About The Author
JERRY SPINELLI (1941- )
Jerry Spinelli was born on February 1, 1941, in Norristown, Pennsylvania. While still a youngster, one of his poems about a hometown football team's victory was published in a local paper. This inspired him to consider a career as a writer. As an adult writer, he thought he should write about topics that would be interesting to adults. The publishers he approached were not interested in his work. After he married, he started writing about things his own children did. One incident, when his child ate some food he was saving for himself, was the inspiration for his first book, Space Station Seventh Grade.
Space Station Seventh Grade (Little, Brown, 1982) tells the daily life of Jason Herkimer. Jason deals with everyday incidents as well as serious issues such as his parents' divorce, and living with a stepfather. In the sequel, Jason and Marceline (Little, Brown, 1990), Jason and the trombone player, Marceline, develop a deeper, more caring, and romantic relationship.
Who Put That Hair in My Toothbrush? (Little, Brown, 1984) is the story of Megin and Greg, siblings who fight a lot but unite against a common threat. The story is told in first person, with chapters alternating between Megin and Greg.
Maniac Magee (Little, Brown, 1990) was the Newbery Medal winner in 1991. In this book, Spinelli deals with the absurdities of racism. Jeffrey Lionel Magee is a Caucasian boy who is orphaned at the age of three. He runs away from his aunt and uncle's tension-filled home, and lives with a succession of people. Nicknamed Maniac because of his athletic feats, he tries to start better racial relationships between the blacks and whites. Maniac Magee also won the Boston Globe/Horn Book Award, 1990, American Library Association, 1991, and the D.C. Fisher Award, 1992.
Spinelli's other works include Dump Days, (Little, Brown, 1988), The Bathwater Gang (Little, Brown, 1990), There's a Girl in My Hammerlock, (Simon and Schuster, 1991), Fourth Grade Rats (Scholastic, 1991.), Crash (Harper Trophy, 1996. Newbery Honor), Wringer (1997, Newbery Honor 1998), Stargirl (Knopf, 2001), Loser (Harper Collins, 2002), and Milkweed (Harper Trophy 2003.)
He lives in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania.
Back
