Wendelin Van Draanen

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Wendelin Van Draanen's Latest Book

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  • Bibliography:
    37 Books (3 Series)
  • First Book:
    April 1997
  • Latest Book:
    January 2024
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Full Series List in Order

The Gecko & Sticky

1 - Villain's Lair (Feb-2009)
2 - The Greatest Power (Jun-2009)
3 - The Sinister Substitute (Jan-2010)
4 - The Power Potion (Jun-2010)

Sammy Keyes

1 - Sammy Keyes and the Hotel Thief (Apr-1998)
2 - Sammy Keyes and the Skeleton Man (Aug-1998)
3 - Sammy Keyes and the Sisters of Mercy (Apr-1999)
4 - Sammy Keyes and the Runaway Elf (Oct-1999)
5 - Sammy Keyes and the Curse of Moustache Mary (May-2000)
6 - Sammy Keyes and the Hollywood Mummy (Feb-2001)
7 - Sammy Keyes and the Search for Snake Eyes (May-2002)
8 - Sammy Keyes and the Art of Deception (Apr-2003)
9 - Sammy Keyes And the Psycho Kitty Queen (Oct-2004)
10 - Sammy Keyes and the Dead Giveaway (Oct-2005)
11 - Sammy Keyes and the Wild Things (May-2007)
12 - Sammy Keyes and the Cold Hard Cash (Oct-2008)
13 - Sammy Keyes and the Wedding Crasher (Oct-2010)
14 - Sammy Keyes and the Night of Skulls (Oct-2011)
15 - Sammy Keyes and the Power of Justice Jack (Jul-2012)
16 - Sammy Keyes and the Showdown in Sin City (Jan-2013)
17 - Sammy Keyes and the Killer Cruise (Sep-2013)
18 - Sammy Keyes and the Kiss Goodbye (Sep-2014)

Shredderman

1 - Secret Identity (Feb-2004)
2 - Attack of the Tagger (Aug-2004)
3 - Meet the Gecko (Jan-2005)
4 - Enemy Spy (Jun-2005)

Book List in Order: 37 titles

  • How I Survived Being a Girl

    No one ever said being a gift was easy -- especially when you're stuck with two brothers. So Carolyn has learned a thing or two about how to survive. She keeps her hair too short for ribbons. She wears boys' clothes whenever possible. And she avoids ...

  • Sammy Keyes and the Hotel Thief

    Sammy Keyes - 1

    Grams told me my binoculars were going to get me into trouble. I just didn't believe her. Sammy Keyes isn't looking for trouble when she trains her binoculars on the Heavenly Hotel across the street. So when she spies a man with gloves pawing throug...

  • Sammy Keyes and the Skeleton Man

    Sammy Keyes - 2

    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 t...

  • Sammy Keyes and the Sisters of Mercy

    Sammy Keyes - 3

    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 lookin...

  • Sammy Keyes and the Runaway Elf

    Sammy Keyes - 4

    I should have just said forget it! Instead, Sammy Keyes is stuck cruising the streets of Santa Martina on a Christmas float filled with dogs in antlers. But when three pranksters sabotage the parade and send the dogs scurrying, it's up to Sammy to f...

  • Sammy Keyes and the Curse of Moustache Mary

    Sammy Keyes - 5

    Moustache Mary: legend, curse, killer, or savior? When Sammy and her friends meet Lucinda Huntley walking her 200-pound pig down the middle of the road, their quiet weekend in the country quickly becomes an adventure. Lucinda tells them a true tal...

  • Sammy Keyes and the Hollywood Mummy

    Sammy Keyes - 6

    Watch out, Hollywood. This action-adventure story is for real! 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...

  • Flipped

    Bryce: My mom didn't understand why it was so awful that "that cute little girl" had held my hand. She thought I should be friends with her. "You like soccer. Why don't you go out there and kick the ball around?" Because I didn't want to be kicked a...

