Wendelin Van Draanen

"The most winning junior detective ever in teen lit. (Take that, Nancy Drew!)" —Midwest Children's Book Review

Sammy's softball team is in contention for the Junior Slugger's Cup, and all she wants to do is hunker down behind the home plate and catch strikes. But Heather Acosta brings new meaning to the term "foul ball" as she schemes to get Sammy kicked off the team.
Then Sammy is thrown a wild pitch...

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...

"The most winning junior detective ever in teen lit. (Take that, Nancy Drew!)" —Midwest Children's Book Review
What Sammy should have done was put the binoculars down and call 911. What she does instead is tighten up the focus on her right eye to get a better look. There's something very familiar about this thief.
But when Sammy eventually spills her story to Officer Borsch, he doesn't believe her. He treats...

Sometimes it's hard to tell the saints from the sinners...
Sammy was supposed to be in church to get out of trouble, not into more. But while she's at St. Mary's working off some school detention time, a valuable cross goes missing and Sammy becomes the prime suspect. 
She knows she's innocent, and also what it feels like to lose something important. Her treasured catcher's mitt has been stolen—heartless Heather...

"The most winning junior detective ever in teen lit. (Take that, Nancy Drew!)" —Midwest Children's Book Review

It's Sammy's birthday, which should be a good thing, except that Dorito, Sammy's cat, is missing, and while Sammy's searching for him, she finds three dead cats in dumpsters around town. Worse still, Miss Kitty, a psycho cat lady, blames Sammy when it turns out one of the dead cats belonged to her....

This diary of a runaway girl and her search for a home celebrates hope, resilience, and happy endings.
 
Holly's run away before, but this time she actually gets away—and what felt like an escape at first soon becomes a daily struggle for survival. She is smart and resourceful, and she manages to make it across the country on her own. But how long can this go on? It's getting harder to avoid the truth—Holly is now...

In this fifteenth book about the irrepressible Sammy Keyes, she deals with the zaniest character to come out of her town yet - Justice Jack, Santa Martina's very own superhero. Dressed in spandex and a mask, he drives around on a dirt bike hoping to fight crime. Though everyone else seems taken with Jack, Sammy's not so sure and now that she has a real mystery to solve her detective skills are pushed to the limits by Jack's antics. As usual, Sammy's...

Recipient of the Edgar Allan Poe Award for best children's mystery, author Wendelin Van Draanen has written several acclaimed children's books. In Swear to Howdy, she crafts the story of two mischievous boys, Joey and Rusty, who share a good friendship and a bunch of secrets. Jeff Woodman's playful narration enhances this colorful story of friendship and trust.

In this fifth Sammy Keyes mystery, the normally unflappable heroine encounters a corpse, an arsonist, and an irate policeman - and her first real experiences with adolescent angst. On a quiet weekend in the country, Sammy and her friends meet Lucinda Huntley and her 200-pound pig and become involved in a centuries old family feud involving Lucinda's great grandma Moustache Mary. When Mary's pioneer cabin burns to the ground, it's up to Sammy to dig...

In the sixteenth – and perhaps the most crucial – story in this exhilarating series, Sammy Keyes is about to uncover the most personal mystery of her life: who is her Dad? In the wild ride to and around Las Vegas, Sammy tracks down her Diva mom who is secretly planning to marry her boyfriend's father, who is also the father of Sammy's nemesis Heather. Throw in a few Elvis impersonators, and this is an adventure that will have listeners all shook...