Her situation gradually degenerates from there, though she develops considerable resourcefulness and there are occasionally people who show her compassion. Convinced that there's no other way out of the situation, and that no one genuinely wants to help her, Holly enacts a scheme to escape and live on her own. Runaway is the story of a preteen orphan named Holly who is put into foster care after living on the streets and experiences some of the awful things that happen in the foster care system. In fact, I'd recommend against reading Sammy Keyes first, as knowing what happens in that book would be spoilers for this one the two plots overlap. Runaway is a sequel, of sorts, to another book that Van Draanen wrote ( Sammy Keyes and the Sisters of Mercy), but in no way is it necessary to have read that first. That's probably a testament as much to the librarians as it is to my daughter, but still. More often than not, she comes up with good stuff. Runaway is another book picked for me at random at the library by my daughter. She and her husband reside in California and have two sons.

Van Draanen was a classroom teacher for fifteen years. The Gecko & Sticky books, are fun read-alouds, perfect for reluctant readers, and the Shredderman books-featuring a boy who deals with a bully-received the Christopher Award for “affirming the highest values of the human spirit” and became a Nickelodeon made-for-TV movie. Van Draanen is also the author of two short chapter-book series. Van Draanen's latest book, Hope in the Mail, is part memoir, part writing guided, designed to encourage aspiring writers to pursue their dream. Her novel The Running Dream was awarded ALA’s Schneider Family Award for its portrayal of the disability experience. She is the author of the 18-book Edgar-winning Sammy Keyes series, and wrote Flipped which was named a Top 100 Children’s Novel for the 21st Century by SLJ, and became a Warner Brothers feature film with Rob Reiner directing. Wendelin Van Draanen has written more than thirty novels for young readers and teens.

Runaway book wendelin van draanen