Attack of the Tagger

Shredderman #2

by Wendelin Van Draanen

The secret life of a cyber-hero takes a complicated turn when Nolan Byrd takes on a new project. When graffiti is spray-painted around Cedar Valley, instead of catching the culprit, Shredderman is accused of being the Tagger! Will truth and justice prevail?

Genres: Mystery, Realistic Fiction, Childrens, Humor, Fiction, Middle Grade, Young Adult

Audio Cassette

First published January 1, 2004

About the author

Wendelin Van Draanen has written more than thirty novels for young readers and teens. 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. Her novel The Running Dream was awarded ALA’s Schneider Family Award for its portrayal of the disability experience.

Van Draanen's latest book, Hope in the Mail, is part memoir, part writing guided, designed to encourage aspiring writers to pursue their dream.

Van Draanen is also the author of two short chapter-book series. 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 was a classroom teacher for fifteen years. She and her husband reside in California and have two sons.

Reviews

[Tucker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shredderman 2 attack of the tagger is a very good book it is about a boy named Nolan who is on a mission to find out who the tagger is. The tagger is a person who spraypaints dumb baby faces on random stupid places like inside a slide at a play ground. The main reason he wants to catch the tagger is because he spraypainted a dumb baby face over a mural of dolfins on his favorite teachers car. Nolan goes on many different exciting and clever journeys to find the tagger. At the end of the book nolan catches the tagger on film reavealing who he really is and the result is very very super super extremely amazing that i wont even tell you who it is!!! :O
BTW it was the principals son

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[Tiff · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a hilarious read. I laughed page in page out! Shredderman is awesome! The story is about Nolan Byrd who is actually a superhero - Shredderman! He has his own blog/website, and Alvin “Bubba” Bixby, a bully at school, is the reason why Shredderman was created. Shredderman fights for truth and justice!!! This is part of a series, and in this story, Shredderman solves the mystery of the Tagger, someone who is vandalizing Mr. Green’s van, and more! Van Draanen’s sentences are packed with humor and spice, and Biggs’ illustrations of Nolan as the Shredderman are a brilliant companion. A great author to give to the beginning reader in boys and girls, but particularly boys who secretly dream of being a super hero!

[Dawnella Adams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great vocabulary and problem solving interwoven within this action-packed mystery! Would highly recommend for hesitant male readers.

[Marcos · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an AMAZING book!

[Mike Pritchard · Rating 4 out of 5]

Attack of the Tagger is the second book of the four-book Shredderman series. This book tells the story about someone who goes around spray-painting graffiti all over Cedar Valley. At first, Shredderman is accused of being the culprit. He soon proves everyone wrong and catches the real culprit in the act. Truth and justice eventually prevail.

This is a great book. For those who haven’t read it, I don’t want to give away too much. The way Shredderman catches the culprit in the act is very sly. The culprit may surprise you, and what he is tagging when he is caught may be surprising too. Nolan’s thought process is quite good throughout the book, and he is certainly brave with some of the challenges he faced, and with certain things he did. I never could have imagined doing some of those things.

I certainly enjoyed reading this book. It takes a completely different turn form the first book in terms of trying to stop a bully. I’ll say as much as a character involved in the book is friends with the bully, Alvin “Bubba” Bixby, but again, I don’t wat to say too much and spoil the book for those who haven’t read it.

[Miss Erica · Rating 3 out of 5]

FIC VAN

In book 2, Nolan is faced with a new mystery to solve. When there is tagging going around the town, including on Mr. Green's van he decides it's time for Shredderman to solve the case. But what happens when his parents find out that he isn't in school? Will he get in trouble, will he catch the tagger?

Late 2nd grade to 6th
Nolan shows great COMMUNICATION and CREATIVITY skills on his website to try and solve mysteries. His KNOWLEDGE of how to do all of these things makes it great, even though he's called a nerd.

[Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars * Now here's a series bursting with character, starting with Nolan "Shredderman" Byrd but reaching out to encompass others as well. Maybe I'm a sucker for first person narrative, but there's just so much energy here - I flew through the book not just because it's a kids book but because there's such a strong narrative drive - and so much that's particular to the main characters. Really, really fun.

