Sammy Keyes and the Dead Giveaway

By Wendelin Van Draanen

"The most winning junior detective ever in teen lit. (Take that, Nancy Drew!)" —Midwest Children's Book Review

The bad news: Sammy's made a deadly mistake.
The good news: No one knows she did it.
The delicious dilemma: Everyone thinks her archenemy Heather is to blame.
Now Heather is in a major jam, and in some ways it's only fair—Heather has pinned more than a few crimes on Sammy. Besides, there are distractions galore to keep Sammy from confessing. Like the end of the school year. And the Farewell Dance. Especially the dance, since she's going with Heather's (dreamy) brother Casey. But Sammy knows the truth has an uncanny way of resurfacing, and when it does, the stench can be more vile than the junior high cafeteria.

The Sammy Keyes mysteries are fast-paced, funny, thoroughly modern, and true whodunits. Each mystery is exciting and dramatic, but it's the drama in Sammy's personal life that keeps readers coming back to see what happens next with her love interest Casey, her soap-star mother, and her mysterious father.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Dec 24, 2008
• ISBN: 9780307544995

Wendelin Van Draanen

Wendelin Van Draanen has written more than thirty novels for young readers and teens. She is the author of the 18-book Edgar-winning Sammy Keyes series—often called “The new Nancy Drew”—and wrote Flipped, which was named a Top 100 Children’s Novel for the 21st Century by School Library Journal and became a Warner Brothers feature film, with Rob Reiner directing. A classroom teacher for fifteen years, Wendelin resides in California where she can be spotted riding shopping carts across parking lots. She and her husband, Mark Parsons, have two sons and enjoy the three R’s: Reading, Running, and Rock’n’Roll.

Reviews for Sammy Keyes and the Dead Giveaway

[mutantpudding · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I just wanna give Sammy a hug in this one

[bksgoddess · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Enjoyable middle grade series. Sammy is a delightful character!

[kejinglu · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Samantha Keyes, or Sammy Keyes, is dying to tell her accident with poor Mrs. Ambler. An accident that is now hitting on the lying cheat Heather! Sammy accidently slammed the door on poor Tango, Mrs. Ambler's bird, and was ready to hide him somewhere when silly Heather Acosta went into the room and switched some important ballots in favor of her for the Class President! When the honesty of Sammy is threatened, she is mixed up in moods whether she should tell Mrs. Ambler that SHE was the one who killed Tango, not Heather, but how? If she was going to tell her that she was the murder of Tango, will she face certain consequences? Will Mrs. Ambler believe that Heather has been changing the votes to make her "Most Popular", "Most Friendly", and "Most Unique Styled"? Or will Heather go in for the worst, and be suspended?While solving her own problems, she considers her friendly neighbors that say that Carolee Lyons wants to sell their houses, that they rightfully bought, and turn it into their own property. Do they really mean what they say? Or, are some of them actually involved in the scheme, and just want to frame someone? Will Sammy solve this confusing mystery? Or, will she fall into a pit of lies, cheats, and not be able to solve the mystery? Read the Sammy and the Dead Giveaway to find out the details and events that Sammy goes through to try and solve his memory!