SPINELLI, Jerry 1941-

Personal

Born February 1, 1941, in Norristown, PA; son of Louis A. (a printer) and Lorna Mae (Bigler) Spinelli; married Eileen Mesi (a writer), May 21, 1977; children: Kevin, Barbara, Jeffrey, Molly, Sean, Ben. Education: Gettsysburg College, A.B., 1963; Johns Hopkins University, M.A., 1964; attended Temple University, 1964. Hobbies and other interests: Tennis, country music, travel, pet rats.

Addresses

Home— Willistown, PA. Agent— c/o Author Mail, Joanna Cotler Books, 10 East 53rd St., New York, NY 10022. E-mail— [email protected].

Career

Chilton Company (magazine publishers), Radnor, PA, editor, 1966-89; writer. Military service: U.S. Naval Reserve, 1966-72.

Member

Awards, Honors

Boston Globe/Horn Book Award, 1990, Newbery Medal, American Library Association (ALA), and Carolyn Field Award, both 1991, and Dorothy Canfield Fisher Award, Indian Paintbrush Award, Rhode Island Children's Book Award, Flicker Tale Award, Charlotte Award, Mark Twain Award, and Nevada Young Readers' Award, all 1992, and William Allen White Award, Pacific Northwest Award, Massachusetts Children's Book Award, Rebecca Caudhill Award, West Virginia Children's Book Award, Buckeye Children's Book Award, Land of Enchantment Award, all 1993, all for Maniac Magee; South Carolina Children's Book Award, 1993, for Fourth Grade Rats; California Young Readers' Medal, 1993, for There's a Girl in My Hammerlock; Best Book for Young Adults, ALA, and Best Books, School Library Journal, both 1996, both for Crash; Best Books, School Library Journal, 1997, Newbery Honor Book, 1998, Carolyn Field Award, and Josette Frank Award, all for Wringer; Golden Kite Award for fiction, Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, and Carolyn Field Award co-winner, both 2003, both for Milkweed; Dorothy Canfield Fisher Award, 2004, for Loser; Children's Literature Citation, Drexel University, and Milner Award (Atlanta, GA), both for body of work. Spinelli's works have garnered Readers' Choice Awards from more than twenty American and Canadian states and provinces.

Writings

Space Station Seventh Grade, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1982.

Who Put That Hair in My Toothbrush?, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1984.

Night of the Whale, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1985.

Jason and Marceline, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1986.

Dump Days, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1988.

Maniac Magee, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1990.

The Bathwater Gang, illustrated by Meredith Johnson, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1990.

There's a Girl in My Hammerlock, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1991.

Fourth Grade Rats, Scholastic (New York, NY), 1991.

School Daze: Report to the Principal's Office, Scholastic (New York, NY) 1991.

Who Ran My Underwear up the Flagpole?, Scholastic (New York, NY), 1992.

Do the Funky Pickle, Scholastic (New York, NY), 1992.

The Bathwater Gang Gets down to Business, illustrated by Meredith Johnson, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1992.

Picklemania, Scholastic (New York, NY), 1993.

Tooter Pepperday, Random House (New York, NY), 1995.

Crash, Knopf (New York, NY), 1996.

The Library Card, Scholastic (New York, NY), 1997.

Wringer, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1997.

Blue Ribbon Blues: A Tooter Tale, illustrated by Donna Nelson, Random House (New York, NY), 1998.

Knots in My Yo-Yo String: The Autobiography of a Kid, Knopf (New York, NY), 1998.

Stargirl, Knopf (New York, NY), 2000.

Loser, Joanna Cotler Books (New York, NY), 2002.

Milkweed, Knopf (New York, NY), 2003.

My Daddy and Me (picture book), illustrated by Seymour Chwast, Random House (New York, NY), 2003.

Contributor to books, including Our Roots Grow Deeper than We Know: Pennsylvania Writers–Pennsylvania Life, edited by Lee Gutkind, University of Pittsburgh Press (Pittsburgh, PA), 1985, and Noble Pursuits, edited by Virginia A. Arnold and Carl B. Smith, Macmillan (New York, NY), 1988. Work represented in anthologies, including Best Sports Stories of 1982, Dutton, 1982, and Connections: Short Stories by Outstanding Writers for Young Adults, edited by Donald R. Gallo, Delacorte (New York, NY), 1989. Maniac Magee was included in the anthology Newbery Award IV, Harper Trophy (New York, NY), 1998.

Adaptations

Crash, Space Station Seventh Grade, Who Put That Hair in My Toothbrush?, and Wringer were all adapted as audiobooks by Recorded Books; Maniac Magee was adapted as an audiobook by Pharoah Audiobooks and as a filmstrip by AIMS Media; Stargirl and Milkweed were adapted as audiobooks by Listening Library, 2004.

Sidelights

Best known for his Newbery Award-winning book Maniac Magee, as well as for the novels Stargirl, There's a Girl in My Hammerlock, and Loser, Jerry Spinelli's written work is distinguished by his accurate and humorous depiction of adolescent life. Washington Post Book World contributor Deborah Churchman deemed Spinelli "a master of those embarrassing, gloppy, painful and suddenly wonderful things that happen on the razor's edge between childhood and full-fledged adolescence." While some parents may cringe at his characters' ribald jokes and risqué topics of conversation, Spinelli's approach has earned the author a loyal following among young readers. Critics maintain that Spinelli is popular because he accepts kids for what they are. The author "neither judges nor berates but shakes everyone up in his own bag of tricks and watches to see what will spill out," explained Ethel R. Twichell in a Horn Book review of Spinelli's Dump Days.

Growing up in Norristown, Pennsylvania, Spinelli's first claim to fame was that a local paper published a poem he wrote about a hometown team's football victory. Although an early dream had been to become a cowboy, this experience prompted Spinelli to reconsider his career plans, and began to seriously consider writing as an option. However, he did not discover his narrative voice until he was married and a parent: One of his children's feats—pilfering food Spinelli was saving for his own snack—became the inspiration for his first novel, Space Station Seventh Grade. Spinelli once remarked that when he started writing about youngsters he began "to see that in my own memories and in the kids around me, I had all the material I needed for a schoolbagful of books. I saw that each kid is a population unto him- or herself, and that a child's bedroom is as much a window to the universe as an orbiting telescope or a philosopher's study."

Space Station Seventh Grade recounts the everyday adventures of middle-schooler Jason Herkimer. With seemingly mundane events—such as masterminding classroom pranks and chasing after girls—the author traces Jason's awkward entrance into adolescence. Although Jason seems impulsive and has a penchant for getting into trouble because he speaks before he thinks, he must also contend with more serious issues, including coping with divorced parents and accepting a stepfather. Some critics disapproved of the crude humor in the novel, but judged that Spinelli accurately represents the adolescent milieu. Voice of Youth Advocates contributor James J. McPeak called the story "first-rate," and Twichell, writing in Horn Book, deemed Space Station Seventh Grade a "truly funny book."

Jason and Marceline is a sequel to Space Station Seventh Grade. Now a ninth grader, Jason continues to cope with the daily trials of adolescence, such as his attempt at sparking a romance with Marceline, a trombone-playing classmate who once beat him up. Marceline initially rejects Jason's advances when he exhibits the same bravado and macho behavior his friends employ in their romantic conquests. When he shows his caring side in a heroic lunchroom incident, however, she forgives Jason's antics and their relationship progresses. With Jason and Marceline Spinelli earned praise for pointing out that respect and friendship are necessary in a loving relationship between people of any age. Writing again in Horn Book, Twichell noted that Jason "truly sounds like a teenager."

In Who Put That Hair in My Toothbrush? chapters alternate between the first-person narration of Megin and Greg, siblings who are two years apart and who have vastly different personalities. Greg is preoccupied with a possible romance, while sports-crazy Megin secretly befriends an elderly woman confined to a nursing home. The pair fights constantly, but when a crisis nearly erupts they join forces. Critics appreciated Spinelli's humorous depiction of sibling rivalry mixed with his inclusion of weighty themes. In a review for Horn Book, Karen Jameyson credited the author with a "sure ear for adolescent dialogue" and called the novel "hilarious."

Maniac Magee, Spinelli's Newbery Medal winner, is about an athletically gifted boy whose accomplishments ignite legends about him. Jeffrey "Manic" Magee is a caucasian orphan who has run away from his foster home. His search for a loving household is problematic in the racially divided town of Two Mills. Maniac's first stay is with a black family, but after racist graffiti is spray-painted on their house, he leaves. He spends several happy months with an old man in a park equipment room, but the man eventually dies. Maniac then moves in with a white family, but finds the house filled with roaches, alcohol, and cursing. Maniac then attempts his greatest feat: initiating better relations between blacks and whites in Two Mills.

