Sammy Keyes and the Wedding Crasher

Sammy Keyes #13

by Wendelin Van Draanen

For junior high detective Sammy Keyes, eighth grade begins with an accusation, an inquisition, and several assorted death threats!

The history teacher, Mr. Vince, is being threatened, which at first seems funny. He’s horrible! Every student wants Mr. Vince gone. But as the threats become more serious, the question becomes—who wants him dead and gone?

With her own name near the top of the suspect list, Sammy’s determined to get to the bottom of things. But she’s distracted by a mother bearing bad news, an almost-boyfriend ducking her calls, and a date with a poofy lavender bridesmaid dress.

This latest Sammy Keyes adventure blends mystery, comedy, and a dusting of fairy tale magic as Sammy takes off her high-tops, puts on some party shoes, and steps into a whole lot of trouble.

Genres: Mystery, Middle Grade, Young Adult, Fiction, Mystery Thriller, Contemporary, Realistic Fiction

320 pages

First published October 12, 2010

About the author

Wendelin Van Draanen has written more than thirty novels for young readers and teens. She is the author of the 18-book Edgar-winning Sammy Keyes series, and wrote Flipped which was named a Top 100 Children’s Novel for the 21st Century by SLJ, and became a Warner Brothers feature film with Rob Reiner directing. Her novel The Running Dream was awarded ALA’s Schneider Family Award for its portrayal of the disability experience.

Van Draanen's latest book, Hope in the Mail, is part memoir, part writing guided, designed to encourage aspiring writers to pursue their dream.

Van Draanen is also the author of two short chapter-book series. The Gecko & Sticky books, are fun read-alouds, perfect for reluctant readers, and the Shredderman books—featuring a boy who deals with a bully—received the Christopher Award for “affirming the highest values of the human spirit” and became a Nickelodeon made-for-TV movie.

Van Draanen was a classroom teacher for fifteen years. She and her husband reside in California and have two sons.

Reviews

[Natalie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I decided after speeding through a lot of books and feeling like my natural pace was getting in the way of really absorbing some stories (and also I had no other books ready to be checked out), I decided to (re)read the last half of my favorite series growing up. I started with book #8, but I've decided to only review the ones I never read back then - the ones that were released just on the edge of my "I'm too old for this series" phase. But bruh, Sammy Keyes is fucking awesome. These books are a wonderful ~palate cleanser~ and take no time at all to read. Plus they're making me really nostalgic for being a young teen and having crushes (I forgot just how much I loved Sammy and Casey) - the excitement and wonder and trepidation of growing up. Anyway, I have an """adult""" book checked out now, but I think I'll keep reading these instead...

[Lea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sammy Keyes is one of my favorite teen detectives working today. In this, the thirteenth book in the series, Sammy is finally starting eighth grade. She's still secretly living with her grandmother in a seniors-only highrise, but Officer Borsch, her nemesis in the first several books, is now in on her secret. In fact, they get along so well that Sammy is even part of his upcoming wedding!

Things are not going as well at school. Sammy is in the hated Mr. Vince's home room and History class, and she doesn't have nearly enough classes with her best friends Marissa, Dot, and Holly. She also sees far too much of Heather Acosta, and Sammy's almost-boyfriend Casey Acosta has left for high school and is ducking her calls. When someone starts threatening to kill Mr. Vince, Sammy finds herself and her friend Billy Pratt at the top of the suspect list. Can Sammy clear her name and make it to the church for Officer Borsch's wedding? And what is up with Casey?

The Sammy Keyes books are extremely likable, and while they're appropriate for middle grade readers, Sammy's hilarious escapades will appeal to older readers as well. If you haven't picked up this series, you are missing out.

[Maggie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sammy and Casey give me feels man. He's my favorite fictional boyfriend! I love the Sammy/Casey and all the side stories but the mystery was a little lacking! I have to give it 5 stars because *spoilers* of the long awaited kiss!

