﷽
..

🌰 Sammy Keyes - a book review

Sammy Keyes is a middle grade mystery series centering a young girl living illegally with her grandmother. This review does not contain spoilers.

What Works

  • the choice of characters feels realistic yet unconventional and interesting. There’s nothing cliche or trite about a girl in junior high who lives with her grandma illegally
  • and unlike many kid’s adventure books, her relationship with the adult world is a core element in the first book. Hiding her situation, being underestimated, being disrespected, etc. It’s not just the real life of being a kid at school, it tackles the real life of being a kid in a world run by grown ups
  • people have emotions, they hurt each other, they are angry, they act out in anger, they apologize and move on where appropriate
  • the mystery is solvable by you. The clues are there for you.
  • it’s just fun, nostalgic fluff
  • “Do you think they have secret lives as nice people?”

What Didn’t

  • It’s unfair to express dislikes about a book that’s clearly not for you
  • so none of these are really criticisms. They’re more “what to expect as an adult reading this book”
  • You know you’re a grown up now when some of the disrespect Sammy gets from adults not only boils your blood but also makes you think “Would an adult in authority be so unfair?”
    • The answer is obviously yes: adults ignore kids’ point of view all the time (“I just need to keep the peace and get through the day I don’t really care about justice”). And even if it’s not always as blatant as shown in the book, from a kid’s perspective it probably is that blatant.
  • But yeah, there are some hidden motivations that are made more explicit than they would have been in a book aimed a little older.
    • Marissa’s relationship with her parents comes to mind as an example. There is some “show and then tell” used where I think in a book aimed older it may have just been “show” in the first book.

Info:

Don't want to do that? @ me on twitter or mastodon

Every post on this blog is a work in progress. Phrasing may be less than ideal, ideas may not yet be fully thought through. Thank you for watching me grow.