Although some critics felt that Spinelli dilutes his message about the absurdity of racism by presenting Maniac Magee as a fable, others cited the author's focus on such an incident as noteworthy. Alison Teal, in her New York Times Book Review appraisal, judged that "Spinelli grapples . . . with a racial tension rarely addressed in fiction for children in the middle grades," and Washington Post Book World contributor Claudia Logan lauded Spinelli's "colorful writing and originality."

In Crash a smug jock is transformed into a more empathetic young person. Seventh-grader Crash Coogan has the athletic ability of Maniac Magee but nowhere near the same sensitivity to others. He bullies kids smaller than he, including Penn Webb, a target since first grade; he even threatens a girl who rejects his romantic advances. Crash is competitive about everything, and it is not until his beloved grandfather suffers a life-threatening stroke that the teen begins to show some humanity. A Publishers Weekly contributor wrote that, "without being preachy, Spinelli packs a powerful moral wallop, leaving it to the pitch-perfect narration to drive home his point." Reviewing the novel in School Library Journal, Connie Tyrrell Burns concluded that "readers will devour this humorous glimpse at what jocks are made of while learning that life does not require crashing helmet-headed through it."

Stargirl focuses on nonconformity and popularity. When the eponymous protagonist enters all-white middle-class Mica High School, she attracts considerable notice for her off-beat behavior, odd clothing, and her habit of cheering for both sides after making the cheerleading squad. Though Stargirl is initially admired, when she does not conform to the culture of her new school she finds herself "dropped" by her supposed friends. Some reviewers found the novel one-dimensional and heavy-handed; as Ilene Cooper noted in Booklist, Spinelli's protagonist is so unbelievable that "readers may feel more sympathy for the bourgeois teens than the earnest, kind, magic Stargirl." Others, however, praised the author's handling of a complex and relevant theme. "As always respectful of his audience," wrote a reviewer for Publishers Weekly, "Spinelli poses searching questions about loyalty to one's friends and oneself and leaves readers to form their own answers."

Other novels that chronicle the perils of the middle grades include There's a Girl in My Hammerlock, which finds eighth-grader Maisie Potter trying out for the school wrestling team. The school allows her to participate, but Maisie encounters various roadblocks, including her teammates' jealousy about the media attention she receives. Also for younger teens is Spinelli's "School Daze" series, which includes Report to the Principal's Office, Do the Funky Pickle, Who Ran My Underwear up the Flagpole?, and Picklemania. Featuring Eddie, Salem, Sunny, and Pickles, these books chronicle the antics ongoing at Plumstead Middle School. Sunny is a grump, Eddie is something of a wimp who is in love with Sunny, Salem is an aspiring writer, and Pickles is . . . , well, uniquely Pickles.

Spinelli's award winning novel Loser finds goofy, awkward Donald Zinkoff slowly transforming from class clown to class loser as he moves from elementary school into middle school. Despite the taunts and barbs of his critical classmates, Donald maintains a "what, me worry?" attitude due to a healthy optimism and a lack of concern for what others think. Peter D. Sieruta noted in a Horn Book review that through the novel's "present-tense, omniscient narrative," readers are introduced to another one of "Spinelli's larger-than-life protagonists," and praised the novel as "a wonderful character study." In School Library Journal Edward Sullivan called Donald "a flawed but tough kid with an unshakable optimism that readers will find endearing," while a Kirkus reviewer dubbed Loser "a masterful character portrait; here's one loser who will win plenty of hearts."

A library card becomes the ticket out of mundane and often impoverished lives for four youngsters in a group of interlinking stories published as The Library Card. Shoplifting Mongoose leaves his thieving ways behind when he enters a library for the first time and discovers a world of facts; Brenda is a TV addict who discovers a new world of invention in books; Sonseray recaptures memories of his mother in an adult romance title; a hijacker even falls under the spell of books in a bookmobile. A Publishers Weekly critic felt that "while the premise (the card) behind the stories may seem contrived, the author uses it effectively" to create "four vaguely unsettling tales." Joan Hamilton asserted in Horn Book that "Spinelli's characters are unusual and memorable; his writing both humorous and convincing."

Spinelli has continued to create a body of amusing and fast-reading work for both young adult and younger readers. Fourth Grade Rats focuses on peer pressure and growing up too fast. The main characters are Suds and Joey, friends who decide they have to become tough and mean now that they are entering fourth grade. Niceguy Suds initially balks at the plan, but Joey's relentless needling persuades him to reconsider. The experiment is short-lived, however, as both boys are forced to resume their normal behavior—and relieved when this happens. Tooter Pepperday and its sequel, Blue Ribbon Tales, feature a reluctant young transplant to suburbia and her adventures adapting to her new environment.

With his 1998 Newbery Honor book Wringer, Spinelli returns to the weightier themes that made Maniac Magee so popular. A tenth birthday is something to be dreaded for nine-year-old Palmer LaRue. At that time he will qualify as a wringer, one of the boys who wrings the necks of wounded birds in the annual pigeon shoot in Palmer's rural hometown. While other kids cannot wait to perform this role, Palmer is different. He secretly harbors a pet in his room, a stray pigeon he calls Nipper. Palmer leads a double life, trying to fit in on the outside, until the pigeon shoot forces him to act on his true beliefs when Nipper is endangered.

In a School Library Journal review of Wringer, Tim Rausch cited the novel for "Humor, suspense, a bird with a personality, and a moral dilemma familiar to everyone," characters who are "memorable, convincing, and both endearing and villainous," and a "riveting plot." Suzanne Manczuk, writing in Voice of Youth Advocates, commented that "Spinelli has given us mythic heroes before, but none more human or vulnerable than Palmer." New York Times Book Review critic Benjamin Cheever also had high praise for Wringer, describing the novel as "both less antic and more deeply felt" than Maniac Magee, and adding that Spinelli presents Palmer's moral dilemma "with great care and sensitivity."

In 2003 Spinelli produced two works that marked a change of pace for the longtime novelist. For one, he made his debut as a picture-book writer with My Daddyand Me, which chronicles the close relationship between a puppy and his dog-father in illustrations by Seymore Chwast. Spinelli's novel Milkweed also found the author charting new territory due to its setting in Poland during World War II. The novel focuses on orphaned Misha Pilsudski, who is trying to survive by his wits in the Warsaw ghetto. A capable thief and liar, Misha manages to escape the violence meted out to others in the ghetto and eventually finds a home with a Jewish family. Despite his miserable circumstances, the character of Misha "is another of Spinelli's exuberant, goodhearted protagonists," wrote Sieruta, while in School Library Journal Ginny Gustin noted that Milkweed would be "appreciated . . . by those who share Misha's innocence and will discover the horrors of this period in history along with him." Praising the author's choice of narrator as a "masterstroke" in terms of illustrating the horrors of the war for a younger readership, a Kirkus Reviews writer explained that Misha "simply reports graphically, almost clinically, on the slow devastation" suffered by Warsaw's Jewish population during the Holocaust.

Spinelli, while often irreverent and sometimes crude to the adult ear, has gained a reputation for speaking to young readers in terms they can understand. As Booklist reviewer Hazel Rochman maintained, whether it is gender roles he is writing about, as in There's a Girl in My Hammerlock, or the power of myth, as in Maniac Magee, or a bevy of kids learning the joys of the library, as in The Library Card, Spinelli "is able to convey the message with humor and tenderness and with a fast-talking immediacy about the preteen scene." For fans interested in the inspiration for much of Spinelli's work as well as an introduction to the early life of the writer, Spinelli's partial autobiography, Knots in My Yo-Yo, is an indispensable guide. A reviewer for Publishers Weekly called this 1998 memoir a "montage of sharply focused memories," and concluded that as "Spinelli effortlessly spins the story of an ordinary Pennsylvania boy, he also documents the evolution of an exceptional author."

In his Newbery Award acceptance speech excerpted in Horn Book, the author recounted his conversation with a group of schoolchildren. When they asked him where he gets his ideas, the author replied, "from you." Spinelli continued, "You're the funny ones. You're the fascinating ones. You're the elusive and inspiring and promising and heroic and maddening ones."

Biographical and Critical Sources

BOOKS

Authors and Artists for Young Adults, Volume 41, Gale (Detroit, MI), 2001.

Beacham's Guide to Literature for Young Adults, Volume 7, Beacham Publishing (Osprey, FL), 1994, Volume 10, Gale (Detroit, MI), 2000.

Children's Literature Review, Volume 26, Gale (Detroit, MI), 1992.

