Wendelin Van Draanen's: Sammy Keyes and the Hotel Thief

Cover art by Craig Phillips

 

Wendelin Van Draanen’s Sammy Keyes and the Hotel Thief was first published in 1998 by Penguin Random House and won an Edgar Award in 1999. Ms. Van Draanen’s award winning mystery is still in print and the paperback cover art was illustrated by Craig Phillips. Today’s middle grade students were not born in 1998 and this novel will resonate with them as the story is fun, fast paced and despite her best efforts Sammy manages to get into trouble. Sammy lives with her grandmother who has lots of love and very limited finances. This makes the absence of cell phones and other technology understandable and keeps the novel current. While looking out her grandmother’s apartment window, Sammy sees a robbery and then tries to solve it. She visits a market, the mall, the hotel and a few other spots with her best friend Marissa and they put the clues together.

The paperback version was published in 2017 by Penguin Random House and has 162 pages of story with additional discussion questions.

 

Visit author: Wendelin Van Draanen  

Visit illustrator: Craig Phillips 

Visit the Edgar Awards: Best Juvenile Mysteries Edgar Awards  

Visit Greg Pattridge host of: Marvelous Middle Grade Monday  

Laura Parnum Interviews Wendelin Van Draanen: Eastern PennPoints  

Interview with Wendelin Van Draanen: Analog Magazine 

Interview with Wendelin Van Draanen: M Liz Boyle  

 Visit your local book store: Second Star to the Right 

Book Review: Avi's: Crispin: The End of Time

 

Cover Art by Tristan Elwell

 

Crispin: The End of Time by Avi published by Balzer + Bray, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers in 2010 is the third book in the Crispin trilogy. Tristan Elwell illustrated the cover. The first book Crispin: The Cross of Lead was awarded the Newbery Medal in 2003. The End of Time can be read as the first book but it is more satisfying as the conclusion to Crispin’s story. (The second book in the series: Crispin: At the Edge of the World is only available as an audio or e-book.)

Crispin can not catch a break; his adoptive father, Bear, has died. His adopted sister, Troth, joins a convent, an excellent choice for that period in time. She has a roof over head, daily meals and her skills as an herbalist are valued. Unknowingly Crispin joins a murdering troupe of musicians and must figure out a way to escape and to take a fellow captive, a very young Owen with him. The descriptions of middle age life carry the story forward.

For me the most memorable part is the graphic description of the castle moat which is not the grassy ditches of current castle museums or even fish filled waters of some castle museums but ditches filled with raw sewage and mud, emitting a foul stench.

The paperback version, published in 2011, is 223 pages long and includes additional back matter: A Conversation with Avi, a Middle Ages Bibliography with the eye catching Books, Banks and Buttons and Other Middle Age Inventions listed, and discussion questions.

Link to Author Page: Avi Writer

Writing tips: Avi Writing Tips  

Cover Design: Cristine Kettner 

Cover Art: Tristan Elwell   

Review of: Avi: Crispin: The Cross of Lead 

Visit Greg Pattridge host of: Marvelous Middle Grade Monday  

Visit your local book store: Second Star to the Right