[Erica · Rating 3 out of 5]

In book 2, Nolan is faced with a new mystery to solve. When there is tagging going around the town, including on Mr. Green's van he decides it's time for Shredderman to solve the case. But what happens when his parents find out that he isn't in school? Will he get in trouble, will he catch the tagger?

Late 2nd grade to 6th

[Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like this sequel better than the first one. Nolan continues to learn bravery, both physical and social, but his antics,while skirting school rules, are more focused on "truth and justice" rather than counter-bullying. The ways the tagger tries to turn the tables on Shredderman and the parents' involvement are fun.

[Tara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Shredderman. I love his creative ways of solving crime and being a superhero. This is a fun series. I think the illustrations are awesome too.

Sometimes the villain
Is the person who THINKS he
Has the most power.

[Caryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Listened to it on a car trip. The kids thought it was funny.

[Angela Sollom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Zach read these books and then told me that I needed to read them too :)

[Carrie Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think I would have gotten into this more if there had been less exclamation marks pulling me out of the story. "Fun and lots of action," said my daughter. Agreed on 3 stars.

[Sheela · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

[Monica L · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great book in the series. Just fun reading.

[Wally · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thingk it is a god book I can not wat to read the necst one

[Leah · Rating 3 out of 5]

If Sammy Keyes had a little brother, it would be Nolan Byrd.

[Nick Pearson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another kids home run from Van Draanen, "Tagger" is a fun-filled adventure with some kids-level suspense that my children (7 and 5 YO) loved. We'll definitely read the next one!

[Alexander Cortez · Rating 5 out of 5]

It made me want to know who the tagger was

[Steph · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is a boy called Nolan Byrd that has a secret website called Sredderman.com. He created the page and in his school its really popular but no one knows he created it. Its popular because its about a superhero called Shredderman who spies on bullies and shows on his site the bad things they do. Nolan has a video camera in one of the pockets of his backpack so nobody notice it when he video tapes bullies.
One day a teacher called Happy Hippie was upset because a boy from the school had drawn on his van a face that said “Duh!” After that, he told the principal, Dr. Voss who made all the kids in school meet outside to announce to the school, “Whomever that was the one who painted the van has to got to my Office now!” Every body suspected on Bubba Bixie the greater bully who was friend of Max the son of the principal, and of Kevin. Nobody thought it was Max because he would never do something like that. At the end, nobody declared guilty so the principal left.
Nolan started looking for clues to find out who was the mysterious person. He started by spying on the bullies as Shrederman. He went to the bullies meeting that were in the restroom, and hide inside of one of the bathrooms. He heard them talking about the Van and laughing about it. So Nolan recorded it and it went right in his website. The following day he saw one of those faces drawn I on a wall of a street. He went to the park that was next to it and saw there were Kevin, Bubba, and Max. He took photos of them and went to find more clues. He then told his father about the problem he was trying to solve and his father a journalist assure Nolan to go back to the park with him at night. When they got there, they met with a police in the park who was looking to see who did that crime. After that, they saw a fence and it was filled with those faces so Nolan took a picture of it.
Nolan started thinking that during the first drawing Bubba Bixie was in the class during that drawing so he wasn’t involved with that. So it had to be Kevin or Max. Nolan realizes that the drawings go in order, first they paint on a car and then on a wall so next they would paint a car. Nolan started thinking about a plan he could do.
The next day he went to the parking lot of school, skipping school. He told his mom he was sick, so she left him home while she went to do work. HE dressed in black inside a trashcan and went right to the parking lot. He waited and waited until he saw Max with a spray can drawing a face in his Moms Car. Nolan recorded everything and went back home to put it in his web page. When I got back home his mother was opening the door, so he quickly took his shirt off , put his pajamas and went right in bed. However, her mom and his dad came in his room and told him the principal told them that he had skipped school all that week!
Nolan had to tell her so he did but then his parents were proud that his son had solved a case. When Nolan went back to school everybody was called outside the parking lot to see who did that. Nolan quickly spread the rumor that in Shrederman’s web page it said that it was Max. At the end the rumor got to the principal, so she got so mad she walked away because she couldn’t suspend her own son. However, the following day in the news it showed that Shrederman had saved the Cedar Valley, the city where Nolan Lived.