Pendergast, Tom, and Sara Pendergast, editors, St. James Guide to Young Adult Writers, second edition, St. James Press (Detroit, MI), 1999, pp. 783-785.

Silvey, Anita, editor, Children's Books and Their Creators, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1995.

PERIODICALS

Alan Review, fall, 1986, pp. 15-18.

Book, September-October, 2002, review of Loser, p. 40.

Booklist, June 1, 1990, Deborah Abbott, review of Maniac Magee, p. 1902; June 1, 1996, p. 1724; February 1, 1997, Hazel Rochman, review of The Library Card, p. 942; September 1, 1997, p. 118; May 1, 1998, GraceAnne A. DeCandido, review of Knots in My Yo-Yo String: The Autobiography of a Kid, p. 1514; June 1, 2000, Ilene Cooper, review of Stargirl, p. 1883; May 15, 2002, Michael Cart, review of Loser, p. 1597; March 1, 2003, Julie Cummins, review of My Daddy and Me, p. 1204.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, June, 1995, pp. 359-360; May, 1996, p. 315; March, 1997, pp. 257-258; October, 1997, p. 67.

Carousel, summer, 1995, p. 22.

Horn Book, June, 1984, Karen Jameyson, review of Who Put That Hair in My Toothbrush?, pp. 343-344; March, 1987, Ethel R. Twichell, review of Jason and Marceline, p. 217; May, 1988, Ethel R. Twichell, review of Dump Days, p. 355; May-June, 1990, Ethel R. Twichell, review of Maniac Magee, p. 340; July-August, 1991, Jerry Spinelli, "Newbery Medal Acceptance," pp. 426-432; September-October, 1995, Elizabeth S. Watson, review of Tooter Pepperday, p. 595; September-October, 1996, p. 600; March-April, 1997, Joan Hamilton, review of The Library Card, pp. 204-205; January 1999, Peter D. Sieruta, review of Knots in My Yo-Yo String, p. 87; July 2000, review of Stargirl, p. 465; July-August, 2002, Peter D. Sieruta, review of Loser, p. 472; November-December, 2003, Peter D. Sieruta, review of Milkweed, p. 756.

Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, October 2001, "Social Worlds of Adolescents Living on the Fringe," p. 170; October 2001, Kelly Emminger and Brooks Palermo, review of Stargirl, p. 170.

Kirkus Reviews, November 1, 1982, review of Space Station Seventh Grade, pp. 1196-1197; April 1, 2002, review of Loser, p. 499; March 15, 2003, review of My Daddy and Me, p. 479; August 1, 2003, review of Milkweed, p. 1024.

Kliatt, January, 2004, Sally Tibbets, review of Milkweed (audiobook), p. 49.

New York Times Book Review, April 21, 1991, Alison Teal, review of Maniac Magee, p. 33; November 16, 1997, Benjamin Cheever, "Pigeon English," p. 52; September 17, 2000, Betsy Groban, review of Stargirl, p. 33.

Publishers Weekly, March 25, 1996, review of Crash, p. 84; February 10, 1997, review of The Library Card, p. 84; April 6, 1998, review of Knots in My Yo-Yo String: The Autobiography of a Kid, p. 79; July 17, 2000, Jennifer M. Brown, "Homer on George Street" (interview), p. 168; June 26, 2000, review of Stargirl, p. 76; February, 11, 2002, review of Loser, p. 188; February 17, 2003, review of My Daddy and Me, p. 73; September 1, 2003, review of Milkweed, p. 90.

Reading Teacher, November, 1991, pp. 174-176.

School Library Journal, June, 1990, p. 138; July, 1995, Eldon Younce, review of Tooter Pepperday, p. 82; June, 1996, Connie Tyrrell Burns, review of Crash, pp. 125-126; March, 1997, Steven Engelfried, review of The Library Card, p. 192; September, 1997, Tim Rausch, review of Wringer, p. 226; June, 1998, Kate Kohlbeck, review of Knots in My Yo-Yo String, p. 170; August, 2000, Sharon Grover, review of Stargirl, p. 190; January, 2002, Tina Hudak, review of Stargirl (audiobook), p. 78; May, 2002, Edward Sullivan, review of Loser, p. 160; November, 2003, Ginny Gustin, review of Milkweed, p. 149.

Voice of Youth Advocates, April, 1983, James J. McPeak, review of Space Station Seventh Grade, p. 42; February, 1998, Suzanne Manczuk, review of Wringer, pp. 366-367.

Washington Post Book World, January 13, 1985, Deborah Churchman, "Tales of the Awkward Age," p. 8; August 11, 1991, Claudia Logan, review of Fourth Grade Rats, p. 11.

ONLINE

Jerry Spinelli Web site, http://www.jerryspinelli.com (March 7, 2005).*

Spinelli, Jerry 1941-

Personal

Born February 1, 1941, in Norristown, PA; son of Louis A. (a printer) and Lorna Mae Spinelli; married Eileen Mesi (a writer), May 21, 1977; children: Kevin, Barbara, Jeffrey, Molly, Sean, Ben. Education: Gettysburg College, A.B., 1963; Johns Hopkins University, M.A., 1964; attended Temple University, 1964. Hobbies and other interests: Tennis, country music, travel, pet rats.

Addresses

Home—PA.

Career

Writer. Chilton Company (magazine publishers), Radnor, PA, editor, 1966-89. Military service: U.S. Naval Reserve, 1966-72.

Awards, Honors

Boston Globe/Horn Book Award, 1990, Newbery Medal, American Library Association (ALA), and Carolyn Field Award, both 1991, Dorothy Canfield Fisher Award, Indian Paintbrush Award, Rhode Island Children's Book Award, Flicker Tale Award, Charlotte Award, Mark

Twain Award, and Nevada Young Readers' Award, all 1992, and William Allen White Award, Pacific Northwest Award, Massachusetts Children's Book Award, Rebecca Caudhill Award, West Virginia Children's Book Award, Buckeye Children's Book Award, Land of Enchantment Award, all 1993, all for Maniac Magee; South Carolina Children's Book Award, 1993, for Fourth Grade Rats; California Young Readers' Medal, 1993, for There's a Girl in My Hammerlock; Best Book for Young Adults designation, ALA, 1996, for Crash; Newbery Honor Book designation, 1998, Carolyn Field Award, and Josette Frank Award, all for Wringer; Golden Kite Award for fiction, Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, and Carolyn Field Award (co-winner), both 2003, and Best Book for Young Adults designation, ALA, 2004, all for Milkweed; Dorothy Canfield Fisher Award, 2004, for Loser; Children's Literature citation, Drexel University, and Milner Award (Atlanta, GA), both for body of work. Spinelli's works have garnered Readers' Choice Awards from more than twenty U.S. and Canadian states and provinces.

Writings

Space Station Seventh Grade, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1982.

Who Put That Hair in My Toothbrush?, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1984.

Night of the Whale, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1985.

Jason and Marceline, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1986.

Dump Days, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1988.

Maniac Magee, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1990.

The Bathwater Gang, illustrated by Meredith Johnson, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1990.

There's a Girl in My Hammerlock, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1991.

Fourth Grade Rats, Scholastic (New York, NY), 1991.

School Daze: Report to the Principal's Office, Scholastic (New York, NY), 1991.

Who Ran My Underwear up the Flagpole?, Scholastic (New York, NY), 1992.

Do the Funky Pickle, Scholastic (New York, NY), 1992.

The Bathwater Gang Gets down to Business, illustrated by Meredith Johnson, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1992.

Picklemania, Scholastic (New York, NY), 1993.

Tooter Pepperday: A Tooter Tale, illustrated by Donna Nelson, Random House (New York, NY), 1995.

Crash, Knopf (New York, NY), 1996.

The Library Card, Scholastic (New York, NY), 1997.

Wringer, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1997.

Blue Ribbon Blues: A Tooter Tale, illustrated by Donna Nelson, Random House (New York, NY), 1998.

Knots in My Yo-Yo String: The Autobiography of a Kid, Knopf (New York, NY), 1998.

Stargirl, Knopf (New York, NY), 2000.

Loser, Joanna Cotler Books (New York, NY), 2002.

Milkweed, Knopf (New York, NY), 2003.

My Daddy and Me, illustrated by Seymour Chwast, Random House (New York, NY), 2003.

Eggs, Little, Brown (New York, NY), 2007.

Love, Stargirl (sequel to Stargirl), Knopf (New York, NY), 2007.

Smiles to Go, Joanna Cotler Books (New York, NY), 2008.