[olivia ferraro]

bye why does this childrens series make me so
emotional 😭 🖐🏻

[Lesly Duran · Rating 5 out of 5]

Would you ever get married when a wedding crasher is in charge? Well Officer Borsch did. The genre of this book is realistic fiction because the fictional characters act similar to real people. Overall, I really like this book because the ending was unexpected and the book was full of suspense and horror. The main character of the book is Samantha Keyes because the story is told in her perspective so we know everything she thinks and does.

The setting of the book is in a neighborhood in Santa Martina, California. But the main event was taken in William Rose Junior High. officer Borsch's future wife picked Samantha Keyes as her bridesmaid. The day before the wedding everything was going wrong but Sam was very helpful and tried to fix stuff,The conflict is person vs. person because someone kept threating Mr. Vince, everyone's worst favorite teacher that they would kill him. Mr. Vince was very mean to all of his students and mostly everyone hated him. This drove him him crazy. The protagonist of the story is Samantha Keyes and the antagonist is who ever is making all these threats.His eight grade class and the vice principal thought Samantha Keyes was the one guilty of threating him but she was innocent. She was trying to figure out who was trying to kill Mr. Vince but she had many suspects and evidence that lead nowhere. On Officer Borsch's wedding day she was on her way to bring the weeding rings to the church when she saw Mr. Vince. After eavesdropping and getting stuck inside his car,she found out who was behind all of this. **SPOILER ALERT**Mr. Vince was making up everything so that they would fire him and he could go with his biker gang to a bike rally. The theme of the book is that the guilty one is the most innocent one because no one would have ever thought Mr. Vince was the one behind this because he seemed really scared and the threats ruined his car. Why would someone ruin their car? Only someone that is crazy would do that.

The first person point of view does affect the story because even though Sam is the main character, we don't know what the others characters think. Especially Mr. Vince because we didn't know he was behind all of this and Sam was trying to figure it out who it was but we would have known if it was from Mr. Vince's perspective. We also would have known why he was doing but we wouldn't have had known Officer Borsch was going to get married or what Sam thought about the situation so I think the author picked a good choice. The title relates to the book because Sam has the tendency of ruining or crashing stuff, so Officer Borsch had to think about if it was a good idea having her in the wedding since she always gets herself into trouble. Although she almost did ruin the wedding she didn't with the help of Officer Borsch. The author's tone is sneaky in some points because the situation makes the reader think that whoever was trying to kill Mr. Vince sneaked into the class room to leave the dead rat. I say this because according to the text, Samantha says "When the pranks began, I had to laugh, but pretty soon I realized that the prankster was getting serious, serious and dangerous". Also everyone seemed to have reasons to be guilty because they were acting sneaky. Also Mr. Vince was being sneaky by pranking everyone to think that he was going to be killed because someone could have caught him writing stuff on the board that supposedly the serial threating killer wrote.

I think that the part that was funny was when Samantha was on her way to the church carrying the wedding rings when she noticed Mr, Vince's car. She went She went over to look at the unlocked car and opens the door. Then noticing that Mr. Vince was coming out of his driveway heading to the car she quickly goes into the back of the car then shuts the door. Mr. Vince and a friend hop on the car and head to a bike store. Fortunately Sam was smart enough to call officer Borsch with out Mr. Vince noticing and Officer Borsch hurries there. He saves Samantha and arrests Mr. Vince then they head back to the wedding. I was surprised when I found out that Mr. Vince made up all of the threats and that no one was going to kill him because knowing him, people would want to kill him. I also like how the author adds a lot of suspects to make readers thoroughly think who could be the one guilty, then describes how scared Mr. Vince was about being threatened because it never even came up to my mind that he could have been behind all of this. I was satisfied with the ending because Officer Borsch and his wife, Debra had a nice wedding and they looked really happy since just hours ago they were really stressed out because things weren't going as how they planned it. Also at the end Sam didn't hate her mom that much because she helped her and her really good friend get back together because they were mad the whole story over a misunderstanding.

In conclusion, I would give this book five starts because this has definitely been one of the best mystery books I have ever read in my opinion. I would recommend this book that love solving puzzles because this book was filled with puzzles you had to solve. This book was also very suspenseful so people that like reading books with excitement this would be a book for you. So next time you go to a wedding, make sure there is no trouble along the way.

