I love you people who are unapologetically fans of niche, obscure or old things
To every artist, writer, or blogger out here making art, stories and posts about the books I loved in middle school, the shows I loved as a child, the random bands I like, obscure video games, old camp bad movies, and anything else niche, weird and obscure I love you. Wether you’re writing fanfiction, making art, headcannons, AUs, or just shitposting I’m kissing you lovingly on the forehead and listening to you intensely
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality✓ Free Actions
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat by Lynne Jonell
Gideon the Cutpurse by Linda Buckley-Archer
Dragonbreath by Ursula Vernon
Undertow by Michael Buckley
Poison by Chris Wooding
Kiki Strike by Kirsten Miller
Willa by Robert Beatty
Sammy Keyes by Wendelin Van Draanen
First Light by Rebecca Stead
see results
Voting ended onOct 26, 2024
Summaries under the cut
The Music of Dolphins by Karen Hesse
Mila creates headlines around the world when she is rescued from an unpopulated island off the coast of Florida. Now a teenager, she has been raised by dolphins from the age of four.
Researchers teach Mila language and music. She learns, too, about rules and expectations, about locked doors and broken promies, disappointment and betrayal.
But the more Mila finds out what it means to be human, the more deeply she longs for her ocean home.
Emmy and the Incredible Shrinking Rat by Lynne Jonell
Emmy was a good girl. At least she tried very hard to be good. She did her homework without being told. She ate all her vegetables, even the slimy ones. And she never talked back to her nanny, Miss Barmy, although it was almost impossible to keep quiet, some days.
She really was a little too good. Which is why she liked to sit by the Rat. The Rat was not good at all . . .
Gideon the Cutpurse by Linda Buckley-Archer
1763.
Gideon Seymour, cutpurse and gentleman, hides from the villainous Tar Man. Suddenly the sky peels away like fabric and from the gaping hole fall two curious-looking children. Peter Schock and Kate Dyer have fallen straight from the twenty-first century, thanks to an experiment with an antigravity machine. Before Gideon and the children have a chance to gather their wits, the Tar Man takes off with the machine -- and Kate and Peter's only chance of getting home. Soon Gideon, Kate, and Peter are swept into a journey through eighteenth-century London and form a bond that, they hope, will stand strong in the face of unfathomable treachery.
Dragonbreath by Ursula Vernon
It's not easy for Danny Dragonbreath to be the sole mythical creature in a school for reptiles and amphibians -- especially because he can't breathe fire like other dragons (as the school bully loves to remind him). But having a unique family comes in handy sometimes, like when his sea-serpent cousin takes Danny and his best iguana friend on a mindboggling underwater tour, complete with vomiting sea cucumbers and giant squid. It sure beats reading the encyclopedia to research his ocean report . . .
Undertow by Michael Buckley
Sixteen-year-old Lyric Walker’s life is forever changed when she witnesses the arrival of 30,000 Alpha, a five-nation race of ocean-dwelling warriors, on her beach in Coney Island. The world’s initial wonder and awe over the Alpha quickly turns ugly and paranoid and violent, and Lyric’s small town transforms into a military zone with humans on one side and Alpha on the other. When Lyric is recruited to help the crown prince, a boy named Fathom, assimilate, she begins to fall for him. But their love is a dangerous one, and there are forces on both sides working to keep them apart. Only, what if the Alpha are not actually the enemy? What if they are in fact humanity’s only hope of survival? Because the real enemy is coming. And it’s more terrifying than anything the world has ever seen.
Poison by Chris Wooding
Poison has always been a willful, contrary girl, prone to being argumentative and stubborn. So when her sister is snatched by the mean-spirited faeries, she seeks out the Phaerie Lord to get her back.
But finding him isn't easy, and the quest leads Poison into a murderous world of intrigue, danger, and deadly storytelling. With only her wits and her friends to aid her, Poison must survive the attentions of the Phaerie Lord, rescue her sister, and thwart a plot that's beyond anything she (or the reader) can imagine. . . .