Contributor to books, including Our Roots Grow Deeper than We Know: Pennsylvania Writers—Pennsylvania Life, edited by Lee Gutkind, University of Pittsburgh Press (Pittsburgh, PA), 1985, Noble Pursuits, edited by Virginia A. Arnold and Carl B. Smith, Macmillan (New York, NY), 1988, and Baseball Crazy: Ten Short Stories That Cover All the Bases, edited by Nancy E. Mercado, Dial (New York, NY), 2008. Work represented in anthologies, including Best Sports Stories of 1982, Dutton, 1982, and Connections: Short Stories by Outstanding Writers for Young Adults, edited by Donald R. Gallo, Delacorte (New York, NY), 1989. Maniac Magee was included in the anthology Newbery Award IV, Harper Trophy (New York, NY), 1998.

Adaptations

Crash, Space Station Seventh Grade, Who Put That Hair in My Toothbrush?, and Wringer were all adapted as audiobooks by Recorded Books; Maniac Magee was adapted as an audiobook by Pharaoh Audiobooks and as a filmstrip by AIMS Media; Stargirl and Milkweed were adapted as audiobooks by Listening Library, 2004; Love, Stargirl was adapted as an audiobook by Listening Library, 2007; Eggs was adapted as an audiobook by Hatchette Audio, 2007.

Sidelights

Best known for his Newbery Award-winning book Maniac Magee, as well as for the novels Stargirl, There's a Girl in My Hammerlock, and Eggs, Jerry Spinelli's written work is distinguished by his accurate and humorous depiction of adolescent life. Washington Post Book World contributor Deborah Churchman deemed Spinelli "a master of those embarrassing, gloppy, painful and suddenly wonderful things that happen on the razor's edge between childhood and full-fledged adolescence."

Spinelli is additionally recognized for creating novels in which he balances substantial moral issues with a simple, light-hearted prose style. According to a contributor in the St. James Guide to Young-Adult Writers, Spinelli "creates realistic fiction with humorous dialogue and situations, but his stories go beyond humor: Spinelli's characters stumble and blunder through their lives until they emerge from the fog of adolescence guided by an optimistic light that readies them for their next challenge."

Spinelli's first claim to literary fame came about when a local paper published a poem he wrote about a hometown team's football victory. Although an early dream had been to become a cowboy, this experience prompted Spinelli to reconsider his career plans, and began to seriously consider writing as an option. However, he did not discover his narrative voice until he was married and a parent: One of his children's feats—pilfering food Spinelli was saving for his own snack—became the inspiration for his first novel, Space Station Seventh Grade. Spinelli remarked on the Scholastic Web site that when he started writing about youngsters he began to see "the first fifteen years of my life turned out to be one big research project. I thought I was simply growing up in Norristown, Pennsylvania; looking back now I can see that I was also gathering material that would one day find its way into my books."

Space Station Seventh Grade recounts the everyday adventures of middle-schooler Jason Herkimer. With seemingly mundane events—such as masterminding classroom pranks and chasing after girls—the author traces Jason's awkward entrance into adolescence. Although Jason seems impulsive and has a penchant for getting into trouble because he speaks before he thinks, he must also contend with more serious issues, including coping with divorced parents and accepting a stepfather. Some critics disapproved of the crude humor in the novel, but judged that Spinelli accurately represents the adolescent milieu. Voice of Youth Advocates contributor James J. McPeak called the story "first-rate," and Twichell, writing in Horn Book, deemed Space Station Seventh Grade a "truly funny book."

Jason and Marceline is a sequel to Space Station Seventh Grade. Now a ninth grader, Jason continues to cope with the daily trials of adolescence, such as his attempt at sparking a romance with Marceline, a trombone-playing classmate who once beat him up. Marceline initially rejects Jason's advances because he exhibits the same bravado and macho behavior his friends employ in their romantic conquests. When he shows his caring side in a heroic lunchroom incident, however, she forgives Jason's antics and their relationship progresses. With Jason and Marceline Spinelli earned praise for pointing out that respect and friendship are necessary in a loving relationship between people of any age. Writing again in Horn Book, Twichell noted that Jason "truly sounds like a teenager."

In Who Put That Hair in My Toothbrush? chapters alternate between the first-person narration of Megin and Greg, siblings who are two years apart and who have vastly different personalities. Greg is preoccupied with a possible romance, while sports-crazy Megin secretly befriends an elderly woman confined to a nursing home. The pair fights constantly, but when a crisis nearly erupts they join forces. Critics appreciated Spinelli's humorous depiction of sibling rivalry mixed with his inclusion of weighty themes. In a review for Horn Book, Karen Jameyson credited the author with a "sure ear for adolescent dialogue" and called the novel "hilarious."

Maniac Magee, Spinelli's Newbery Medal winner, is about an athletically gifted boy whose accomplishments ignite legends about him. Jeffrey "Manic" Magee is a Caucasian orphan who has run away from his foster home. His search for a loving household is problematic in the racially divided town of Two Mills. Maniac's first stay is with a black family, but after racist graffiti is spray-painted on their house, he leaves. He spends several happy months with an old man in a park equipment room, but the man eventually dies. Maniac then moves in with a white family, but finds the house filled with roaches, alcohol, and cursing. Maniac then attempts his greatest feat: initiating better relations between blacks and whites in Two Mills.

Although some critics felt that Spinelli dilutes his message about the absurdity of racism by presenting Maniac Magee as a fable, others cited the author's focus on such an incident as noteworthy. Alison Teal, in her New York Times Book Review appraisal, judged that "Spinelli grapples … with a racial tension rarely addressed in fiction for children in the middle grades," and Washington Post Book World contributor Claudia Logan lauded Spinelli's "colorful writing and originality."

In Crash a smug jock is transformed into a more empathetic young person. Seventh-grader Crash Coogan has the athletic ability of Maniac Magee but nowhere near the same sensitivity to others. He bullies kids smaller than he, including Penn Webb, a target since first grade; he even threatens a girl who rejects his romantic ad-

vances. Crash is competitive about everything, and it is not until his beloved grandfather suffers a life-threatening stroke that the teen begins to show some humanity. A Publishers Weekly contributor wrote that, "without being preachy, Spinelli packs a powerful moral wallop, leaving it to the pitch-perfect narration to drive home his point." Reviewing the novel in School Library Journal, Connie Tyrrell Burns concluded that "readers will devour this humorous glimpse at what jocks are made of while learning that life does not require crashing helmet-headed through it."

Stargirl focuses on nonconformity and popularity. When the eponymous protagonist enters all-white middle-class Mica High School in Arizona, she attracts considerable notice for her off-beat behavior, odd clothing, and her habit of cheering for both sides after making the cheerleading squad. Though Stargirl is initially admired, when she does not conform to the culture of her new school she finds herself "dropped" by her supposed friends. Some reviewers found the novel one-dimensional and heavy-handed; as Ilene Cooper noted in Booklist, Spinelli's protagonist is so unbelievable that "readers may feel more sympathy for the bourgeois teens than the earnest, kind, magic Stargirl." Others, however, praised the author's handling of a complex and relevant theme. "As always respectful of his audience," wrote a reviewer for Publishers Weekly, "Spinelli poses searching questions about loyalty to one's friends and oneself and leaves readers to form their own answers."

In a sequel, Love, Stargirl, the title character has moved to Pennsylvania with her family, where she attempts to construct a new life with the help of an eclectic group of friends: Dootsie, a talkative five year old; Bettie, an agoraphobic divorcee; Charlie, a lonely widower, and Alvina, an angry tomboy. Stargirl also enters a relationship with Perry, a petty thief who helps heal the wounds left by her old boyfriend. Though some reviewers found the work overly sentimental, a Publishers Weekly contributor stated that "readers should embrace Stargirl's originality and bigheartedness," and Terri Clark, writing in School Library Journal, called the novel "both profound and funny."

Other novels that chronicle the perils of the middle grades include There's a Girl in My Hammerlock, which finds eighth-grader Maisie Potter trying out for the school wrestling team. The school allows her to participate, but Maisie encounters various roadblocks, including her teammates' jealousy about the media attention she receives. Also for younger teens is Spinelli's "School Daze" series, which includes Report to the Principal's Office, Do the Funky Pickle, Who Ran My Underwear up the Flagpole?, and Picklemania. Featuring Eddie, Salem, Sunny, and Pickles, these books chronicle the antics ongoing at Plumstead Middle School. Sunny is a grump, Eddie is something of a wimp who is in love with Sunny, Salem is an aspiring writer, and Pickles is …, well, uniquely Pickles.

