New Releases by 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 by a frantic girl at the mall. The girl asks Sammy to watch her bag and dashes off before Sammy discovers that the bag she''s left holding contains a baby! When the girl doesn''t return, Sammy decides to go find her. A heart-pounding search ensues, and leads to some situations that are definitely not covered in the softball playbook. The Sammy Keyes mysteries are fast-paced, funny, thoroughly modern, and true whodunits. Each mystery is exciting and dramatic, but it''s the drama in Sammy''s personal life that keeps readers coming back to see what happens next with her love interest Casey, her soap-star mother, and her mysterious father.

A New York Times Bestselling Author. A Newbery Award-winning Author. "Rusty, I swear to howdy, if you tell a soul . . ." Joey shouldn''t worry. Rusty Cooper knows that a friend never spills a secret. And Joey Banks is the best friend Rusty has ever had. Besides, if their parents knew about half the stunts they''d pulled, there''d be the devil to pay. So Rusty is happy to have tons of fun and tons of secrets with Joey. That''s what being a true friend is all about. Right?

"The most winning junior detective ever in teen lit. (Take that, Nancy Drew!)" —Midwest Children''s Book Review When Sammy finds out that her mother has changed her name, dyed her hair, and shaved ten years off her age, she knows it''s time for Lady Lana to get reacquainted with reality. Sammy hops a bus to Hollywood and finds her mother in deeper trouble than she imagined. Lana''s phony persona is crumbling just as she is being considered for the part of a lifetime. So when one of Lana''s competitors for the big role is found dead in the room next door, Sammy can''t help wondering: Is her mother the next likely victim . . . or the prime suspect? The Sammy Keyes mysteries are fast-paced, funny, thoroughly modern, and true whodunits. Each mystery is exciting and dramatic, but it''s the drama in Sammy''s personal life that keeps readers coming back to see what happens next with her love interest Casey, her soap-star mother, and her mysterious father.

Sammy Keyes must be a magnet for trouble... I mean it''s bad enough that she has to live illegally in a seniors-only building with her grandmother while her mother tries to make it as a move star. And worse that she witnessed a burglary in progress--and that the thief saw her. And worse still that nosy neighbor Mrs. Graybill is onto her, and that the thief is after her. But on top of all that, she also manages to make an enemy of the queen of mean at her new school and get suspended on the first day. Welcome to the wild world of Sammy Keyes! Praise for the Sammy Keyes series: “Sammy Keyes is feisty, fearless, and funny. A top-notch investigator!” —New York Times bestselling author Sue Grafton “The sleuth delights from start to finish. Keep your binoculars trained on Sammy Keyes.” —Publishers Weekly “Sammy Keyes is the hottest sleuth to appear in children’s books since Nancy Drew.”—The Boston Globe