Books with author Wendelin Van Draanen

Fifth grader Nolan Byrd, otherwise known as the cyber-superhero Shredderman, is at it again. In Wendelin Van Draanen's sequel to Secret Identity, someone is spray painting the town with "dumb baby" faces and Nolan is determined to unmask the culprit. Armed with a digital camera, his bike, and his smarts, Shredderman comes up with a plan to end the Tagger's tricks. Eleven-year-old Daniel Young does an excellent job of bringing Nolan and all of his quirks to life, and provides a unique voice for each character. Listeners will be cheering for more truth, justice, and Shredderman!

She is supposed to be in church to get out of trouble...Sammy is working off some junior high detention time by helping out at St. Mary's, but when Father Mayhew discovers that his ivory cross has been stolen, Sammy becomes the prime suspect. While she's looking for the real culprit, Sammy is amazed to find how much gossip and petty jealousy there is bubbling under the church's serene surface. This is just like junior high!And school is abubble with intrigue as well. Sammy's in the middle of softball playoffs when her catcher's mitt is stolen. She's sure the hated Heather must have it, but knowing whodunit and getting the mitt back are two different things.With a cast that includes a trio of singing nuns, a homeless girl in high tops, a former safecracker, and a red-hot shortstop, it's not so easy to tell the saints from the sinners...

The elusive Lady Lana (a.k.a. Sammy’s mom) ran off to Hollywood nearly a year ago to get “discovered.” But when Sammy discovers that her mom has changed her name, dyed her hair, and told everyone she’s only 25, she decides Lana needs a little reality check. I mean, it’s one thing to have her mom ditch her. But it’s another to find out she’s created a life for herself where Sammy can’t possibly exist.But Hollywood is a shock. Everyone is pretending here. No one is who or what they seem in this starlet-eat-starlet world. So when a woman is killed in the room next door, Sammy’s hard-pressed to find someone who doesn’t have a motive . . . including her own mom.

From the award-winning author of The Running Dream and Flipped comes a remarkable portrait of a girl who has hit rock bottom but begins a climb back to herself at a wilderness survival camp. 3:47 a.m. That’s when they come for Wren Clemmens. She’s hustled out of her house and into a waiting car, then a plane, and then taken on a forced march into the desert. This is what happens to kids who’ve gone so far off the rails, their parents don’t know what to do with them anymore. This is wilderness therapy camp. Eight weeks of survivalist camping in the desert. Eight weeks to turn your life around. Yeah, right. The Wren who arrives in the Utah desert is angry and bitter, and blaming everyone but herself. But angry can’t put up a tent. And bitter won’t start a fire. Wren’s going to have to admit she needs help if she’s going to survive. "I read Wild Bird in one long mesmerized gulp. Wren will break your heart—and then mend it." —Nancy Werlin, National Book Award finalist for The Rules of Survival "Van Draanen’s Wren is real and relatable, and readers will root for her." —VOYA, starred review

The Gecko & Sticky are a fabulous crime-fighting duo! This quartet of funny adventures will appeal to fans of superheroes both young and old, and would make terrific all-family read-alouds.Dave Sanchez's most despised teacher, a gleeful frog dissector named Ms. Veronica Krockle, is absent. Her students are psyched! But Sticky is suspicious. Especially when the substitute teacher turns out to be Damien Black--dastardly treasure hunter and master of disguise! If Damien Black is in school, does that mean he’s behind Ms. Krockle’s absence? Could she have been kidnapped? Stashed away in the Black mansion? Oh yeah, that sounds about right. Dave and Sticky realize that if they want to get Damien Black out of their school, they'll have to rescue the horrid Ms. Veronica Kronckle. Don't miss the other Gecko & Sticky adventures: 1. The Villain's Lair, 2. The Greatest Power,3. Sinister Substitute, and4. The Power Potion

While serving a detention in the soup kitchen at St. Mary's Church for an infraction committed during her last case, Sammy Keyes becomes the prime suspect in the disappearance of Father Mayhew's prized ivory cross. Ace detective that she is, Sammy manages to prove her innocence but soon discovers that, under its calm exterior, St. Mary's is abuzz with gossip, jealousy, and intrigue--just like junior high! Meanwhile, back at school, Sammy's beloved catcher's mitt--her only connection to her father--disappears just when her team makes the semifinals. Add to this mix: a dog who eats everything in sight, a lesson in safe cracking from a homeless girl who bears a striking resemblance to Sammy, and an exuberant trio of gospel-singing nuns called the Sisters of Mercy, and you've got one wild ride of a mystery--or just another week in the life of Samantha Keyes.