Spinelli's award winning novel Loser finds goofy, awkward Donald Zinkoff slowly transform from class clown to class loser as he moves from elementary school into middle school. Despite the taunts and barbs of his critical classmates, Donald maintains a "what, me worry?" attitude due to a healthy optimism and a lack of concern for what others think. Peter D. Sieruta noted in a Horn Book review that through the novel's "present-tense, omniscient narrative," readers are introduced to another one of "Spinelli's larger-than-life protagonists," and praised the novel as "a wonderful character study." In School Library Journal Edward Sullivan called Donald "a flawed but tough kid with an unshakable optimism that readers will find endearing," while a Kirkus reviewer dubbed Loser "a masterful character portrait; here's one loser who will win plenty of hearts."

A library card becomes the ticket out of mundane and often impoverished lives for four youngsters in a group of interlinking stories published as The Library Card. Shoplifting Mongoose leaves his thieving ways behind when he enters a library for the first time and discovers a world of facts; Brenda is a TV addict who discovers a new world of invention in books; Sonseray recaptures memories of his mother in an adult romance title; a hijacker even falls under the spell of books in a bookmobile. A Publishers Weekly critic felt that "while the premise (the card) behind the stories may seem contrived, the author uses it effectively" to create "four vaguely unsettling tales." Joan Hamilton asserted in Horn Book that "Spinelli's characters are unusual and memorable; his writing both humorous and convincing."

Fourth Grade Rats focuses on peer pressure and growing up too fast. The main characters are Suds and Joey, friends who decide they have to become tough and mean now that they are entering fourth grade. Nice-guy Suds initially balks at the plan, but Joey's relentless needling persuades him to reconsider. The experiment is short-lived, however, as both boys are forced to resume their normal behavior—and relieved when this happens. Tooter Pepperday and its sequel, Blue Ribbon Tales, feature a reluctant young transplant to suburbia and her adventures adapting to her new environment.

With his 1998 Newbery Honor book Wringer, Spinelli returns to the weightier themes that made Maniac Magee so popular. A tenth birthday is something to be dreaded for nine-year-old Palmer LaRue. At that time he will qualify as a wringer, one of the boys who wring the necks of wounded birds in the annual pigeon shoot in Palmer's rural hometown. While other kids cannot wait to perform this role, Palmer is different. He secretly harbors a pet in his room, a stray pigeon he calls Nipper. Palmer leads a double life, trying to fit in on the outside, until the pigeon shoot forces him to act on his true beliefs when Nipper is endangered.

In a School Library Journal review of Wringer, Tim Rausch cited the novel for "Humor, suspense, a bird with a personality, and a moral dilemma familiar to everyone," characters who are "memorable, convincing, and both endearing and villainous," and a "riveting plot." Suzanne Manczuk, writing in Voice of Youth Advocates, commented that "Spinelli has given us mythic heroes before, but none more human or vulnerable than Palmer." New York Times Book Review critic Benjamin Cheever also had high praise for Wringer, describing the novel as "both less antic and more deeply felt" than Maniac Magee, and adding that Spinelli presents Palmer's moral dilemma "with great care and sensitivity."

In 2003 Spinelli produced two works that marked a change of pace for the longtime novelist. For one, he made his debut as a picture-book writer with My Daddy and Me, which chronicles the close relationship between a puppy and his dog-father in illustrations by Seymore Chwast. Spinelli's novel Milkweed also found the author charting new territory due to its setting in Poland during World War II. The novel focuses on orphaned Misha Pilsudski, who is trying to survive by his wits in the Warsaw ghetto. A capable thief and liar, Misha manages to escape the violence meted out to others in the ghetto and eventually finds a home with a Jewish family. Despite his miserable circumstances, the character of Misha "is another of Spinelli's exuberant, goodhearted protagonists," wrote Sieruta, while in School Library Journal Ginny Gustin noted that Milkweed would be "appreciated … by those who share Misha's innocence and will discover the horrors of this period in history along with him." Praising the author's choice of narrator as a "masterstroke" in terms of illustrating the horrors of the war for a younger readership, a Kirkus Reviews writer explained that Misha "simply reports graphically, almost clinically, on the slow devastation" suffered by Warsaw's Jewish population during the Holocaust.

A pair of vulnerable, quirky children forms an unlikely friendship in Eggs, a middle-grade novel. Since the death of his mother, nine-year-old David lives at his grandma's Pennsylvania home while his workaholic father travels during the week. At an Easter egg hunt, David meets Primrose, a sarcastic thirteen year old being raised by an indifferent single mother. The duo begins to meet after dark, searching through trash, hunting for worms, and spending time with an eccentric neighbor. "Spinelli skillfully portrays David and Primrose's fragile psyches, leading them to simultaneously cling to and lash out at one another," noted Horn Book contributor Christine M. Heppermann.

Smiles to Go centers on Will Tuppence, an intelligent but obsessive high school freshman who loves science, tolerates his precocious little sister, Tabby, and longs for Mi-Su, his good friend and Monopoly partner. Will's carefully structured life is turned inside-out when he learns that physicists have found evidence of proton decay in the universe, and worse still, he spies Mi-Su kissing his best friend, BT. "Will's teenage insecurities, overanalyzing, and mood swings are entirely believable," observed School Library Journal reviewer Emma Runyan, and a Publishers Weekly critic stated that "the Spinelli touch remains true in this funny and thoroughly enjoyable read."

Spinelli, while often irreverent and sometimes crude to the adult ear, has gained a reputation for speaking to young readers in terms they can understand. As Booklist reviewer Hazel Rochman maintained, whether it is gender roles he is writing about, as in There's a Girl in My Hammerlock, or the power of myth, as in Maniac Magee, or a bevy of kids learning the joys of the library, as in The Library Card, Spinelli "is able to convey the message with humor and tenderness and with a fast-talking immediacy about the preteen scene." For fans interested in the inspiration for much of Spinelli's work as well as an introduction to the early life of the writer, Spinelli's partial autobiography, Knots in My Yo-Yo, is an indispensable guide. A reviewer for Publishers Weekly called this 1998 memoir a "montage of sharply focused memories," and concluded that as "Spinelli effortlessly spins the story of an ordinary Pennsylvania boy, he also documents the evolution of an exceptional author."

With his casual yet introspective novels, Spinelli is often cited as one of the most gifted children's authors of his generation. Discussing his career with interviewer Beth Bakkum in the Writer, he remarked, "I think, in part, writing is a way to complete my experience. It's as if something—an episode, thought, emotion—hasn't fully happened until I put it into words. It's somehow not enough just to receive experience, to catch it like a baseball in a glove, so to speak, as I used to when I played catch with my father in the backyard. I need to throw it back."

Biographical and Critical Sources

BOOKS

Authors and Artists for Young Adults, Gale (Detroit, MI), Volume 41, 2001, Volume 82, 2003.

Beacham's Guide to Literature for Young Adults, Volume 7, Beacham Publishing (Osprey, FL), 1994, Volume 10, Gale (Detroit, MI), 2000.

Children's Literature Review, Volume 26, Gale (Detroit, MI), 1992.

Micklos, John, Jr., Jerry Spinelli: Master Teller of Teen Takes, Enslow (Berkeley Heights, NJ), 2007.

St. James Guide to Young-Adult Writers, second edition, St. James Press (Detroit, MI), 1999, pp. 783-785.

Seidman, David, Jerry Spinelli, Rosen (New York, NY), 2004.

Silvey, Anita, editor, Children's Books and Their Creators, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1995.

PERIODICALS

Book, September-October, 2002, review of Loser, p. 40.

Booklist, June 1, 1990, Deborah Abbott, review of Maniac Magee, p. 1902; February 1, 1997, Hazel Rochman, review of The Library Card, p. 942; May 1, 1998, GraceAnne A. DeCandido, review of Knots in My Yo-Yo String: The Autobiography of a Kid, p. 1514; June 1, 2000, Ilene Cooper, review of Stargirl, p. 1883; May 15, 2002, Michael Cart, review of Loser, p. 1597; March 1, 2003, Julie Cummins, review of My Daddy and Me, p. 1204; April 1, 2007, Carolyn Phelan, review of Eggs, p. 52; August, 2007, Michael Cart, review of Love, Stargirl, p. 64; February 15, 2008, Thom Barthelmess, review of Smiles to Go, p. 76.

