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

Sammy uses the power of observational skills and critical thinking to solve the central mystery and navigate challenges in her personal life. This theme is closely linked to the novel’s genre and setting. As is conventional in detective fiction, Sammy must rely on her mental faculties to puzzle out the mystery. Published in 1998, the novel reflects a time before smartphones and advanced surveillance technology, making Sammy’s observational skills and quick thinking the centerpiece of her sleuthing. With no security camera footage from the hotel or the surrounding area for the police to inspect, Sammy’s detailed eyewitness account of the man who “stuffs a wad of money from the purse into his jacket pocket” is essential to catching the criminal (6).

Van Draanen gives Sammy personality traits and unique circumstances that encourage her observational and critical-thinking skills. A combination of curiosity and boredom from being cooped up inside away from Mrs. Graybill’s prying eyes leads to her pivotal decision to amuse herself with the binoculars on the day of the robbery: “[S]ince there’s not much for me to do because everything I own has to be able to fit inside Grams’ bottom dresser drawer, I was using the binoculars to at least see what was going on outside” (3).