Wendelin Van Draanen's highly acclaimed he-said, she-said teen romance is going to be a major motion picture. Written and directed by Rob Reiner, the film features a stellar cast, including Madeline Carroll and Callan McAuliffe as Juli and Bryce, and Aidan Quinn, Rebecca De Mornay, Anthony Edwards, Penelope Ann Miller, and John Mahoney. This movie tie-in edition will feature full-color movie stills, an interview with the author, and a preview of her next romantic comedy, Confessions of a Serial Kisser. Flipped is a romance told in two voices. The first time Juli Baker saw Bryce Loski, she flipped. The first time Bryce saw Juli, he ran. That's pretty much the pattern for these two neighbors until the eighth grade, when, just as Juli is realizing Bryce isn't as wonderful as she thought, Bryce is starting to see that Juli is pretty amazing. How these two teens manage to see beyond the surface of things and come together makes for a comic and poignant romance.

And this new adventure is Wendelin Van Draanen's most complex and compelling yet! It's Christmastime in Sammy's hometown of Santa Martina, but some people are being very, very naughty. Pranksters dressed as wise men sabotage the Christmas Parade. In the ensuing chaos, some thugs dognap a prize Pomeranian. Then the Pom's owner blackmails Sammy into finding the dog so she won't have to pay the ransom. Sammy doesn't have to check her list twice to know that these people belong in the naughty column! But in the course of her search for the doggone dog, Sammy also comes across some characters who are harder to figure: a runaway elf, an embittered old biddy, a puffed-up policeman, and a sneaky Secret Santa. Still, someone's got that dog and whoever it is had better watch out--'cause Sammy Keyes is nosing around...and she's willing to be pretty naughty herself to make sure the bad guys pay.

What does Frankenstein have that a skeleton wants?Sounds like a bad Halloween joke. But Sammy Keyes isn't laughing. She's the one who collided with the skeleton while he was making his getaway. And she's the one who discovered Frankenstein tied to a chair with his head twisted around. Someone's taken "trick or treat" way too far.When Sammy tries to puzzle out what really happened Halloween night, she's amazed at how many people have something to hide -- and how far they'll go to keep their disguises intact.Of course, Sammy's got a few secrets herself. And more than a few tricks up her sleeve. She'll need them all to unravel this tale of greed and grudges and getting even...

Nolan Byrd single-handedly saved his school from the bullydom of Alvin “Bubba” Bixby. He posted proof of Bubba’s exploits on the Web at Shredderman.com. Now Shredderman is the school hero! But since Shredderman’s identity is a secret, everyone still treats Nolan like . . . a nerd. But inside this nerd beats a superhero’s heart—one dedicated to truth and justice. So when a vandal spray-paints graffiti around town—and even on his teacher’s van!—Nolan decides that tracking down the tagger is a job for Shredderman. But while he’s trying to trap the tagger, the tagger is trying to pin the blame on Shredderman! Can Nolan turn the tables back around before his secret identity is revealed?

The first time she saw him, she flipped. The first time he saw her, he ran. That was the second grade, but not much has changed by the seventh. She says: “My Bryce. Still walking around with my first kiss.” He says: “It’s been six years of strategic avoidance and social discomfort.” But in the eighth grade everything gets turned upside down. And just as he’s thinking there’s more to her than meets the eye, she’s thinking that he’s not quite all he seemed. This is a classic romantic comedy of errors told in alternating chapters by two fresh, funny new voices. Wendelin Van Draanen is at her best here with a knockout cast of quirky characters and a hilarious series of misunderstandings and missed opportunities. But underlying the humor are two teens in transition. They are each learning to look beyond the surface of people, both figuring out who they are, who they want to be, and who they want to be with.From the Hardcover edition.