Horn Book, June, 1984, Karen Jameyson, review of Who Put That Hair in My Toothbrush?, pp. 343-344; March, 1987, Ethel R. Twichell, review of Jason and Marceline, p. 217; May, 1988, Ethel R. Twichell, review of Dump Days, p. 355; May-June, 1990, Ethel R. Twichell, review of Maniac Magee, p. 340; July- August, 1991, Jerry Spinelli, "Newbery Medal Acceptance," pp. 426-432; September-October, 1995, Elizabeth S. Watson, review of Tooter Pepperday, p. 595; September-October, 1996, p. 600; March-April, 1997, Joan Hamilton, review of The Library Card, pp. 204-205; January, 1999, Peter D. Sieruta, review of Knots in My Yo-Yo String, p. 87; July 2000, review of Stargirl, p. 465; July-August, 2002, Peter D. Sieruta, review of Loser, p. 472; November-December, 2003, Peter D. Sieruta, review of Milkweed, p. 756; July-August, 2007, Christine M. Heppermann, review of Eggs, p. 404; September-October, 2007, Martha V. Parravano, review of Love, Stargirl, p. 589; May-June, 2008, Betty Carter, review of Smiles to Go, p. 327.

Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, October, 2001, "Social Worlds of Adolescents Living on the Fringe," p. 170; October, 2001, Kelly Emminger and Brooks Palermo, review of Stargirl, p. 170.

Kirkus Reviews, November 1, 1982, review of Space Station Seventh Grade, pp. 1196-1197; April 1, 2002, review of Loser, p. 499; March 15, 2003, review of My Daddy and Me, p. 479; August 1, 2003, review of Milkweed, p. 1024.

New York Times Book Review, April 21, 1991, Alison Teal, review of Maniac Magee, p. 33; November 16, 1997, Benjamin Cheever, "Pigeon English," p. 52; September 17, 2000, Betsy Groban, review of Stargirl, p. 33.

Publishers Weekly, March 25, 1996, review of Crash, p. 84; February 10, 1997, review of The Library Card, p. 84; April 6, 1998, review of Knots in My Yo-Yo String: The Autobiography of a Kid, p. 79; July 17, 2000, Jennifer M. Brown, "Homer on George Street" (interview), p. 168; June 26, 2000, review of Stargirl, p. 76; February, 11, 2002, review of Loser, p. 188; February 17, 2003, review of My Daddy and Me, p. 73; September 1, 2003, review of Milkweed, p. 90; May 21, 2007, review of Eggs, p. 55; July 16, 2007, review of Love, Stargirl, p. 167; March 3, 2008, Gennifer Choldenko, review of Smiles to Go, p. 48.

School Library Journal, July, 1995, Eldon Younce, review of Tooter Pepperday, p. 82; June, 1996, Connie Tyrrell Burns, review of Crash, pp. 125-126; March, 1997, Steven Engelfried, review of The Library Card, p. 192; September, 1997, Tim Rausch, review of Wringer, p. 226; June, 1998, Kate Kohlbeck, review of Knots in My Yo-Yo String, p. 170; August, 2000, Sharon Grover, review of Stargirl, p. 190; May, 2002, Edward Sullivan, review of Loser, p. 160; November, 2003, Ginny Gustin, review of Milkweed, p. 149; July, 2007, D. Maria LaRocco, review of Eggs, p. 111; September, 2007, Terri Clark, review of Love, Stargirl, p. 208; May, 2008, Emma Runyan, review of Smiles to Go, p. 138.

Voice of Youth Advocates, April, 1983, James J. McPeak, review of Space Station Seventh Grade, p. 42; February, 1998, Suzanne Manczuk, review of Wringer, pp. 366-367.

Washington Post Book World, January 13, 1985, Deborah Churchman, "Tales of the Awkward Age," p. 8; August 11, 1991, Claudia Logan, review of Fourth Grade Rats, p. 11.

Writer, July, 2008, Beth Bakkum, "Jerry Spinelli" (interview), p. 58.

ONLINE

Jerry Spinelli Home Page,http://www.jerryspinelli.com (December 1, 2008).

Scholastic Web site,http://www2.scholastic.com/ (December 1, 2008), "Jerry Spinelli."

Spinelli, Jerry 1941-

PERSONAL:

Born February 1, 1941, in Norristown, PA; son of Louis A. (a printer) and Lorna Mae Spinelli; married Eileen Mesi (a writer), May 21, 1977; children: Kevin, Barbara, Jeffrey, Molly, Sean, Ben. Education: Gettysburg College, A.B., 1963; Johns Hopkins University, M.A., 1964; attended Temple University, 1964. Hobbies and other interests: Tennis, country music, travel, pet rats.

ADDRESSES:

Home—PA.

CAREER:

Writer. Chilton Company (magazine publishers), Radnor, PA, editor, 1966-89. Military service: U.S. Naval Reserve, 1966-72.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Boston Globe/Horn Book Award, 1990, Newbery Medal, American Library Association (ALA), and Carolyn Field Award, both 1991, and Dorothy Canfield Fisher Award, Indian Paintbrush Award, Rhode Island Children's Book Award, Flicker Tale Award, Charlotte Award, Mark Twain Award, and Nevada Young Readers' Award, all 1992, and William Allen White Award, Pacific Northwest Award, Massachusetts Children's Book Award, Rebecca Caudhill Award, West Virginia Children's Book Award, Buckeye Children's Book Award, and Land of Enchantment Award, all 1993, all for Maniac Magee; South Carolina Children's Book Award, 1993, for Fourth Grade Rats; California Young Readers' Medal, 1993, for There's a Girl in My Hammerlock; Best Book for Young Adults, ALA, and Best Books, School Library Journal, both 1996, both for Crash; Best Books, School Library Journal, 1997, Newbery Honor Book, 1998, Carolyn Field Award, and Josette Frank Award, all for Wringer; Golden Kite Award for fiction, Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, and Carolyn Field Award cowinner, both 2003, and Best Book for Young Adults, ALA, 2004, all for Milkweed; Dorothy Canfield Fisher Award, 2004, for Loser; Children's Literature Citation, Drexel University, and Milner Award (Atlanta, GA), both for body of work. Spinelli's works have garnered Readers' Choice Awards from more than twenty U.S. and Canadian states and provinces.

WRITINGS:

Space Station Seventh Grade, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1982.

Who Put That Hair in My Toothbrush?, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1984.

Night of the Whale, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1985.

Jason and Marceline, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1986.

Dump Days, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1988.

Maniac Magee, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1990.

The Bathwater Gang, illustrated by Meredith Johnson, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1990.

There's a Girl in My Hammerlock, Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1991.

Fourth Grade Rats, Scholastic (New York, NY), 1991.

School Daze: Report to the Principal's Office, Scholastic (New York, NY), 1991.

Who Ran My Underwear up the Flagpole?, Scholastic (New York, NY), 1992.

Do the Funky Pickle, Scholastic (New York, NY), 1992.

The Bathwater Gang Gets down to Business, illustrated by Meredith Johnson, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1992.

Picklemania, Scholastic (New York, NY), 1993.

Tooter Pepperday: A Tooter Tale, illustrated by Donna Nelson, Random House (New York, NY), 1995.

Crash, Knopf (New York, NY), 1996.

The Library Card, Scholastic (New York, NY), 1997.

Wringer, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1997.

Blue Ribbon Blues: A Tooter Tale, illustrated by Donna Nelson, Random House (New York, NY), 1998.

Knots in My Yo-yo String: The Autobiography of a Kid, Knopf (New York, NY), 1998.

Stargirl, Knopf (New York, NY), 2000.

Loser, Joanna Cotler Books (New York, NY), 2002.

Milkweed, Knopf (New York, NY), 2003.

My Daddy and Me, illustrated by Seymour Chwast, Random House (New York, NY), 2003.

Eggs, Little, Brown (New York, NY), 2007.

Love, Stargirl (sequel to Stargirl), Knopf (New York, NY), 2007.

Smiles to Go, Joanna Cotler Books (New York, NY), 2008.

Contributor to books, including Our Roots Grow Deeper than We Know: Pennsylvania Writers—Pennsylvania Life, edited by Lee Gutkind, University of Pittsburgh Press (Pittsburgh, PA), 1985, Noble Pursuits, edited by Virginia A. Arnold and Carl B. Smith, Macmillan (New York, NY), 1988, and Baseball Crazy: Ten Short Stories That Cover All the Bases, edited by Nancy E. Mercado, Dial (New York, NY), 2008. Work represented in anthologies, including Best Sports Stories of 1982, Dutton, 1982, and Connections: Short Stories by Outstanding Writers for Young Adults, edited by Donald R. Gallo, Delacorte (New York, NY), 1989. Maniac Magee was included in the anthology Newbery Award IV, Harper Trophy (New York, NY), 1998.

ADAPTATIONS:

Crash, Space Station Seventh Grade, Who Put That Hair in My Toothbrush?, and Wringer were all adapted as audiobooks by Recorded Books; Maniac Magee was adapted as an audiobook by Pharaoh Audiobooks and as a filmstrip by AIMS Media; Stargirl and Milkweed were adapted as audiobooks by Listening Library, 2004; Love, Stargirl was adapted as an audiobook by Listening Library, 2007; Eggs was adapted as an audiobook by Hachette Audio, 2007.

