Sammy Keyes and the Dead Giveaway

Description

In this adventure, Sammy is the one whodunnit–but will she get away with it?

“This is one of the best entries in the popular long-running series.” —Booklist

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’s in a major jam, and it feels almost 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 school cafeteria.

Praise for the Sammy Keyes series:
 
“Van Draanen offers such an explosive combination of high-stakes sleuthing, hilarity, and breathlessly paced action that it’s impossible to turn the pages fast enough.” —Kirkus Reviews 

“There’s no stopping Sammy.”—Publishers Weekly

“An intelligent, gutsy, flawed, and utterly likable heroine.”—Booklist

“Move over, Nancy Drew—a new sleuth is on the scene.”—Girls’ Life

“Think a combination of Carl Hiaasen’s Flush and Janet Evanovich’s Stephanie Plum books and you’ll be right on target.” —School Library Journal

“A high-quality, high-amp mystery series.” —The Horn Book
 
“This funny, clever series is NOT for kids only. I challenge the most seasoned mystery reader to guess ‘who done it.’” —Cozies, Capers, and Crimes
 
“Sammy Keyes comes armed with attitude.” —Orlando Sentinel

“Sammy doesn’t find mysteries to solve—they find her.” —Arizona Republic

“Humor, romance and adventure; this story is an absolute blast.” —Chicago Tribune
 
“If you haven’t met Sammy Keyes yet, now is the time.” —Children’s Literature

WENDELIN VAN DRAANEN was a classroom teacher for many years before becoming a full-time writer. The books in the Sammy Keyes mystery series have been embraced by critics and readers alike, with Sammy Keyes and the Hotel Thief receiving the Edgar Allan Poe Award for best children’s mystery. Wendelin is also the author of many award-winning novels, including Flipped, The Running Dream, Runaway, Confessions of a Serial Kisser, Swear to Howdy, The Secret Life of Lincoln Jones, and Wild Bird. You can find her online at WendelinVanDraanen.com and @WendelinVanD, and you can follow Sammy Keyes on Facebook.ONE

It’s funny how you can think you know someone pretty well, and then something happens or they do
something that makes you understand that you didn’t really know them at all.

My homeroom teacher, Mrs. Ambler, is that way. I always figured she was just another long-suffering
adult who was sick to death of dealing with junior high school kids. I also always thought that she was at
least fifty. Probably well on her way to sixty. You know, old.

Then one day she came into homeroom with two lovebirds. I’m talking the feathered variety, not the
gross pimply kind you see swapping spit behind the locker rooms.

Anyhow, these birds would’ve looked perfect on the shoulder of a midget pirate. They had orange faces,
green bodies, a little splay of bright blue tail feathers, and I thought for sure they were baby parrots.

But when Mrs. Ambler parked the white domed cage on her desk and Tawnee Francisco asked, "Are they
cockatiels?" Mrs. Ambler smiled at her and said, "No, they’re lovebirds."

Now, this may seem like a perfectly normal exchange to you, but (a) I didn’t even know there was actually
such a thing as a lovebird, and (b) Mrs. Ambler’s voice when she said "lovebirds" was all soft and sweet
and…feathery.

Then I noticed her face. It was all soft. And sweet. And…well, not feathery, more glowy.

It was not the Mrs. Ambler I was used to seeing, that’s for sure. I glanced at my best friend, Marissa
McKenze, who sits way up front in the corner, and she was sort of blinking at Mrs. Ambler, too.

Then Heather Acosta pipes up with, "Lovebirds, Mrs. Ambler? How adorable."

I rolled my eyes and Marissa did the same, because ever since end-of-the-year elections for Class
Personalities started drawing near, Heather’s been on the world’s most revolting kiss-up campaign.

The whole idea of Class Personalities is stupid to begin with. It may be a "tradition" at William Rose Junior
High School, but what it really is, is an overblown popularity contest. But since popularity is the pulse that
drives Heather’s blood, I guess that explains why she’s dying to win something. Anything. You should see
the way she’s been circulating through campus lately, oozing a diabolically contagious form of
congeniality. She’s nice. She’s sweet. She’s helpful. She’s concerned. And she’s all that with such true-
blue sincerity it’s frightening.

