Sammy Keyes and the Hollywood Mummy
The Sammy Keyes Series
Wendelin Van Draanen

Random House (Paperback)
ISBN-10: 0-440-41866-6 (0440418666)
ISBN-13: 978-0-440-41866-5 (9780440418665)
Publication Date: May 2002
List Price: $6.50

Review: Wendelin Van Draanen has used her amazing sense of mystery to come out with the sixth installment of the already mesmerizing and amazing series. This book also has an unusual freaky twist that none of her other books have so far which makes it unique and even more fun to read.

Though Marisa was somewhat against it, Sammy and her run off to Hollywood! No one knows that they are gone, not Hudson, her 72-year old friend, and not even her own Grandmother! Sammy and Marisa (and Marisa’s entire luggage which is frankly a lot) race to get on the train to Hollywood. When they finally arrive they end up on the “bad side” of Hollywood. They get in a taxi and rush to the studio her mom is living in with all these other actors. Her mom’s boss can’t know that Sammy’s mom is married otherwise she’ll get fired. Sammy starts to notice her mom’s boss act all strange around her mom … the studio is surrounded with Egyptian-style artifact and one artifact that might scare someone to death if they saw it. Sammy wants to know why whenever her mom’s boss Max is around her mom he acts as if he is in love with her mom. Sammy feels very uncomfortable when she sees this and knows there is much more behind Max’s affection. Sammy uses her wits and with the help of her friend they set out to solve the mystery. Sammy starts thinking that wherever she goes a mystery creeps up behind her.

Sammy Keyes and the Hollywood Mummy was acceptable, but in some places it was difficult to understand and the over-all plot wasn’t very easy to understand and some parts I had to re-read because it was difficult to tell who was talking at certain times. The overall book was okay, but the plot was exciting. The book was a nice variation to her series and is definitely a pleasing book to a mystery lover. The book is also very suspenseful which is a good feature to any book but in this book it made it impossible to finish fast enough.

Sammy Keyes and the Hollywood Mummy was a so and so book but it was still quite fun to read.

Review written by Asheena, Grade 6. Date of review: February 2009.

Review: A train station with a lot of weird and suspicious people, a house filled with over fifteen ladies who are actors, and an Egyptian shrine dedicated to a lady dear to someone’s heart. If you do not want to hear anymore about any of these things any longer then do not read Sammy Keyes and the Hollywood Mummy. But hopefully you do, and the Hollywood Mummy would be a great selection for you. It is written by the great author Wendelin Van Draanen who has written the entire series of Sammy Keyes. This book is the sixth in the long series.

In the beginning of the story, the bold, brainy, sharp, sassy, nervy, and on-the-ball Sammy and her friend Marissa secretly take a trip to Hollywood without telling any adults. They are in search of Sammy’s mother because she escaped from Sammy and went to Hollywood a few years ago to start acting. They find her mom and she is living in a house with other people and they are both allowed to stay the night. But as they reach the house and get settled into it, something horrible happens and Sammy can’t help but to try to figure out what has happened and who did it. She must use her smart wits and vigorous persuasion to try to figure out who really did the crime.

I would recommend this story for 9-15 year olds depending on what kind of reading you enjoy. A really good thing about this story is that at the end of each chapter there is a ton of suspense. It always made me want to read more until one day I finished the book. Sometimes the suspense made me really think and wonder about what was happening in the story. I would always have a bunch of questions run through my head and try to predict what was going to happen next. That always made the book more exciting to keep reading. One thing that I did not like was that a lot during the story they would not tell or indicate who was talking at a given point. That made the story more challenging to understand and it confused me a lot during the book.

I wouldn’t put this book in the category of one of the best books I have read, but it is a book I would suggest if you need a short book with a lot of excitement in much of the book.

Review written by Emma, Grade 6. Date of review: December 2008.

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