SIDELIGHTS:

Best known for his Newbery Award-winning book Maniac Magee, as well as for the novels Stargirl, There's a Girl in My Hammerlock, and Eggs, Jerry Spinelli's written work is distinguished by his accurate and humorous depiction of adolescent life. Washington Post Book World contributor Deborah Churchman deemed Spinelli "a master of those embarrassing, gloppy, painful and suddenly wonderful things that happen on the razor's edge between childhood and full-fledged adolescence."

Spinelli is additionally recognized for his balanced juxtaposition of substantial moral issues with a simple, lighthearted prose style. According to a contributor in the St. James Guide to Young Adult Writers, Spinelli "creates realistic fiction with humorous dialogue and situations, but his stories go beyond humor: Spinelli's characters stumble and blunder through their lives until they emerge from the fog of adolescence guided by an optimistic light that readies them for their next challenge."

Spinelli's first claim to literary fame was that a local paper published a poem he wrote about a hometown team's football victory. Although an early dream had been to become a cowboy, this experience prompted Spinelli to reconsider his career plans, and he began to seriously consider writing as an option. However, he did not discover his narrative voice until he was married and a parent: One of his children's feats—pilfering food Spinelli was saving for his own snack—became the inspiration for his first novel, Space Station Seventh Grade. Spinelli remarked on the Scholastic Web site that when he started writing about youngsters he began to see "the first fifteen years of my life turned out to be one big research project. I thought I was simply growing up in Norristown, Pennsylvania; looking back now I can see that I was also gathering material that would one day find its way into my books."

Space Station Seventh Grade recounts the everyday adventures of middle-schooler Jason Herkimer. With seemingly mundane events—such as masterminding classroom pranks and chasing after girls—the author traces Jason's awkward entrance into adolescence. Although Jason seems impulsive and has a penchant for getting into trouble because he speaks before he thinks, he must also contend with more serious issues, including coping with divorced parents and accepting a stepfather. Some critics disapproved of the crude humor in the novel but judged that Spinelli accurately represents the adolescent milieu. Voice of Youth Advocates contributor James J. McPeak called the story "first-rate," and Twichell, writing in Horn Book, deemed Space Station Seventh Grade a "truly funny book."

Jason and Marceline is a sequel to Space Station Seventh Grade. Now a ninth grader, Jason continues to cope with the daily trials of adolescence, such as his attempt at sparking a romance with Marceline, a trombone-playing classmate who once beat him up. Marceline initially rejects Jason's advances when he exhibits the same bravado and macho behavior his friends employ in their romantic conquests. When he shows his caring side in a heroic lunchroom incident, however, she forgives Jason's antics, and their relationship progresses. With Jason and Marceline Spinelli earned praise for pointing out that respect and friendship are necessary in a loving relationship between people of any age. Writing again in Horn Book, Twichell noted that Jason "truly sounds like a teenager."

In Who Put That Hair in My Toothbrush? chapters alternate between the first-person narration of Megin and Greg, siblings who are two years apart and who have vastly different personalities. Greg is preoccupied with a possible romance, while sports-crazy Megin secretly befriends an elderly woman confined to a nursing home. The two fight constantly, but when a crisis nearly erupts they join forces. Critics appreciated Spinelli's humorous depiction of sibling rivalry mixed with his inclusion of weighty themes. In a review for Horn Book, Karen Jameyson credited the author with a "sure ear for adolescent dialogue" and called the novel "hilarious."

Maniac Magee, Spinelli's Newbery Medal winner, is about an athletically gifted boy whose accomplishments ignite legends about him. Jeffrey "Maniac" Magee is a Caucasian orphan who has run away from his foster home. His search for a loving household is problematic in the racially divided town of Two Mills. Maniac's first stay is with a black family, but after racist graffiti is spray-painted on their house, he leaves. He spends several happy months with an old man in a park equipment room, but the man eventually dies. Maniac then moves in with a white family but finds the house filled with roaches, alcohol, and cursing. Maniac then attempts his greatest feat: initiating better relations between blacks and whites in Two Mills.

Although some critics felt that Spinelli dilutes his message about the absurdity of racism by presenting Maniac Magee as a fable, others cited the author's focus on such an incident as noteworthy. Alison Teal, in her New York Times Book Review appraisal, judged that "Spinelli grapples … with a racial tension rarely addressed in fiction for children in the middle grades," and Washington Post Book World contributor Claudia Logan lauded Spinelli's "colorful writing and originality."

In Crash a smug jock is transformed into a more empathetic young person. Seventh-grader Crash Coogan has the athletic ability of Maniac Magee but nowhere near the same sensitivity to others. He bullies kids smaller than he, including Penn Webb, a target since first grade; he even threatens a girl who rejects his romantic advances. Crash is competitive about everything, and it is not until his beloved grandfather suffers a life-threatening stroke that the teen begins to show some humanity. A Publishers Weekly contributor wrote that, "without being preachy, Spinelli packs a powerful moral wallop, leaving it to the pitch-perfect narration to drive home his point." Reviewing the novel in School Library Journal, Connie Tyrrell Burns concluded that "readers will devour this humorous glimpse at what jocks are made of while learning that life does not require crashing helmet-headed through it."

Stargirl focuses on nonconformity and popularity. When the eponymous protagonist enters all-white middle-class Mica High School in Arizona, she attracts considerable notice for her off-beat behavior, odd clothing, and her habit of cheering for both sides after making the cheerleading squad. Though Stargirl is initially admired, when she does not conform to the culture of her new school she finds herself "dropped" by her supposed friends. Some reviewers found the novel one-dimensional and heavy-handed; as Ilene Cooper noted in Booklist, Spinelli's protagonist is so unbelievable that "readers may feel more sympathy for the bourgeois teens than the earnest, kind, magic Stargirl." Others, however, praised the author's handling of a complex and relevant theme. "As always respectful of his audience," wrote a reviewer for Publishers Weekly, "Spinelli poses searching questions about loyalty to one's friends and oneself and leaves readers to form their own answers."

In a sequel, Love, Stargirl, the title character has moved to Pennsylvania with her family, where she attempts to construct a new life with the help of an eclectic group of friends: Dootsie, a talkative five-year-old; Bettie, an agoraphobic divorcée; Charlie, a lonely widower, and Alvina, an angry tomboy. Stargirl also enters a relation- ship with Perry, a petty thief who helps heal the wounds left by her old boyfriend. Though some reviewers found the work overly sentimental, a Publishers Weekly contributor stated that "readers should embrace Stargirl's originality and bigheartedness," and Terri Clark, writing in School Library Journal, called the novel "both profound and funny."

Other novels that chronicle the perils of the middle grades include There's a Girl in My Hammerlock, which finds eighth-grader Maisie Potter trying out for the school wrestling team. The school allows her to participate, but Maisie encounters various roadblocks, including her teammates' jealousy about the media attention she receives. Also for younger teens is Spinelli's "School Daze" series, which includes Report to the Principal's Office, Do the Funky Pickle, Who Ran My Underwear up the Flagpole?, and Picklemania. Featuring Eddie, Salem, Sunny, and Pickles, these books chronicle the antics ongoing at Plumstead Middle School. Sunny is a grump, Eddie is something of a wimp who is in love with Sunny, Salem is an aspiring writer, and Pickles is …, well, uniquely Pickles.

Spinelli's award-winning novel Loser finds goofy, awkward Donald Zinkoff slowly transforming from class clown to class loser as he moves from elementary school into middle school. Despite the taunts and barbs of his critical classmates, Donald maintains a "what, me worry?" attitude due to a healthy optimism and a lack of concern for what others think. Peter D. Sieruta noted in a Horn Book review that through the novel's "present-tense, omniscient narrative," readers are introduced to another one of "Spinelli's larger-than-life protagonists," and praised the novel as "a wonderful character study." In School Library Journal Edward Sullivan called Donald "a flawed but tough kid with an unshakable optimism that readers will find endearing," while a Kirkus reviewer dubbed Loser "a masterful character portrait; here's one loser who will win plenty of hearts."

A library card becomes the ticket out of mundane and often impoverished lives for four youngsters in a group of interlinking stories published as The Library Card. Shoplifting Mongoose leaves his thieving ways behind when he enters a library for the first time and discovers a world of facts; Brenda is a TV addict who discovers a new world of invention in books; Sonseray recaptures memories of his mother in an adult romance title; a hijacker even falls under the spell of books in a bookmobile. A Publishers Weekly critic felt that "while the premise (the card) behind the stories may seem contrived, the author uses it effectively" to create "four vaguely unsettling tales." Joan Hamilton asserted in Horn Book that "Spinelli's characters are unusual and memorable; his writing both humorous and convincing."

