Jerry Spinelli

{{Short description|American children's writer (born 1941)}} {{protection padlock|small=yes}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2021}} {{Infobox writer | name = Jerry Spinelli | image = Jerry Spinelli (signing a book).jpg | caption = Spinelli in 2008 | birth_date = {{birth date and age|1941|02|01}} | birth_place = Norristown, Pennsylvania, U.S. | occupation = Writer | genre = Children's and young-adult novels | period = | notableworks = {{plainlist| * ''Space Station Seventh Grade'' * ''Who Put That Hair in My Toothbrush?'' * ''Maniac Magee'' * ''Wringer'' * ''Stargirl'' * ''Eggs'' }} | signature = Jerry Spinelli signature.jpg | awards = {{awards | Newbery Medal | 1991}} | website = {{URL | Jerryspinelliauthor.com }} }}

'''Jerry Spinelli''' (born February 1, 1941)<ref name=JS.NET /> is an American writer of children's novels that feature adolescence and early adulthood. His novels include ''Maniac Magee'',<ref name="WP">{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/06/AR2008060601257.html |title=He's a man of Many Words |date=June 8, 2009 |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=May 24, 2009}}</ref> ''Stargirl'', and ''Wringer''.

== Biography == Spinelli was born in Norristown, Pennsylvania,<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/06255/720954-369.stm |title=My Gen Club author Q&A: Jerry Spinelli |date=September 12, 2006 |newspaper=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette |access-date=May 24, 2009}}</ref> and currently lives in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania. At the age of 16, his love of sports inspired him to compose a poem about a recent football victory, which his father published in the local newspaper without his knowledge. It was at this time he realized that he would not become a major league baseball player, so he decided to become a writer.<ref name="WP" />

At Gettysburg College, Spinelli spent his time writing short stories and was the editor of the college literary magazine, ''The Mercury''.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://cupola.gettysburg.edu/mercury/ |title=The Mercury |access-date=July 31, 2015 |website=The Cupola: Scholarship at Gettysburg College |publisher=Gettysburg College }}</ref> After graduation, he became a writer and editor for a department store magazine. The next two decades, he spent his time working "normal jobs" during the day so that he had the energy to write fiction in his free time. He found himself writing during lunch breaks, on weekends, and after dinner.<ref name=WETA>{{cite web |url=http://www.adlit.org/authors/Spinelli/3608 |title=A video interview with Jerry Spinelli |publisher=WETA Washington, D.C. |access-date=April 8, 2010}}</ref>

His first few novels were written for adults and were all rejected. His fifth novel was also intended for adults but became his first children's book. This work, ''Space Station Seventh Grade'', was published in 1982.<ref name=WETA />

Spinelli graduated from Gettysburg College in 1963 and acquired his MA from Johns Hopkins University in 1964. In 1977, he married Eileen Mesi,<ref name="JS.NET">{{cite web |url=http://jerryspinelli.net/ |title=Biography, Pictures, Videos, & Quotes |publisher=JerrySpinelli.net |access-date=May 24, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090416125738/http://jerryspinelli.net/ |archive-date=April 16, 2009}}</ref> another children's writer.<ref name=WETA /> Since about 1980, as Eileen Spinelli, she has collaborated with illustrators to create dozens of picture books. They have six children and 21 grandchildren.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.jerryspinelli.com/newbery_008.htm|title=Jerry Spinelli Bio Page|website=jerryspinelli.com|access-date=April 20, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180511085651/http://www.jerryspinelli.com/newbery_008.htm|archive-date=May 11, 2018}}</ref>