Kiki Strike by Kirsten Miller
Life will never be the same for Ananka Fishbein after she ventures into an enormous sinkhole near her New York City apartment. A million rats, delinquent Girl Scouts out for revenge, and a secret city below the streets of Manhattan combine in this remarkable novel about a darker side of New York City you have only just begun to know about…
Willa by Robert Beatty
Move without a sound. Steal without a trace.
Willa, a young night-spirit, is her clan's best thief. She creeps into the cabins of the day-folk under cover of darkness and takes what they won't miss. It's dangerous work--the day-folk kill whatever they don't understand--but Willa will do anything to win the approval of the padaran, the charismatic leader of the Faeran people.
When Willa's curiosity leaves her hurt and stranded in the day-folk world, she calls upon the old powers of her beloved grandmother, and the unbreakable bonds of her forest allies, to escape. Only then does she begin to discover the shocking truth: that not all of her day-folk enemies are the same, and that the foundations of her own Faeran society are crumbling. What do you do when you realize that the society you were born and raised in is rife with evil? Do you raise your voice? Do you stand up against it?
As forces of unfathomable destruction encroach on her forest home, Willa must decide who she truly is, facing deadly force with the warmest compassion, sinister corruption with trusted alliance, and finding a home for her longing heart.
Sammy Keyes by Wendelin Van Draanen
Grams always told her those binoculars would get her into trouble. Now Sammy's witnessed a crime at the Heavenly Hotel-a light fingered thief stealing $4,000 from Madame Nashira, the astrologer with the fire-hazard hair-do. Thing is, while she was watching him, he was watching her, too...
First Light by Rebecca Stead
Peter is thrilled to join his parents on an expedition to Greenland, where his father studies global warming. Peter will get to skip school, drive a dogsled, and finally share in his dad's adventures. But on the ice cap, Peter struggles to understand a series of visions that both frighten and entice him.
Thea has never seen the sun. Her extraordinary people, suspected of witchcraft and nearly driven to extinction, have retreated to a secret world they've built deep inside the arctic ice. As Thea dreams of a path to Earth's surface, Peter's search for answers brings him ever closer to her hidden home.
Hi everyone! I am doing a series where I post Sammy's initial introductions for each of the characters in the series. I am doing it chronologically, so we are starting off with intros and characters from Hotel Thief. There will be multiple posts as I go throughout the series. Feel free to comment which characters you'd like to see next!
Sometimes I’ll just be living my life and then suddenly remember the Sammy Keyes series which definitely focused way too much on the “Teen Girl Detective” schtick and not nearly enough on the “child who is illegally living in her grandmother’s senior living complex, hasn’t seen her mother in like a year (she ran off to Hollywood), has to sneak into her own home, all of her belongings fit into her backpack and a bottom drawer” schtick.
Like I loved this character and these books were fun but.. WTF??? What was this child’s life? Why did 10 year old me never question this? This wasn’t okay!!
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
✓ Live Streaming✓ Interactive Chat✓ Private Shows✓ HD Quality✓ Free Actions
Free to watch • No registration required • HD streaming
Little Book Review: Sammy Keyes and the Hotel Thief
Author: Wendelin Van Draanen.
Publication Date: 1998.
Genre: YA mystery.
Premise: Sammy Keyes, a twelve-year-old living illegally with her grandma in seniors-only housing while her single mother tries to make it in Hollywood, inadvertently witnesses a robbery at the Heavenly Hotel across the street while playing around with some binoculars. Unfortunately, the thief also sees her. Even more unfortunately, when she tries to tell the police what she saw, she becomes an object of suspicion. Can she clear her name, dodge retaliation from the thief, and start junior high without incident?
