Sammy Keyes and the Hollywood Mummy

Reach for this book when your child is grappling with the feeling that their parents are unreliable or when they are beginning to assert their own identity separate from family expectations. While technically a mystery, this installment in the Sammy Keyes series dives deep into the complicated relationship between a daughter and her aspiring actress mother. Sammy travels to Hollywood to find her mom, only to discover she has changed her name and is caught up in a world of artifice and secrets. It is an excellent choice for kids navigating the transition from childhood to adolescence, particularly those in single-parent or grandparent-led households. The story balances high-stakes detective work with the grounded, often painful reality of realizing that parents are flawed, making it a powerful tool for normalizing complex family dynamics and fostering self-reliance in middle-schoolers.