  • Sammy Keyes and the Search for Snake Eyes

    Sammy Keyes - 7

    "I should have known better..." Sammy Keyes says this a lot. But when she sees something suspicious or meets someone in trouble, she just can't help herself. She has to act. So, okay, the police have had to intervene on a couple occasions, but Samm...



  • Sammy Keyes and the Art of Deception

    Sammy Keyes - 8

    Marissa says I'm a magnet for mayhem. And I have to admit she's right. I mean, how can you go someplace as boring as an art gallery and wind up attacking someone? The artsy crowd thinks Sammy Keyes has a lot of nerve, showing up at a fancy recept...

  • Swear to Howdy

    "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. Heck, the boy's a walkin' adventure. Besides, if their parents knew ...

  • Secret Identity

    Shredderman - 1

    Alvin Bixby -- hulking, knuckles of steel, hideous breath, foul temper. Kids call him: Bubba. Nolan Byrd -- puny, power walker, math whiz, can't keep his shoes tied. Kids call him: Nerd. Bubba Bixby is a bully -- he cheats, steals, lies, cuts in li...

  • Attack of the Tagger

    Shredderman - 2

    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, eve...

  • Sammy Keyes And the Psycho Kitty Queen

    Sammy Keyes - 9

    Sammy's never been what you might call lucky. But finding a dead cat on her birthday? That ranks up there in her top-ten unluckiest moments. And not just because it was the ugliest dead thing she'd ever seen. No, it was more because of the chain of...

  • Meet the Gecko

    Shredderman - 3

    Even superheroes have problems. That's what Nolan discovers when he gets to meet Chase Morton, the boy who plays his favorite television superhero,The Gecko, on The Gecko and Sticky. Chase is being hounded by a sleazy tabloid reporter known as the M...

  • Enemy Spy

    Shredderman - 4

    Shredderman 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 think he s...

  • Sammy Keyes and the Dead Giveaway

    Sammy Keyes - 10

    The bad news: Sammy's made a deadly mistake. The good news: No one knows she did it. The delicious dilemma: Everyone thinks her archenemy Heather is to blame. Now Heather's in a major jam, and in some ways it's only fair -- Heather's pinned more t...

  • Runaway

    Holly's run away before, but this time she actually gets away -- and what feels like an escape at first soon becomes a daily struggle for survival. She is smart and resourceful, and she manages to make it all the way across the country on her own. Bu...

  • Sammy Keyes and the Wild Things

    Sammy Keyes - 11

    "The most winning junior detective ever in teen lit. (Take that, Nancy Drew!)" -- Midwest Children's Book ReviewThis is not the summer camping trip of Sammy's dreams. She imagined shady glades, meandering streams, a deer or two. What she gets are s...



  • Confessions of a Serial Kisser

    THREE STEPS TO LIVING YOUR FANTASY! 1. Speak your fantasy. I, Evangeline Bianca Logan, want a kiss. One spectacular, heart-stopping, life-altering crimson kiss. Okay, so I've had very little lip-locking experience up till now, but I've got asset...

  • Sammy Keyes and the Cold Hard Cash

    Sammy Keyes - 12

    The accidental junior high detective Sammy Keyes is back in her twelfth hysterical mystery adventure Sammy 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. Begge...

  • Villain's Lair

    The Gecko & Sticky - 1

    AH, WHERE TO BEGIN? With Dave Sanchez? Until Sticky entered Dave's life, he was just a normal boy, in a normal family, going to a normal school. So perhaps we should begin with Sticky. But who would believe in a talking gecko? Or that a gecko who c...

  • The Greatest Power

    The Gecko & Sticky - 2

    Our story begins with a diabolical stick-'em-up. The dastardly Damien Black is back with a vengeance, holding a bank full of people hostage as he fills a sack with cash. Unfortunately for Damien, one of the people in the bank is an ordinary boy name...

  • The Sinister Substitute

    The Gecko & Sticky - 3

    Dave'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 strangely interested in geckos. Or rather, boys w...

  • The Power Potion

    The Gecko & Sticky - 4

    Dave Sanchez (aka The Gecko) and his pet gecko (aka Sticky) are back in their fourth dangerous encounter with the dastardly treasure hunter Damien Black! Thirteen-year-old Dave Sanchez is a daytime student, an after-school courier . . . and a sec...

