Sam the Man & the Dragon Van Plan, 3

Sam the Man is back with not one, but TWO plans in this third hilarious chapter book in the Sam the Man series from Frances O’Roark Dowell.

Sam Graham is a dragon fan and a big truck man. Monster trucks to be specific. And when the family minivan needs replacing, Sam has the perfect plan: get a family monster truck instead!

But convincing Mom that a monster truck is the way to go may prove to be a little too difficult, even for Sam. So he comes up with another plan: Turn the minivan into a monster minivan with a super-cool dragon painted on it! First, though, Sam has to convince his family why a monster minivan is the best choice—oh, and learn how to paint a dragon…

Frances O’Roark Dowell is the bestselling and critically acclaimed author of Dovey Coe, which won the Edgar Award and the William Allen White Award; Where I’d Like to Be; The Secret Language of Girls and its sequels The Kind of Friends We Used to Be and The Sound of Your Voice, Only Really Far Away; Chicken Boy; Shooting the Moon, which was awarded the Christopher Award; the Phineas L. MacGuire series; Falling In; The Second Life of Abigail Walker, which received three starred reviews; Anybody Shining; Ten Miles Past Normal; Trouble the Water; the Sam the Man series; The Class; How to Build a Story; Hazard; and, most recently, Then a House Fell on Her Head. She lives with her family in Durham, North Carolina. Connect with Frances online at FrancesDowell.com.

Amy June Bates is the author-illustrator of The Big Umbrella, When I Draw a Panda, The Welcome Home, and The Light Keepers. She is also the illustrator of the New York Times bestseller The Leadership Journey by Doris Kearns Goodwin; Sweet Dreams and That’s What I’d Do, both by singer-songwriter Jewel; Waiting for the Magic by Patricia MacLachlan; Joey: The Story of Joe Biden by Dr. Jill Biden; and many others. She has three children and lives in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, with her husband and her devilishly handsome Labrador, Mr. Mochi.