Wendelin Van Draanen

Wendelin Van Draanen is an American author of children’s and young adult fiction, born January 6, 1965, in Chicago, Illinois, to Dutch immigrant parents. She earned an undergraduate degree in ergonomics and a graduate degree in teaching, and worked for about fifteen years as a high school math and computer science teacher before becoming a full‑time writer.

Van Draanen has written more than thirty novels for young readers and teens, including the Edgar Award–winning, 18‑book Sammy Keyes mystery series, the Shredderman and Gecko & Sticky series, and several standalone novels. Her novel Flipped is a widely acclaimed modern classic for young readers, named a Top 100 Children’s Novel for the 21st Century by School Library Journal and adapted into a feature film directed by Rob Reiner. She lives in California with her husband, author Mark Parsons (also known as Mark Huntley Parsons), and their two sons.