Book Review: Samantha Sanderson at the Movies

Book: Samantha Sanderson at the Movies (Samantha Sanderson book #1) by Robin Caroll

Source: Borrowed from Publisher/NetGalley for an honest review

Publication: May 6, 2014

Rating: 4 stars

Review:

For a children/middle grade book, this had pretty good mystery.

In the story, Samantha and her best friend Makayla were at the movies with Sam's dad, who is a detective with the police department when they stumble upon a bomb hidden at the theater in the supply closet. It was Sam's attention to detail as the reason the bomb had been found. She had noticed that a light to the locked supply closet was still on and had alerted the manager which is how the bomb was found.

With news of a bomb being found at the theater Samantha who is on her middle school newspaper wants to be the lead reporter for the story. And now with the paper having it's own blog she is reluctantly given the position by her paper's editor Aubrey (the resident mean girl and who isn't exactly that fond of Samantha).

There had been a rumor that the bombing was in protest against a special screening of a Christian movie set for the following day.

Right at the beginning Samantha, who wants to have a successful career as a journalist like her mother, took the assignment seriously. She wrote very thought-provoking articles which occasionally stirred up a lot of trouble not only for herself but also for her dad who was the lead detective on the case. She got a little computer assistance from Makayla who is a total tech genius. Makayla was able to find some information that helped Sam with her investigation.

It caused a bit of tension between Sam and her father who felt she was taking her reporting to far at times especially when she wouldn't reveal where she was getting some of her information.

I thought this was a really good and exciting story but there were times when I found it to be a little preachy but it did not distract from the story. 

I have to agree with Sam's father that I think she was taking it to seriously with trying to investigate the bombing. She's a reporter for her middle school paper not a reporter for a top newspaper. I think she was so focused on trying to figure out who was the cause of the bombing that she was forgetting that she was kid.

Would I recommend this? Sure, as I said it's a very good story but since it's a faith based story it might not be some readers cup of tea.