What influenced Wendelin Van Draanen to become a writer?

Award-winning children's author Wendelin Van Draanen has always given her all to everything she does. For years, she was a high school computer ... She spoke to us about her road to being a published author, her latest book, and how she created her popular character, Sammy Keyes. read more

Award-winning children's author Wendelin Van Draanen has always given her all to everything she does. For years, she was a high school computer science teacher in central California, where she taught computer programming. She also coordinated the yearbook and managed the school newspaper. She is also a wife and a mother of two boys. read more

Wendelin turned to writing to alleviate stress and she published her first book in 1997, titled How I Survived Being a Girl. Van Draanen is the daughter of two chemists who immigrated from the Netherlands. Before she became a full-time writer she was a high school math teacher and computer science teacher. read more

Wendelin Van Draanen has written more than thirty novels for young readers and teens. She is the author of the 18-book Edgar-winning Sammy Keyes series—often called “The new Nancy Drew”—and wrote Flipped, which was named a Top 100 Children’s Novel for the 21st Century by School Library Journal and became a Warner Brothers feature film, with Rob Reiner directing. read more