Wendelin Van Draanen

An award-winning and inspiring novel.  When Jessica's dreams are shattered, she puts herself back together—and learns to dream bigger than ever before.Jessica thinks her life is over when she loses a leg in a car accident. She's not comforted by the news that she'll be able to walk with the help of a prosthetic leg. Who cares about walking when you live to run?As she struggles to cope with crutches and a first cyborg-like prosthetic, Jessica feels oddly both in the spotlight and invisible. People who don't know what to say, act like she's not there. Which she could handle better if she weren't now keenly aware that she'd done the same thing herself to a girl with CP named Rosa. A girl who is going to tutor her through all the math she's missed. A girl who sees right into the heart of her.With the support of family, friends, a coach, and her track teammates, Jessica may actually be able to run again. But that's not enough for her now. She doesn't just want to cross finish lines herself—she wants to take Rosa with her.Winner of the Schneider Family Book Award

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.

Mr. Whiskers is a paw-some new dog detective from an Edgar Award winning author. He's on the trail of a kidnapped dad, pirate treasure, and a place to call home...Mr. Whiskers is a street-wise stray dog with a nose for trouble and a fondness for two girls he calls the Shenanigan Sisters. So when Misty and Zelda’s professor father is kidnapped, Mr. Whiskers follows that car, picking up vital clues. Then the two intrepid girls and one great dog follow the trail through the streets of San Francisco, discovering hidden passageways, buried secrets, and even pirate treasure. But will they be able to rescue Dad? You bet your best biscuit, they will!Wendelin Van Draanen's new mystery is the ulti-mutt kid-pleasing caper.

Does the perfect kiss exist? This smart and funny modern romance from the author of Flipped explores the pleasures and perils of love. Perfect for fans of Jenny Han’s To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before.   Evangeline Logan wants a kiss. Not just any kiss—a “crimson kiss,” like the one in a romance novel she’s become obsessed with. But the path to perfection is paved with many bad kisses—the smash mouth, the ear licker, the “misser,” the tentative tight lipper.   The phrase “I don’t kiss and tell” means nothing to the boys in her school. And someone starts writing her name and number on bathroom walls. And worst of the boy she’s just kissed turns out to be her best friend’s new crush.   Kissing turns out to be way more complicated than the romance novels would have you believe. . . .   “Evangeline’s strong, entertaining voice will pull plenty of readers, who will root for their heroine as she begins to piece together a grown-up life.” — Booklist    “The pacing is readers realize, just when Evangeline does, that it is not a kiss she is [really] after. In the end, the playful title and premise are matched by tender and convincing storytelling.” — Publishers Weekly

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. 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.

"The most winning junior detective ever in teen lit. (Take that, Nancy Drew!)" —Midwest Children's Book Revie w The Christmas parade gets furry in a hurry when three pranksters dressed as wise men toss some cats onto Sammy's float. Dogs shoot off in all directions, and the prize Pomeranian Sammy's supposed to be watching disappears. Turns out the darn fuzzball's been kidnapped. The owner is demanding that Sammy find her doggone dog . . . and she's a woman who knows how to get what she wants. But Sammy's a pretty tough cookie herself. Dognappers, blackmailers, and wise men be warned! 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 normally unflappable Sammy Keyes is reeling--not from her encounters with a corpse, an arsonist, or an irate policeman, these she can handle. No, what completely unbalances her is the teen-scene at a New Year's Eve party. Caught up in this adolescent ambush, Sammy begins to doubt herself. And if she can't trust her own instincts, how can she possibly figure out who burned down a pioneer-era cabin, how a 200-pound pig has disappeared , or why Casey might want to hold her hand?In this fifth Sammy Keyes mystery, Wendelin Van Draanen gives us her most ambitious work to date. While her prose is as comic as ever, there's a very serious undercurrent here--Sammy is tossed and torn, both literally and figuratively, as she shoots the rapids of this plot. But in puzzling out whodunit and how and why, she manages not only to turn the culprits over to the police, but also to reclaim a belief in her own strength.

The elusive Lady Lana (a.k.a. Sammyâ s mom) ran off to Hollywood nearly a year ago to get â discovered.â But when Sammy discovers that her mom has changed her name, dyed her hair, and told everyone sheâ s only 25, she decides Lana needs a little reality check. I mean, itâ s one thing to have her mom ditch her. But itâ s another to find out sheâ s created a life for herself where Sammy canâ 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, Sammyâ s hard-pressed to find someone who doesnâ t have a motive . . . including her own mom.