I rate these book 4 stars because its obvious what’s going to happen, I could infer it really quickly. It was also good but a think its better for kids who are smaller than me because it also talked about superheroes. Some parts where still good caused it really detailed what was happening during the story.

[K Grant · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved it! This was funny, engaging and smart!

[Wendy · Rating 2 out of 5]

The second book I read for my boyfriend's son's Reading Olympics. This book is a big nothing, and I can't believe it's on a reading challenge list. I don't like the whole idea of the anonymous website - that's not a super hero to me - Shredderman is the super hero alter ego of Nolan Byrd, 5th grade nerd. Apparently, in the first book in the series (shouldn't that be the book on the Reading Olympics list - why would the organizer pick the second book of a series, and why this part picture book is on a 6th grade reading list, I don't know) Shredderman put the bully Bubba Bixby in his place by publishing a picture of his butt on the website. Back in the old days, the nerd just stood up to the bully, face to face, not anonymously, on a website. Shredderman is no hero to me, just a nerd hiding behind a screen name.

[Sandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

How could you not like a pint-sized superhero whose dad is a newspaperman and who uses the Internet to expose bullies, vandals and obnoxious paparazzi?
Attack of the Tagger is a fun kids' series, with a very sympathetic main character - a young boy who's a nerdy school outcast by day, Shredderman by night - using the power of technology to post embarrassing, incriminating pictures and videos of villains. And the tie-in between the Shredderman series and Van Draanen's The Gecko and Sticky series is brilliant. (for those not familiar with it, The Gecko and Sticky is another kids-superhero series. In this one, though, the sidekick - Sticky (who is a gecko) is far more entertaining than The Gecko (who is not a gecko) himself.
Highly recommended.

[Gigglepie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well, the first half of this book is not engaging at all, but once the mystery starts, it's fun to see all the cute little tricks that the main character pulls to find out who the tagger is.

As some people have mentioned, the morality of the characters seems a bit iffy. At the end of the day, the main character is an anonymous nerd behind a screen, and the monitoring he does of his classmates does seem a bit...questionable? Nolan is big brother and he is watching you. Even more questionable is the fact the adults around him go along with him putting his classmates' info on the web. But I guess the book isn't necessarily meant to resemble reality.

That aside, the characters are likeable and junk. Some people might go for this book.

[Claudia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh -- Shredderman has a clever narrator, a nerdy little guy who's tired of being bullied, so he uses his skills and talents to create a website where he ridicules the bully...cyberbullying? It skirts a fine line. I was never at ease with that aspect of the story or the fact Nolan's teacher knows, gives him private information, and considers himself Nolan's 'sidekick'. We don't need depictions of teachers in kids books like this.

I may be too hard on the book and author, but the times may have twisted in a way that makes this un-funny.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a fun read! My oldest three (10,8,7) loved it and so did I. We read more pages and chapters than we planned every night we read because we couldn't wait to find out what Nolan would do next. His adventures to catch The Tagger were so fun and funny and creative. I really like this series. It holds my kids' attention so well and I enjoy it just as much as they do. We're starting the third book tomorrow night!

July 21, 2012
This was my favorite of the series.

[Jnase1 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Maybe a little bit better than the first book, but just barely. I cringe at the fact that his parents are proud of him at the end, even though they have to have realized that he used their credit card to set up the web page and clearly was posting things about others on his site that wasn't appropriate. What kind of message is the author trying to send? I get that bullying is wrong, but it's wrong in any form...in person or online. I really just don't care for this series at all.

[Chandler · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is the sequal to the first one its not as good as the first its hard to read because it gets really boring and hard to stick with. This time a person is going all over cedar valley and taging anything in site the first victim is mr. green's hippie van. Nolan figures he can use the power of shredderman to find out who the tagger is.

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading through the reviews here of the first book, there were complaints that Nolan had become the bully himself, and that he had gone too far with his website without telling his parents about it. In this one, he finally comes clean to his parents, although he puts himself in some danger with his questionable tactics. To this I say, hey, it's a story! It's a real page-turner, too.

[Puja Shah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Attack of the tagger was a great book. It is about a boy named Nolan Byrd who makes this website called shredderman. Everybody in school knows about it but nobody knows who created it.

The tagger is a person who puts dumb baby faces on random places.Nolan really wants to catch the tagger because he did it on his favorite teacher's van.