Sammy Keyes and the Hotel Thief

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of bullying.

“Grams told me my binoculars were going to get me into trouble. I just didn’t believe her. See, Grams worries. All the time. About the way I dress and the food I eat, about me getting home on time, and especially about nosy Mrs. Graybill seeing me come and go.”

Van Draanen establishes her narrator’s youthful voice and a conversational tone through details like the fragment and Sammy’s nickname for her grandmother. This excerpt introduces the protagonist’s binoculars, which serve as a motif of The Power of Observational Skills and Critical Thinking because they allow Sammy to perceive details that others miss and solve problems. In addition, Grams’s prediction that the binoculars “[a]re going to get [Sammy] into trouble” foreshadows the crime that sets the plot into motion.

“‘Samantha Keyes, you mark my words, those things are going to get you in a big heap of trouble someday’ […] I figured it was just Grams doing some more worrying about nothing. That is, until I saw a man stealing money from a hotel room across the street—and he saw me.”

Sammy’s tone shifts from nonchalant to tense as she quickly goes from thinking that Grams is “worrying about nothing” to witnessing a crime. The author’s choice of punctuation contributes to the suspense; the dash makes the revelation that the thief saw Sammy more dramatic.

“So I’d started looking at the hotel windows and was checking out the fourth floor when I noticed this guy moving around one of the rooms kind of fast. He disappeared for a little while but when he came back by the window I could see him digging through a purse like a dog after a gopher. And not only was he pawing through a purse, he was wearing gloves. Black gloves.”

The simile that describes the thief “pawing” through the purse “like a dog after a gopher” conveys the man’s suspicious urgency and paints a vivid picture of a key plot point. The details that the author provides, such as the “[b]lack gloves,” illustrate the young sleuth’s powers of perception and develop the theme of observational skills.