About Peter

Peter Lerangis is the author of more than 160 books, which have sold more than four million copies worldwide, including two books in the New York Times–bestselling series The 39 Clues (Book 3: The Sword Thief and 7: The Viper’s Nest). The Sword Thief was Amazon.com’s #5 best-selling children’s book in 2009. In a five-city U.S. book tour in spring 2009, Peter videoblogged his own search for one of the Clues. He is also author of the hilarious, edgy YA novel wtf, and the Drama Club series, about a group of high school theater kids in a town where theater is big-budget and life-changing. His novel Smiler’s Bones, based on the true story of a Polar Eskimo boy orphaned in New York City at the turn of the 20th century, was selected as a N.Y. Public Library Best Books for Teens 2006, a Bank Street Best Books of 2006, and a Junior Library Guild pick. Peter was one of three authors, along with R. L. Stine and Marc Brown, invited by the White House to represent the U. S. in the first Russian Book Festival in 2003. Among his most popular titles are the Spy X series, the two-book Antarctica adventure, a series of humorous chapter books (Abracadabra), two young-adult thrillers (The Yearbook and Driver’s Dead), four middle-grade novels (Spring Fever, Spring Break, It Came from the Cafeteria, and Attack of the Killer Potatoes, and many movie novelizations (The Sixth Sense, Sleepy Hollow). He is a Harvard graduate with a degree in biochemistry. After college he became a Broadway musical theater actor. He has run a marathon and gone rock-climbing during an earthquake, but not on the same day. He lives in New York City with his wife, musician Tina deVaron, and their two sons, Nick and Joe. He has conducted workshops for the National Book Foundation, the Highlights Foundation, and the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. Over the years Peter has visited schools all over the world and become known for his humorous, informative presentations.