Sammy’s softball team is in contention for the Junior Slugger’s Cup, and all she wants to do is hunker down behind 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. And Sammy is thrown a wild pitch by a frantic girl in the mall. She begs Sammy to watch something for her and then dashes off before Sammy realizes that the bag she’s left holding contains a baby! Now there are some pitches that you shouldn’t even try to catch, but Sammy’s a take-it-in-the-chest-protector kind of player. So when the girl doesn’t return for her baby, Sammy decides to go find her. And her search leads her into situations that are just not covered in a softball playbook.

I was supposed to be in church to get out of trouble...Sammy Keyes is working off some junior high detention time by helping out at St. Mary's. Then Father Mayhew's ivory cross disappears - and Sammy becomes the prime suspect. While she's looking for the real culprit, Sammy is amazed to find gossip and petty jealousy bubbling beneath the church's serene surface. This is just like junior high!Caught in the middle of the mystery are a homeless girl in high-tops, a trio of singing nuns, two angry sisters, and one bumbling Brother. With a crazy cast like this, it's not so easy to tell the saints from the sinners...

"The most winning junior detective ever in teen lit. (Take that, Nancy Drew!)" —Midwest Children's Book ReviewWhat 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 her like some snot-nosed little kid. Well, Sammy's not going to stand for that. She's a snot-nosed seventh grader now, and she knows what she saw. And somehow she's going to prove it.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.

IT'S SAMMY'S BIRTHDAY, which should be a good thing, except that Heather, Sammy’s arch enemy, turns out to be her star sister. And El Gato, the creepy new student at Slammin’ Dave’s Pro Wrestling School, keeps hissing at Sammy to stay away. And Dorito, Sammy’s cat, is missing, and while Sammy’s searching for him, she finds three dead cats in dumpsters around town. And as if that weren’t gross enough, Miss Kitty, a psycho cat lady, blames Sammy when it turns out one of the dead cats belonged to her. And then last, but certainly not least, Lady Lana, Sammy’s mom, confesses that she lied about Sammy’s age so she could start her in school a year early. So—surprise!—Sammy isn’t turning 14 at all, she’s going to have to be unlucky 13 for another whole year! Better luck next year, Sammy. . . .

Sammy Keyes has a lot of nerve. Wearing high-tops to a fancy reception at an art gallery. Asking why a framed orange splot is worth $10,000. Eyebrows rise. Noses turn up. But then Sammy tackles a thief who tries to break up the soiree with a stickup. Now the patrons of the arts are glad she has a lot of nerve. Or are they? Sammy may have stopped a criminal, but the real crime has yet to be discovered. The real crime is more subtle, more artful, than anything Sammy’s ever seen. She had no idea art could be so dangerous. . . . This edition also includes a free cd including an interview with Wendelin, a reading from Sammy Keyes and the Search for Snake Eyes , and "The Sammy Keyes Song".

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...

"It's a cold, hard, cruel fact that my mother loved heroin more than she loved me." Holly is in her fifth foster home in two years and she's had enough. She's run away before and always been caught quickly. But she's older and wiser now--she's twelve--and this time she gets away clean. Through tough and tender and angry and funny journal entries, Holly spills out her story. We travel with her across the country--hopping trains, scamming food, sleeping in parks or homeless encampments. And we also travel with her across the gaping holes in her heart--as she finally comes to terms with her mother's addiction and death. Runaway is a remarkably uplifting portrait of a girl still young and stubborn and naive enough to hold out hope for finding a better place in the world, and within herself, to be . From the Hardcover edition.

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

A historical tale of friendship, family, and the power of sisterhood to help heal the wounds of the past and step boldly into the future of post-WWII America. Ginny Rose and Peggy were best friends at seven, picking peaches on hot summer days. Peggy’s family owned the farm, and Ginny Rose’s were pickers, escaping the Oklahoma dust storms. That didn’t matter to them then, but now, ten years, hard miles, and a world war later, Ginny Rose’s family is back in town and their differences feel somehow starker. Especially since Peggy’s new best friend, Lisette, is a wealthy banker’s daughter. Still, there's no denying what these girls have in common—families with great fissures that are about to break wide open. So when Ginny Rose imagines a radical plan to try to heal the rift in her family, these three not-quite-friends come together to see it through. They sense that this is a moment for them all—to prove they have the power to make things happen. To know that they can build better futures for themselves in a changing world.