Thoughts: I decided to revisit the Sammy Keyes mysteries after rereading Linda Ellerbee's Get Real books, another turn-of-the-millenium series that focuses on a tomboyish tween girl who lives with her grandmother. Although the two series are extremely different in tone and content, I've been delighted by both so far. If Get Real has the feel of an excellent newsroom sitcom (that happens to be set in middle school), the Sammy Keyes books have a baby neo-noir/Coen Brothers vibe. This is partly due to the setting; Santa Martina, Sammy's fictional Southern California hometown, is crawling with colorful (if not outright sketchy) inhabitants. It also helps that Sammy, despite her good nature, has several film-noir-detective-like qualities: a certain ruthlessness in dealing with her enemies, a tendency to be under suspicion, and some subtle but serious emotional trauma.
This series doesn't have as strong a beginning as the Get Real books; the mystery is pretty forgettable, and there's not the strong sense of setting that makes the subsequent installments so delightful. However, Hotel Thief does do a great job of introducing Sammy. In the very first chapter, she does two things that immediately inform her character: she describes her fascination with the Heavenly Hotel (her grandma calls it seedy, but she thinks the lobby decor is neat), and she waves at the thief after they make eye contact. She's voraciously curious and observant...but she's also a walking id.
The book also does a good job laying out the basic format of how most subsequent books will go, namely:
Sammy solves a mystery after witnessing and/or being accused of a crime, despite the hostility of Officer Borscht, an crotchety aging cop;
With the help of her rich but diffident friend Marissa, Sammy deals with a situation at school, usually involving foiling some nasty scheme of her nemesis Heather Acosta;
Sammy deals with the logistical challenges and emotional fallout of having been abandoned by her mother to live with her Grams (who is an excellent guardian but can't afford to move to a place where Sammy can legally live).
The school plot is easily the strongest part of Hotel Thief. As a kid who was reading the series out of order, I was excited to see the origin of the Sammy/Heather feud, and it was just as fun this time around.
Hot Goodreads Take: Some reviewers are displeased that the twelve-year-old protagonist is violent, dishonest, and impulsive. I kind of see where they're coming from with the violence, even though roughly 67% of it is justified or excusable, plus I think it's a fun character trait in a tween detective. The thing she lies about, though...is her living situation. Yeah, I guess it's pretty awful that she...would try not to make herself and her grandma homeless? What? Also, she's twelve.
So, I've recently been listening to the Sammy Keyes audiobooks as a way to go back through the series and I have to say they are amazing. I listen to the books when I was a kid, but going through them now I'm impressed with how good they are. They handle some very mature themes and situations in incredible ways. The books fall into the mystery genre, the mysteries aren't the greatest part of the books, its the relationships.
The books do a great job at showing Sammy's relationship with a variety of people, and the relationships grow in natural ways. There are the ones that stay relatively the same that rarely change like Sammy's friendship with Marissa or her friendship with Hudson. Then there are those that change throughout the whole series like with her mother or with Grams.
Another thing the books do well is portraying adults. It has a nice balance of adults being well-meaning but unhelpful. Cruel and bitter because of prior life experiences or just being cruel because they're generally a bad person. While having adults that are good deep down or adults that act good but are hiding something.
And lastly, the books get their message across really well. Not every book has a message but their subtly worked in and never come across as preachy or teaching a lesson. They feel organic and natural.
Anyways it's a great series, I love going back and listening to these stories.
so holly and cricket bond at an animal shelter when they're in highschool. they gradually fall in love while caring for animals and cricket eventually convinces her to go to the condor's habitat. I'm not sure how it happens, but once they're together casey gets the bright idea to nominate them for homecoming queens. they both strongly object to the idea but of course they win. sammy almost misses it because she was busy explaining to the police why she had tasered a prominent estate lawyer.
This has been in my inbox for actual years because I wanted to add something, but all I’ve got is
falling in love while caring for animals yes :)
as long as prom queens is something they’d appreciate, Casey (it’s not cool or fun to force people into public positions they don’t want)
