of killing her and tries to find a way to prove that it wasn't her mother. Also, the head of the agency, Max Mueller has asked Lana to marry him, and he's 65 years old and still worships his wife who died 25 years ago. This book is soooo exciting, and I couldn't put it down! I definetely recommend this book to all mystery lovers and fans of the series. It's a great book!
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This story begins when Sammy Keyes and her best friend, Marissa set out on a Greyhound to Hollywood, where Sammy's mother is a budding starlet, on the brink of success. When they arrive at the Spanish villa where she is staying, they are suprised to find a completely new woman in her place. Her mother has completely edited her persona to a girl by the name of Dominique Windsor, ten years younger, and without a daughter. Little did Sammy know, that was the smallest of suprises. The following morning, the woman in the next room is found dead, suffocated. Sammy is soon on the case, with Marissa and the fiesty maid named Hali. Trailing through the streets of Hollywood in a battered bug, Sammy has soon begun to untangle the murky mystery- only to find that her mother is the intended victim! Can she expose the culprit and save her mother in time? Read his exciting book to find out! I would highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys mystery and suspense mixed with a little humor,or who has read and liked the past Sammy Keyes books.
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