Wendelin Van Draanen

Join us in welcoming award-winning and bestselling author Wendelin Van Draanen (Flipped, The Running Dream) for the release of her new YA thriller, The Steps. Riverdale meets The Queen's Gambit in this fun and twisty story about a deliciously dysfunctional family with dark secrets and shifting alliances.

Ticket options for this event include:

• General Admission + Book: $21.24, admits one guest. This ticket option comes with a copy of The Steps which Wendelin will sign at the event.
• General Admission + Coupon: $5, admits one guest. The cost of this ticket option may be redeemed for $5 off any of Wendelin's books on the night of the event.

Tickets are required to attend. We hope you can join us!

We strive to host inclusive, accessible events that enable all individuals to engage fully. To request an accommodation or for inquiries about accessibility, please reach out to [email protected].

Ticket holders who purchased a book-included ticket and are unable to attend the event will be able to pick up their book at An Unlikely Story up to 30 days following the event.

ABOUT THE BOOK:Fourteen-year-old chess whiz Ruby Vossen tries to keep to herself. She refuses to be a pawn in her wealthy family’s web of deception.But ever since Ruby’s mother and aunt died in a car wreck, the battle lines drawn within the Vossen clan have ruled her life. Ruby’s father and uncle became irreparably estranged, and within months, Ruby’s cousin/BFF was banished from her life, her father remarried, and she wound up with a gold-digging stepmom who has two teens of her own—The Steps.So when strange and dangerous things begin happening on the Vossen estate, Ruby sees only one logical explanation: The Steps are scheming to inherit the Vossen fortune. And as things get more and more intense, it seems like killing is in their playbook.Luckily, Ruby has her own playbook, and she’s not about to go down without a fight. She’ll even break her dad’s rules to get her cousin back on her side of the chessboard . . . It’s time to check-mate The Steps before they can finish the Vossens off.Secrets, lies, and lethal threats abound in this clever, quirky thriller by the award-winning, bestselling author of Flipped and the Sammy Keyes mysteries.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:Wendelin Van Draanen is the award-winning, bestselling author of more than thirty novels for kids and teens. Her books include Flipped, which was named a Top 100 Children’s Novel for the 21st Century by SLJ and became a Warner Brothers feature film, the Edgar Award-winning Sammy Keyes mystery series, and The Running Dream, which won ALA’s Schneider Family Book award. A high school teacher for fifteen years, Wendelin is now a full time writer who enjoys staying active in the school author-visit space.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

An Unlikely Story, 111 South Street, Plainville, United States