Wendelin Van Draanen

Thirteen-year-old Sammy's penchant for speaking her mind gets her in trouble when she involves herself in the investigation of a robbery at the "seedy" hotel across the street from the seniors' building where she is living with her grandmother.

When Justice Jack, a self-appointed superhero, begins trying to track down the missing Mrs. Wedgewod and some stolen cash, the older folks in Santa Martina are delighted but Sammy knows it will be up to her to really solve the mystery.

A Hollywood actress, who had been competing with Sammy's mother for an important role, is murdered, but thirteen-year-old Sammy and her friend Marissa are on the case.

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

Thirteen-year-old Sammy meets a mysterious man who dies of a heart attack after telling her to get rid of the large amount of money he is carrying, leading her to investigate who the man was and how he came to be carrying so much cash.

When her history teacher begins receiving death threats and her own name is near the top of the suspect list, eighth-grader Sammy is determined to find the real perpetrator, but she is distracted by her mother's relationship problems, her almost-boyfriend inexplicably avoiding her, and her duties as a reluctant bridesmaid.

While on her first hiking and camping trip, thirteen-year-old Sammy tries to solve a mystery involving endangered condors while avoiding scorpions, ticks, and embarrassment.

Streetwise stray dog Mr. Whiskers and sisters Misty and Zelda follow clues through the streets of San Francisco in their search for the sibling's kidnapped father.

Lincoln Jones is always working on the latest story he's got going in his notebook. Those stories are his refuge. A place where the hero always prevails and the bad guy goes to jail. Real life is messy and complicated, so Lincoln sticks to fiction and keeps to himself. Which works fine until a nosy girl at his new school starts prying into his private business. She wants to know what he's writing, where he disappears to after school, and why he never...

In this historical tale of friendship, family, and the power of sisterhood, three very different girls from varying social stratums find common ground as they each make a promise to not just accept things as they are anymore.