Unfortunately for her, after nearly a full school year of her schemes and lies, I think that most people are
smart enough to be suspicious, except for one thing–Heather’s also been acting contrite. You know–she’s
just so, so sorry for her part in any trouble this year. I’ve heard her tell teachers, "I know I made
mistakes, but I’ve learned so much!" and "You know, I’m just so grateful for the experiences–I feel I’ve
really grown as a human being!"

That’s the kiss-up game she’s been playing with other people, anyway. To me she’s been whispering,
"Count ’em and weep, loser."

Please. Like I care if she wins some stupid popularity contest?

She’s not just after Friendliest Seventh Grader, either. Oh no. She’s hedging her bets by going for Most
Unique Style, too. One day she comes to school looking like a punk princess in black and chains and ratted
red hair; the next she’s all decked out like an old-time movie star, wearing satin shoes and a matching
handbag, her hair all smoothed back.

It’s so transparent it’s pathetic.

But anyway, the minute Heather finds out that Mrs. Ambler’s birds are lovebirds, she kicks into total kiss-
up mode. "Oh, how adorable," she gushes. Then she asks Mrs. Ambler, "Were they a gift from your
husband?" like that would just have been the sweetest, dearest thing a man could do for his wife.

Well, Marissa and I may be able to see right through Heather, but not Mrs. Ambler. She goes from, like,
forty watts of glow to about seventy-five and gives Heather the brightest smile. "How did you know?"
Then she nuzzles her nose at the cage and says, "He gave them to me for our anniversary."

"How romantic," Heather sighs. "How long have you been married?"

Mrs. Ambler smiles at her again. "Fifteen years today."

"Fifteen years? Wow! And he buys you lovebirds? He must be terrific." Then she asks, "So how’d you
meet?"

Mrs. Ambler keeps on letting herself be suckered. "In graduate school," she tells Heather. "We got
married shortly after I got my master’s degree."

Whoa now! A master’s? A master’s in what? Honestly, all I’ve ever seen Mrs. Ambler do is take roll and
read the announcements and reprimand kids when they get out of line. I know she’s in charge of the
yearbook and has some class with special-ed kids. Oh, and she teaches eighth graders how to study or
get focused on their goals or…I don’t know what. But nothing that would seem to take a master’s degree.

So while I’m busy trying to digest that, I’m also chewing on the math involved in this new Ambler
Information. I mean, let’s say you’re twenty-two when you graduate from college. A master’s is what?
Two more years of college? So even if you tack an extra year on for good measure, Mrs. Ambler would
have been at most twenty-five when she got married. And if she’d been married for fifteen years, that
meant that this fifty-, well-on-her-way-to-sixty-year-old woman that I’d seen nearly every day for the
whole school year was only…thirty-nine or forty?

I was stunned. I mean, forty is plenty old, but not nearly as old as I’d thought she was. And she was
probably also a lot smarter than I’d given her credit for. Plus, at that moment she wasn’t just my boring,
worn-out homeroom teacher, she was a woman who was embarrassingly in love with her husband.

"I hope I find a man like him someday," Heather was saying.US

Additional information

Weight	8.4 oz
Dimensions	0.7900 × 5.2500 × 7.6300 in
Series	Sammy Keyes
Imprint	Yearling
Format	General Trade
ISBN-13	09780440419112
ISBN-10	0440419115
Author	Wendelin Van Draanen
Audience	Children
BISAC	JUV019000, JUV039190
Subjects	chapter books for kids age 9-12, love birds, pirate party, school dance, teen mystery, tween mystery, mystery books for kids 9-12, books for 11 year old boys, books for 11 year old girls, books for 10 year old boys, books for 10 year old girls, mystery books for teens, books for 12 year old girls, books for 13 year old girls, detective, JUV039190, middle grade mystery, teen romance, mystery series, books for boys age 9 12, kids books ages 9-12, mystery books, guilt, humor, books for kids age 9 12, JUV019000, mystery, 5th grade books