Sammy Keyes and the Power of Justice Jack

May 1, 2012
Grades 5-8 The ever-popular eighth-grade detective returns in her fifteenth adventure. Just when Sammy thinks she has seen it all, here comes Justice Jack, a wannabe superhero who wears a cheesy spandex costume and rides around Santa Martina on a dirt bike, righting (not very big) wrongs. Then Gram's neighbor, Mrs. Wedgeworth (aka The Wedginator ), disappears. What next? Well, for one thing, a statue vanishes from city hall, and the mayor offers a $5,000 reward. For another, Sammy's friend Billy becomes Jack's sidekick. With at least three plotsJustice Jack, Mrs. Wedgeworth, and the romantic entanglements of Sammy and her friendsthere's a lot going on in this stand-alone installment in the series. Perhaps it's occasionally too much since the complications tend to slow down the action. But Sammy's many fans won't be bothered, and one thing is sure: as Sammy wryly observes, The city of Santa Martina has some odd ducks swimming in its waters. (Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)