Students have to create a newspaper about a person from the community. One day his teacher assigns a project to the class. Nolan has tried to tell the school, but no one really listens. Nolan is a fifth-grader who is one of many being bullied by the school bully, Bubba. Considering the style of the book is so didactic, it's far more dangerous than helpful. Shredderman's identity never gets found out except by a nice teacher who won't dob him in, and there's no retaliation. The students (and even teachers) just become braver in the face of the bully and things are all nice and rosy.

That's really unhelpful.īy the end a teacher helps him see how he could use his website to publish good things about people too, but he doesn't ever really have the danger of his site explained to him - or face realistic consequences. 'Shredderman' is there with his camera waiting to catch 'Bubba' out: stealing, emptying the trash, even bending down with his back-side showing. He builds a website in the name of 'Shredderman' that publicises (with photos and videos) all the bad things the bully does to other people. The trouble is, he goes about it the wrong way, and even though it's only a story, kids who try this could get into serious trouble. She and her husband reside in California and have two sons.įun story that has a good message, about a little kid who wants to stand up to his bullies and spread truth and justice through his small part of the world. 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.

Secret Identity by Wendelin Van Draanen