New Releases by Wendelin Van Draanen

Shredderman.com just made the national news! Everyone is talking about the new cyber-superhero. Oh yeah! But now people are dying to know who is behind Shredderman.com. Reporters are snooping all over Cedar Valley! Oh no! Nolan's parents and even his sidekick, Mr. Green, think he should lay low for a while. But being Shredderman is the best thing that's ever happened to Nolan. It's so much better than being Byrd-the-Nerd. Plus, Nolan's just stumbled across what might be a real spy-ring! How can Shredderman not try to fight it? But some problems are too big for even a superhero to handle. Sometimes the mask gets in the way. Will Nolan's quest for truth and justice mean he has to give up his secret identity? Can he become a superhero in real life?

"The most winning junior detective ever in teen lit. (Take that, Nancy Drew!)" —Midwest Children's Book Review This is not the summer camping trip of Sammy's dreams. She imagined shady glades, meandering streams, a deer or two. What she gets are scrubby shrubs, blazing sun, rattlesnakes, ticks, and scorpions. Her fellow campers are desperate to catch a rare glimpse of an endangered condor. To Sammy, the trip is nothing more than the painful in pursuit of the unspeakably ugly. But when she and two other girls find an injured condor, Sammy's intrigued at last. As they track down a clue, they stumble onto two classmates and wind up lost. Which leaves three girls and two boys in a canyon with one tent and six billion biting flies. Oh—and an armed and dangerous highstakes poacher. S'mores anyone? 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.

"The most winning junior detective ever in teen lit. (Take that, Nancy Drew!)" —Midwest Children's Book Review Sammy Keyes has three wads of cold hard cash in her hot little hands. An old guy gave them to her. Well, actually, he told her to throw them away. Begged her. With his last dying breath. Which he was taking because Sammy had just scared the life right out of him. So . . . she’s got to get this man some help. She’s got to do it without being seen herself. And she’s got to figure out how to stash that cash. Aw, c’mon! You’d keep the money too, right? No one ever needs to know. . . . 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.

When thirteen-year-old Sammy finds herself with an abandoned baby on her hands, she sets out to find the young mother, who may belong to a gang, and accidentally jeopardizes her position on the softball team.

After running away from her fifth foster home, Holly, a twelve-year-old orphan, travels across the country, keeping a journal of her experiences and struggle to survive.

A funny friendship turns serious in this haunting book about secrets, lies, and what it means to be a true friend. Joey Banks is a walking adventure. He’s funny, daring, mischievous—and frequently in trouble. Or he would be if anyone found out about half the stuff he’s done. Luckily, Rusty Cooper knows how to keep a secret. Joey is the best friend Rusty’s ever had, and he’s not going to mess with that. But then comes a secret that is at once too terrible to tell and too terrible to keep. A secret so big it threatens to eat them alive. What would a true friend do now? Wendelin Van Draanen has written a richly layered book that offers a thought-provoking look at the boundaries of friendship and what it really means to be true. “Triumph and tragedy mix in a compelling country tale of boys being boys.” —Kirkus Reviews “A poignant, thought-provoking novel that will strike a chord with young readers hooked by the boyish antics of the early chapters, later to be emotionally drawn to the honest portrayal of characters struggling with the consequences that follow every action.” —Midwest Book Review

Nolan Byrd, alias Shredderman, sets out to help the young star of his favorite television show expose a slanderous reporter.

On Halloween night, seventh grader Sammy stumbles onto a mystery involving a twenty-year-old family feud and some heirlooms stolen by a man in a skeleton costume.

Fifth-grader Nolan Byrd, tired of being called names by the class bully, has a secret identity--Shredderman!

Someone is spray-painting graffiti all over Cedar Valley and it is up to fifth-grader Nolan Byrd, also known as Shredderman, to expose the vandal.

Twelve year old Carolyn who has always wished she was a boy, begins to see things in a new light when her sister is born.

"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.