Sammy Keyes and the Wild Things

It was a gift to my grand daughter and she enjoyed it as well as other books she had read by Sammy Keyes.

This book is enjoyable for all ages. Not only did I learn a lot about the preservation of endangered species and how much effort it takes to succeed, it gave me a new respect for wildlife. Sammy Keyes is tenacious in her endeavor to save the wild condors and her journey in this book is most interesting to read.

This Sammy Keyes book is funny, sarcastic, and good! It is good for people that enjoy birds, camping and friends! Good book.

I love Sammy so much everybody should at least try to read the series. Sammy is a crime fighting supper hero

My 12 year old daughter has just discovered this series of books. She has read several and I anticipate she will read them all before she's done. I keep having to make her turn off her light at bedtime because she wants to read "just one more chapter".

Sammy Keyes's friends leave town for the summer, except for the ever-fascinating Casey, who Sammy runs into in the sporting goods store at the mall. He and his buddy Billy are gearing up to go backpacking. Casey invites Sammy, who has never even been camping. Sammy is intrigued but turns him down because of that ridiculous girl/boy thing, which she heartily resents.But then she runs into a girl from school named Cricket. Although Sammy barely knows her, she lets Cricket persuade her to go camping with her Scout group, who regularly hike out to a condor-monitoring station to count condors. The troop leader, Robin, signs Sammy up (although Sammy is already in the throes of serious misgivings). Cricket blathers on and on about Robin's adorable, smart, passionate-about-condors nephew, Quinn, while Sammy tries unsuccessfully to back out of the camping expedition. What has she done?Sammy meets Cricket's butterfly-collecting brother Gary, who lives in front of the computer. She discovers that their mother died and their dad is a workaholic. Sammy feels terribly for Cricket and can't hurt her feelings, so she's stuck for sure with the dreaded camping trip. But, after all, it's only four days --- plus, the entire camping experience will give her something in common with Casey.As the trip starts, though, it's more nightmarish than Sammy ever could have dreamed. The Scouts are wacky, infighting eco-maniacs who casually mention lurking rattlesnakes, mean wild boars, ticks carrying Lyme disease and enormous scorpions. Sammy is also not impressed with college student Vargus and his major attitude, whom she meets when he almost crashes his jeep into their van.Sammy can't believe the agony of Borrowed Hiking Boot Blister Syndrome and the horrible fact that drinking water is limited. Is she in camping hell? But Sammy comes into her own when the group finds the lookout trashed and then, later, an injured condor. Sammy recognizes a mystery, even out in the wilderness --- and solving it just may make the camping trip worthwhile after all.Breathless adventure, a funny fish-out-of-water plot, a truly puzzling mystery, realistic characters, lots of fascinating nature facts and a bit of subtle romance --- not to mention Sammy's trademark wisecracking voice --- all add up to yet another truly excellent mystery in Wendelin Van Draanen's Sammy Keyes series.Fair warning: start this book and you may well not be able to do anything else until you've finished it! --- Reviewed by Terry Miller Shannon

The first book in this series (Sammy Keyes and the Hotel Thief) was on my daughter's summer reading list between 4th and 5th grade. We read it together and were hooked. Inquisitive and resourceful, Samantha (Sammy) Keyes makes a great tween protagonist. We read another book in the series (Sammy Keyes and the Curse of Moustache Mary) as a family with my husband. We listened to this book on CD in the car as we travelled for summer vacation. We learned a lot about condors (thunderbirds), and our daughter was excited to see some T-birds on the road as we travelled. I recommend reading this series in order because the characters and relationships develop from one book to the next.

Every summer I look forward to reading the new Sammy Keyes book by Wendelin Van Draanen. Her first five Sammy books were amazing. The children in my classroom love them. I wasn't thrilled with the next three, particularly Snake Eyes. I kept those three in the drawer because I was worried about the lamguage and the level of violence in them. With this book, Van Draanen has returned to creative plot twists and language more suitable for my elementary students. Sammy Keyes and the Wild Things will definitely have a spot on my classroom bookshelf. I couldn't put it down! Appropriate for ages 8+

サミー・キースの11作目。夏休みだというのに親友たちが皆旅行に行ってしまい、サミーは一人でモールをうろつくいていて、偶然スポーツ用品店から出てきたケーシー・アコスタと出会う。次の日も半分期待しながらスポーツ用品店をのぞいてみると、同じクラスの女子生徒クリケットがキャンプ用品を買っているところに出くわす。クリケットから絶滅危惧種のコンドルを保護するための活動に参加するよう強引に勧められ、断るチャンスを失い、靴づれをおこしながら荒れた山に登る羽目に。　今回は勝手の違う山中での事件だが、鋭い洞察力で事件に立ち向かう。11作目だが飽きの来ない面白さです。子供向きなので平易な英文です。