Sammy Keyes and the Runaway Elf - Softcover

Van Draanen, Wendelin

Softcover

ISBN 10: 037580255X ISBN 13: 9780375802553

Publisher: Yearling, 2000

Synopsis

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

The Christmas parade gets furry in a hurry when three pranksters dressed as wise men toss some cats onto Sammy's float. Dogs shoot off in all directions, and the prize Pomeranian Sammy's supposed to be watching disappears. Turns out the darn fuzzball's been kidnapped. The owner is demanding that Sammy find her doggone dog . . . and she's a woman who knows how to get what she wants.

But Sammy's a pretty tough cookie herself. Dognappers, blackmailers, and wise men be warned!

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.

About this title

Review

Encyclopedia Brown's detective work might be enough to keep small-timers like Bugs Meany and Wilford Wiggins in line, but his hometown of Idaville may as well be Snoozeville compared to strange and surreal Santa Martina, where seventh-grade sharp-witted super-sleuth Sammy Keyes hangs her hat. Sammy doesn't go looking for cases to solve in this town: she's too busy pulling her rear end out of the fire, finding herself in one predicament after another.

In Sammy Keyes and the Runaway Elf (her fourth adventure, following Sammy Keyes and the Sisters of Mercy), Sammy gets snookered into dog-sitting Marique, a furry, orange, hoop-jumping Pomeranian, one of the 12 dogs-of-the-month riding atop the Canine Calendar Christmas float. But at the height of the parade, Marique disappears just as three people dressed as the Three Kings throw panicked cats onto the dog-laden float. Chaos ensues, and before the fake snow even settles, Sammy finds herself in the center of a dog-napping scheme, blackmailed by Marique's mean-old-lady owner into tracking the little Pom down before she has to pay $50,000... or else.

It's just another week in Santa Martina, and just another case for Sammy. More clever clues and characterizations from the capable Wendelin Van Draanen, who spins another complex, satisfying, often laugh-out-loud installment in this quirky youth mystery series. Encyclopedia Brown's got it easy. (Ages 9 to 12) --Paul Hughes

From the Inside Flap

And this new adventure is Wendelin Van Draanen's most complex and compelling yet! It's Christmastime in Sammy's hometown of Santa Martina, but some people are being very, very naughty. Pranksters dressed as wise men sabotage the Christmas Parade. In the ensuing chaos, some thugs dognap a prize Pomeranian. Then the Pom's owner blackmails Sammy into finding the dog so she won't have to pay the ransom. Sammy doesn't have to check her list twice to know that these people belong in the naughty column!
But in the course of her search for the doggone dog, Sammy also comes across some characters who are harder to figure: a runaway elf, an embittered old biddy, a puffed-up policeman, and a sneaky Secret Santa. Still, someone's got that dog and whoever it is had better watch out--'cause Sammy Keyes is nosing around...and she's willing to be pretty naughty herself to make sure the bad guys pay.

"From the Hardcover edition.

Edition details

• Publisher: Yearling
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 037580255X
• ISBN 13: 9780375802553
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 208