==Works== {{BLP sources section|date=November 2010}} {| class="wikitable sortable" ! Title ! Year ! class="unsortable" | Ref. |- | ''Space Station Seventh Grade'' || 1982 || |- | ''Who Put That Hair in My Toothbrush?'' || 1984 || <ref name=":0">{{Cite book |title=Contemporary Authors Online |publisher=Gale |year=2013 |isbn=978-0-7876-3995-2 }}</ref> |- | ''Night of the Whale'' | 1985 | <ref name=":0" /> |- | ''Jason and Marceline'' || 1986 || <ref>{{Cite web |date=1986-09-01 |title=Jason and Marceline by Jerry Spinelli |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780316807197 |access-date=2025-02-10 |website=Publishers Weekly}}</ref> |- | ''Dump Days'' || 1988 || <ref name=":0" /> |- | ''Maniac Magee'' || 1990 – Newbery Award<ref>{{Cite news |date=January 16, 1991 |title=Newberry and Caldecott honor authors, illustrators |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/7612117// |newspaper=The San Bernardino County Sun |location=San Bernardino, CA |agency=AP |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=November 30, 2016}} {{Open access}}</ref> || <ref name=":0" /> |- | ''The Bathwater Gang'' || 1990 || <ref name=":0" /> |- | ''Hallie Jefferys Life'' || 1991 || |- | ''Fourth Grade Rats'' || 1991 || <ref name=":0" /> |- | ''Report to the Principal’s Office'' || 1991 || <ref name=":0" /> |- | ''There's a Girl in My Hammerlock'' || 1991 || <ref name=":0" /> |- | ''Do the Funky Pickle'' || 1992 || <ref name=":0" /> |- | ''Who Ran My Underwear Up the Flagpole?'' || 1992 || <ref name=":0" /> |- | ''The Bathwater Gang Gets Down to Business'' | 1992 | <ref name=":0" /> |- | ''Picklemania'' || 1993 || | <ref name=":0" /> |- | ''Tooter Pepperday'' || 1995 || <ref name=":0" /> |- | ''Crash'' || 1996 || <ref name=":0" /> |- | ''The Library Card'' || 1997 || <ref name=":0" /> |- | ''Wringer'' || 1997 – Newbery honor book || <ref name=":0" /><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/alsc/awardsgrants/bookmedia/newberymedal/newberyhonors/1998newberymedal.cfm |title=1998 Newbery Medal and Honor Books |publisher=Association for Library Service to Children (ALSC). American Library Association (ALA) |access-date=November 2, 2009}}</ref> |- | ''Blue Ribbon Blues: A Tooter Tale'' || 1998 || <ref name=":0" /> |- | ''Knots in My Yo-Yo String: The Autobiography of a Kid'' || 1998 || <ref name=":0" /> |- | ''Stargirl'' || 2000 || <ref name=":0" /> |- | ''Loser'' || 2002 || <ref name=":0" /> |- | ''Milkweed: A Novel'' || 2003 || <ref name=":0" /> |- | ''My Daddy and Me'' || 2003 || <ref name=":0" /> |- | ''Love, Stargirl'' || 2007 || <ref name=":0" /> |- | ''Eggs '' || 2007 || <ref name=":0" /> |- | ''Smiles to Go'' || 2008 || <ref name=":0" /> |- | ''I Can Be Anything'' | 2010 | <ref name=":0" /> |- | ''Jake and Lily'' || 2012 || <ref>{{Cite journal |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/03/books/review/jake-and-lily-by-jerry-spinelli.html?_r=0 |title=Twin Powers |last=Peck |first=Richard |date=June 1, 2012 |journal=The New York Times |access-date=July 31, 2015}}</ref> |- | ''Third Grade Angels'' | 2012 | |- | ''Hokey Pokey'' | 2013 | <ref name=":0" /> |- | ''Mama Seeton's Whistle'' | 2015 | |- | ''The Warden's Daughter'' | 2017 | |- | ''My Fourth of July'' | 2019 | |- |''Dead Wednesday'' | 2021 |}

==In culture==

George Plimpton related an anecdote about Spinelli having bought at auction an evening with the Plimptons, in New York City, during which George Plimpton introduced Spinelli to writers and editors dining at Elaine's, and two months after which Spinelli wrote Plimpton to announce the publication of Spinelli's first book (a children's book) by Houghton Mifflin.<ref>{{cite podcast |url=https://themoth.org/stories/dinner-at-elaines |title=Dinner at Elaine's |publisher=The Moth |host=Plimpton, George |date=March 29, 1999 |access-date=June 6, 2016}}</ref>

==See also== {{Portal bar |Children's literature}}

==References== {{Reflist|35em}}

==External links== {{Wikiquote}} * {{Official website}} * {{LCAuth|n81036855|Eileen Spinelli|90}} (every one names an illustrator) * [http://cupola.gettysburg.edu/findingaidsall/7/ The Papers of Jerry Spinelli] are held in Gettysburg College's Special Collections & Archives. The collection includes manuscripts 1961–2003 as well as other materials.

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spinelli, Jerry}} Category:1941 births Category:Living people Category:American children's writers Category:American male novelists Category:American writers of Italian descent Category:American writers of young adult novels Category:Gettysburg College alumni Category:Johns Hopkins University alumni Category:Newbery Honor winners Category:Newbery Medal winners Category:Novelists from Pennsylvania Category:People from Norristown, Pennsylvania