  • Sammy Keyes and the Wedding Crasher

    Sammy Keyes - 13

    For junior high detective Sammy Keyes, eighth grade begins with an accusation, an inquisition, and several assorted death threats! The history teacher, Mr. Vince, is being threatened, which at first seems funny. He's horrible! Every student wants Mr...

  • The Running Dream

    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 crut...

  • Sammy Keyes and the Night of Skulls

    Sammy Keyes - 14

    In her newest adventure, junior high detective Sammy Keyes and her friends take a detour through a graveyard on Halloween night and find themselves in the middle of a mystery. Sammy must figure out how three missing people, two human skulls, and one ...

  • Sammy Keyes and the Power of Justice Jack

    Sammy Keyes - 15

    Sammy thought she'd seen all the weirdness her town had to offer -- and then she met Justice Jack, Santa Martina's very own superhero. Well, really he's just a guy in spandex and a mask who rides around town on a dirt bike, hoping to find some crime ...



  • Sammy Keyes and the Showdown in Sin City

    Sammy Keyes - 16

    In this pivotal book in the Sammy Keyes series, Sammy tackles the persistent mysteries of her own life. Mysteries like: Who is her father? And why has her mother kept it such a secret? How long can she manage to hide out in Grams' seniors-only buil...

  • Sammy Keyes and the Killer Cruise

    Sammy Keyes - 17

    Sammy knew that getting to know her new rockstar dad on a cruise would be a little uncomfortable. . . . But when the heiress to a perfume empire disappears from the ship, it turns out everyone's in for a rocky ride. In this penultimate book in the...

  • Sammy Keyes and the Kiss Goodbye

    Sammy Keyes - 18

    Sammy doesn’t go looking for trouble, but she seems to find it everywhere. She’s forever sniffing out clues and chasing down bad guys -- and driving her friends a little nuts. She’s gone up against thieves and counterfeiters and gangsters and b...

  • The Secret Life of Lincoln Jones

    Award-winning author Wendelin Van Draanen gives us a fresh and funny story about a boy learning to become the brave hero of his own life. Perfect for fans of Counting by 7s and The Fourteenth Goldfish. My secret life is filled with psychic vampir...

  • Wild Bird

    In her most incisive and insightful book yet, Wendelin Van Draanen offers a remarkable portrait of a girl who has hit rock bottom, but begins a climb back to herself at a wilderness survival camp in the desert. 3:47 a.m. That’s when they come fo...

  • The Peach Rebellion

    From the author of The Running Dream comes a heart-swelling historical tale of friendship, family, and the power of sisterhood to help heal the wounds of the past and step boldly into the future.Ginny Rose and Peggy were best friends at seven, pickin...

  • Mr. Whiskers and the Shenanigan Sisters

    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 ...

  • Gravity Is Bringing Me Down

    Gravity becomes a very personal problem for a girl as she stumbles and tumbles through a long day. A hilarious look at a core science concept for any kid who has ever had a case of the clumsies!When Leda wakes up by falling out of bed, she knows that...

Award-Winning Books by Wendelin Van Draanen

Flipped
2003 South Carolina Childrens, Junior and Young Adult Book Award -- Junior Book
2004 California Young Reader Medal -- Middle School
2004 Nevada Young Readers' Award -- Intermediate
The Running Dream
2013 Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award -- Children's
2013 Golden Sower Award -- Young Adult
2013 South Carolina Childrens, Junior and Young Adult Book Award -- Junior Book
Sammy Keyes and the Hotel Thief
1999 Edgar Allan Poe Award -- Juvenile


Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Wendelin Van Draanen has published 37 books.

Wendelin Van Draanen does not have a new book coming out soon. The latest book, Gravity Is Bringing Me Down, was published in January 2024.

The first book by Wendelin Van Draanen, How I Survived Being a Girl, was published in April 1997.

Yes. Wendelin Van Draanen has 3 series.
Author Series
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