Sammy Keyes And The Curse Of Moustache Mary (2001) - Plot & Excerpts
A thrilling book about mystery. Kept me at the edge of my seat and never stop reading. Sammy and her friends are talking when a lady passes by and tells them a story about Moustache Mary. Her name is Lucinda Hartley. She is the great granddaughter of Mary. Lucinda asks help for the riddle that Mary left to find the gold. A theme that is present throughout the whole book is for a successful sleuthing mission, it requires more than just one sleuth. Sammy cannot solve the mystery by herself. SHe will need help, and so she asks a police officers and tries to figure out and solve crimes with a police officer and her friends. That can also be taken as a moral or lesson that "Two heads are better than one." The benefit of others is very helpful in being successful, and that is what happened in this book. Sammy and friends together solved the case and found out where the gold had been, near Mary's house all along. Determination is very important as Sammy and her friends and the police officer, Officer Borsch were determined to find out who burned the cabin and where the gold was.
Hmm. #5 in this series and it has HEAVY issues in it. If your child isn't in 7th or 8th grade I would skip this book. Sammy finds herself in over her head. All the confusing emotions involving boys and to top it off, some boys who are involved with drugs. But some are not.So while the story about Mary and her moustache is right out of the wild west and the feuding families are still at it, the whole story is swirling and twirling around drugs and alcohol. The good news is that Sammy knows that's definitely NOT the path she wants to take and her decisions in the end are good ones. Her girl friends also.So, on to the next book, but just a warning that if you have a grade schooler reading this series skip this book unless you want to get into discussions with them about parties and weed and meth and underage drinking and why those are all bad choices. ***spoiler alert***Sammy and her friends end up finding a meth lab.
What do You think about Sammy Keyes And The Curse Of Moustache Mary (2001)?
The second in this series I've read. A good mystery wrapped around some essential challenges of some challenging years...those awkward, awesome, oh-so-memorable years of 7th and 8th grade when some friends begin heading down different paths and it's hard to know which is the path you should be taking. At first I did not like what seemed like an out-of-place diversion to a High School party, but Van Draanen ties it all together in a compelling and realistic way. A series that could easily get too sweet by half is kept realistic and yet still grounded in the world of its protagonist and target audience. Now I just need to find a library that has more of Sammy Keyes.
—Garry
I'm assuming this is Worood, because you have read so many of these. Please shelve this book according to it's genre. What were some of the clues that the author gave the main character?Ms. Gorleski
—Teri Gorleski