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a bit of a weird story in terms of how much coverage certain characters get, but with a sweet ending.

Reveal: Sammy's teacher, Mr. Vince, was orchestrating the fake threats against himself in order to qualify for a mental disability and leave his job.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun mystery and a great B-plot with Borsch’s wedding. The development of the relationship between him and Sammy is my favorite part of the series.

[Charmaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm twenty-one, and Sammy Keyes is the only series I still sneak back into the kid's section to follow. The best thing about the Sammy Keyes series is really, Sammy Keyes. Well the author is pretty awesome too, but that's another story. (http://etrtr.blogspot.com/)

Sammy is a down-to-earth, gutsy teenager who happens to have a penchant for figuring out what she can't understand. In this book, Sammy's key problem is figuring out who is making death threats about her history teacher, Mr Vince. Life is complicated by the fact that she has some, well, history with Mr Vince, which causes Sammy to be one of the key suspects. Sammy manages to solve the mystery by the end of the book, simultaneously figuring out young love, coping with a flighty and problem-causing mother, and attending the wedding of her favourite once-nemesis, Officer Borsch.

The reason why this book gets 4 stars instead of 5 is because it contains so little of Casey. I also wish the author had not made Casey's reappearance quite so smooth, as 15(?)-year-olds like Casey are rarely such Prince Charmings.

However, still a must-read on my list as enjoyable, heartfelt fiction. I will be following this series until the end!

[Brett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sammy Keyes is one of my all-time favorite children's literature protagonists. She is kind of my hero, & I definitely want her to be my best friend. She's tough but kind, has managed to let a life of bad situations not jade her into being bitter, & has amassed an amazing amount of wisdom for a thirteen-year-old. She's a fantastic friend, & truly cares about the people she comes into contact with. This book finds her once again in hot water, as she is apparently being blamed by the school authorities for some shocking death threats received by a teacher with whom she does have a past. Surprisingly, though, this time around, Officer Borsch is on her side, along with the usual friends & her indomitable Grams. The path of teen love is a complicated one, especially with the brother of your sworn enemy, & that plays a part in the plot, too. Great mystery, great character development. Can't wait to see what Sammy gets herself involved in next.

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have a hard time rating any of the SK books with Casey in it lower than a four. It's probably being generous, but he was one of my first fictional crushes.
Anyway, the downside to this book is I found myself less interested in the actual mystery part. I dunno if it's my age, if it was just not as exciting as, say, Art of Deception or Curse of Mustache Mary, but I just didn't care too much. Maybe it's all the mysteries I've been reading/watching lately.
So why the four stars? Although I felt the main plot lacked a bit, I LOVED the Casey/Sammy plot. And the scene with Sammy in the closet and her mom outside of it (this sentence is literal, not euphemistic) kinda broke my heart, as did the part where she's in the car watching him skateboard. And any book that does that deserves 4 stars.

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sigh. Great SK adventure and I even solved it before she did! Doesn't mean it was easy. The ending was so cute and even the last sentence was adorable. Love how the author always ends the chapters with some good suspense or gossip or a new Sammy Keyes (SK) idea to come in the next chapter - the next page.
Hilarious quotes: "'Hey, you look spiffidy-doo-dah.'" SK to Borsch, pg 287
"'Uh... your fairy godmother? Here to say bibbity-boppity-boo?'" SK to Gargoyle face, pg 284
"I still couldn't picture Mr. Vince going to a biker rally. A fart rally, yeah." SK, pg 265
"I mean, if he's gonna faint over the sight of an ugly rat, he ought to pass out every morning when he looks in the mirror." SK, pg 63

[Teresa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wendelin Van Draanen has a genius for writing fun, fast-paced, gripping mysteries for the MG set. Her Sammy Keyes series rank among my kid-lit favorites, and this one is no different. I love everything about this book, including the way she makes pre-teen crushes/romances so sweet.

I am, however, surprised that 13 year olds "date". My 16 and 14 yr olds haven't expressed an interest in dating, and if I recall, if I can remember back nearly 40 yrs to when I was 13, I remember having crushes too, but had no desire to date anyone. My husband claimed the same for himself. Are we odd or is the rest of the world?

[Victoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

OHmyGOSH i LOVED it!! It was sooo cuuuteee. And seriously, I am a teenager and I completeley, truly Loved this book. It was the greatest so far! It was an awesome return-to-school adventure for Sammy! It was everything I have been waaiiting for! And the thing that I most wanted to happen, actually happened! And the title makes so much sense! The wedding crasher is --- No! Am. Not. Going. To. Say It. Must. Resist.

Ohmigod it was so good. I stayed up so late finishing it. I honestly read thew hole thing in like 5 hours!
XDDD

[DaNae · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oh Sammy, how I adore you. Keep coming back.

[~ · Rating 5 out of 5]

hehe nice

[Roberta · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read a lot of YA and children's books and generally love them but I certainly won't be reading any more books in this series.

Page 10: a teacher uses the word retard. I hear that it's coming back but teachers around here don't use it. At least not in public.. Then, on the next page, the teacher apologizes for using a word that he shouldn't have used and, just in case there is any doubt about what word it was, he uses it again. That isn't what made me stop reading, however, if I really feel that a book is a waste of time, 50 pages is my limit and I did eventually stop reading this book.

I bought three of the books in this series when the public library discarded them. This book was published 14 years before the book sale but still appeared absolutely brand new. The library had placed this book in the J section with a "mystery" sticker. That places it in the children's room. Do children know or care about wedding crashers? That probably accounts for children not taking it off the shelf.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

It’s been years since I’ve read a Sammy Keyes book and I realize how much I miss them! They are such perfect books for upper elementary and middle school readers. As we follow Sammy through zany junior high adventures, she consistently finds herself mixed up in a mystery that only unravels in the very last chapters of the book. This latest installment lived up to the earlier books - crazy, larger-than-life characters and Sammy’s impulsive curiosity made this a great read.

[Karen Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Buzzword Challenge for June: name or title. Sammy Keyes and the Wedding Crasher was another solid installment in the series. It was kind of low-key since the mystery was mostly contained in the school, but I enjoyed Sammy's adventures. I'm glad there was a happy ending for her and her love interest Casey!

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant writing, I whizzed through this one as I was enjoying it so much. However, as others have said, there is definitely a switch into focusing on Sammy's life rather than Sammy's mystery solving. It's not a bad thing, I'm thoroughly enjoying following Sammy's relationships and watching her grow up, but I do hope we get another good mystery before the series ends.

[Tara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Sammy Keyes. This mystery is centered around Officer Birch’s wedding which is hilarious. There’s a lot going on in Sammy’s life and I love that part. And the actual mystery is as good as always. Can’t wait until the next one.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this one to be really fun, although the post-reveal confirmation was a little bit too over-explainy. Enjoying watching the whole crew go through their character arcs. I was hoping to binge the whole series but the next two have holds lists. Ah, well.

[Olivia · Rating 5 out of 5]

"So Marissa and I have some serious glue - long, wide ribbons of it that make us stick together. But what Holly and I have is like little squirts of superglue. We've been through some really heavy stuff - stuff that we never talk about anymore but is always there, holding us close."

[Drew · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's been years since I read a Sammy Keyes novel, but I picked it up quick, like getting together with an old friend. It's so so good. Sammy is one of my favorite characters and watching her navigate life always brings me joy.

[Katie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The meh: this felt like a very forced way to get rid of a "villainous" teacher, also Heather Acosta just feels like she is intentionally trying to be meddling at this point

The good: CASEY AND SAMMY ARE BACK. AND THEY KISSED.

[Claire · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was very fun for me to read. Why? I love mysteries and so this was a awesome book in my opinion!

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

This maybe was my favorite one so far - did not expect the plot to go where it did

[Sydney Allen · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s about time 😍

[Charly Troff (JustaReadingMama) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't know how I still can't get enough of this series after 13 books, but I can't get enough. I loved this book as much as the previous books in the series and I can't wait for the rest.

[Grace · Rating 5 out of 5]

😝😝😝😝