Fourth Grade Rats focuses on peer pressure and growing up too fast. The main characters are Suds and Joey, friends who decide they have to become tough and mean now that they are entering fourth grade. Nice-guy Suds initially balks at the plan, but Joey's relentless needling persuades him to reconsider. The experiment is short-lived, however, as both boys are forced to resume their normal behavior—and are relieved when this happens. Tooter Pepperday: A Tooter Tale and its sequel, Blue Ribbon Tales, feature a reluctant young transplant to suburbia and her adventures adapting to her new environment.

With his 1998 Newbery Honor book Wringer, Spinelli returns to the weightier themes that made Maniac Magee so popular. A tenth birthday is something to be dreaded for nine-year-old Palmer LaRue. At that time he will qualify as a wringer, one of the boys who wring the necks of wounded birds in the annual pigeon shoot in Palmer's rural hometown. While other kids cannot wait to perform this role, Palmer is different. He secretly harbors a pet in his room, a stray pigeon he calls Nipper. Palmer leads a double life, trying to fit in on the outside, until the pigeon shoot forces him to act on his true beliefs when Nipper is endangered.

In a School Library Journal review of Wringer, Tim Rausch cited the novel for "humor, suspense, a bird with a personality, and a moral dilemma familiar to everyone," characters who are "memorable, convincing, and both endearing and villainous," and a "riveting plot." Suzanne Manczuk, writing in Voice of Youth Advocates, commented that "Spinelli has given us mythic heroes before, but none more human or vulnerable than Palmer." New York Times Book Review critic Benjamin Cheever also had high praise for Wringer, describing the novel as "both less antic and more deeply felt" than Maniac Magee, and adding that Spinelli presents Palmer's moral dilemma "with great care and sensitivity."

In 2003 Spinelli produced two works that marked a change of pace for the longtime novelist. For one, he made his debut as a picture-book writer with My Daddy and Me, which chronicles the close relationship between a puppy and his dog-father in illustrations by Seymore Chwast. Spinelli's novel Milkweed also found the author charting new territory due to its setting in Poland during World War II. The novel focuses on orphaned Misha Pilsudski, who is trying to survive by his wits in the Warsaw ghetto. A capable thief and liar, Misha manages to escape the violence meted out to others in the ghetto and eventually finds a home with a Jewish family. Despite his miserable circumstances, the character of Misha "is another of Spinelli's exuberant, goodhearted protagonists," wrote Sieruta, while in School Library Journal Ginny Gustin noted that Milkweed would be "appreciated … by those who share Misha's innocence and will discover the horrors of this period in history along with him." Praising the author's choice of narrator as a "masterstroke" in terms of illustrating the horrors of the war for a younger readership, a Kirkus Reviews writer explained that Misha "simply reports graphically, almost clinically, on the slow devastation" suffered by Warsaw's Jewish population during the Holocaust.

A pair of vulnerable, quirky children form an unlikely friendship in Eggs, a middle-grade novel. Since the death of his mother, nine-year-old David lives at his grandma's Pennsylvania home while his workaholic father travels during the week. At an Easter egg hunt, David meets Primrose, a sarcastic thirteen-year-old being raised by an indifferent single mother. The duo begin to meet after dark, searching through trash, hunting for worms, and spending time with an eccentric neighbor. "Spinelli skillfully portrays David and Primrose's fragile psyches, leading them to simultaneously cling to and lash out at one another," noted Horn Book contributor Christine M. Heppermann.

Smiles to Go centers on Will Tuppence, an intelligent but obsessive high school freshman who loves science, tolerates his precocious little sister, Tabby, and longs for Mi-Su, his good friend and Monopoly partner. Will's carefully structured life is turned inside-out when he learns that physicists have found evidence of proton decay in the universe, and worse still, he spies Mi-Su kissing his best friend, BT. "Will's teenage insecurities, overanalyzing, and mood swings are entirely believable," observed School Library Journal reviewer Emma Runyan, and a Publishers Weekly critic stated: "The Spinelli touch remains true in this funny and thoroughly enjoyable read."

Spinelli, while often irreverent and sometimes crude to the adult ear, has gained a reputation for speaking to young readers in terms they can understand. As Booklist reviewer Hazel Rochman maintained, whether it is gender roles he is writing about, as in There's a Girl in My Hammerlock, or the power of myth, as in Maniac Magee, or a bevy of kids learning the joys of the library, as in The Library Card, Spinelli "is able to convey the message with humor and tenderness and with a fast-talking immediacy about the preteen scene." For fans interested in the inspiration for much of Spinelli's work as well as an introduction to the early life of the writer, Spinelli's partial autobiography, Knots in My Yo-yo String, is an indispensable guide. A reviewer for Publishers Weekly called this 1998 memoir a "montage of sharply focused memories," and concluded that as "Spinelli effortlessly spins the story of an ordinary Pennsylvania boy, he also documents the evolution of an exceptional author."

With his casual yet introspective novels, Spinelli is deemed one of the most gifted children's authors of his generation. Discussing his career with interviewer Beth Bakkum in the Writer, Spinelli remarked, "I think, in part, writing is a way to complete my experience. It's as if something—an episode, thought, emotion—hasn't fully happened until I put it into words. It's somehow not enough just to receive experience, to catch it like a baseball in a glove, so to speak, as I used to when I played catch with my father in the backyard. I need to throw it back."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Beacham's Guide to Literature for Young Adults, Volume 7, Beacham Publishing (Osprey, FL), 1994, Volume 10, Gale (Detroit, MI), 2000.

Children's Literature Review, Volume 26, Gale (Detroit, MI), 1992.

Micklos, John, Jr., Jerry Spinelli: Master Teller of Teen Takes, Enslow (Berkeley Heights, NJ), 2007.

St. James Guide to Young Adult Writers, second edition, St. James Press (Detroit, MI), 1999, pp. 783-785.

Seidman, David, Jerry Spinelli, Rosen (New York, NY), 2004.

Silvey, Anita, editor, Children's Books and Their Creators, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1995.

PERIODICALS

Book, September-October, 2002, review of Loser, p. 40.

Booklist, June 1, 1990, Deborah Abbott, review of Maniac Magee, p. 1902; February 1, 1997, Hazel Rochman, review of The Library Card, p. 942; May 1, 1998, GraceAnne A. DeCandido, review of Knots in My Yo-yo String: The Autobiography of a Kid, p. 1514; June 1, 2000, Ilene Cooper, review of Stargirl, p. 1883; May 15, 2002, Michael Cart, review of Loser, p. 1597; March 1, 2003, Julie Cummins, review of My Daddy and Me, p. 1204; April 1, 2007, Carolyn Phelan, review of Eggs, p. 52; August, 2007, Michael Cart, review of Love, Stargirl, p. 64; February 15, 2008, Thom Barthelmess, review of Smiles to Go, p. 76.

Horn Book, June, 1984, Karen Jameyson, review of Who Put That Hair in My Toothbrush?, pp. 343- 344; March, 1987, Ethel R. Twichell, review of Jason and Marceline, p. 217; May, 1988, Ethel R. Twichell, review of Dump Days, p. 355; May-June, 1990, Ethel R. Twichell, review of Maniac Magee, p. 340; July-August, 1991, Jerry Spinelli, "Newbery Medal Acceptance," pp. 426-432; September-October, 1995, Elizabeth S. Watson, review of Tooter Pepperday, p. 595; September-October, 1996, p. 600; March-April, 1997, Joan Hamilton, review of The Library Card, pp. 204-205; January, 1999, Peter D. Sieruta, review of Knots in My Yo-yo String, p. 87; July, 2000, review of Stargirl, p. 465; July-August, 2002, Peter D. Sieruta, review of Loser, p. 472; November-December, 2003, Peter D. Sieruta, review of Milkweed, p. 756; July-August, 2007, Christine M. Heppermann, review of Eggs, p. 404; September-October, 2007, Martha V. Parravano, review of Love, Stargirl, p. 589; May-June, 2008, Betty Carter, review of Smiles to Go, p. 327.

Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, October, 2001, "Social Worlds of Adolescents Living on the Fringe," p. 170, and Kelly Emminger and Brooks Palermo, review of Stargirl, p. 170.

Kirkus Reviews, November 1, 1982, review of Space Station Seventh Grade, pp. 1196-1197; April 1, 2002, review of Loser, p. 499; March 15, 2003, review of My Daddy and Me, p. 479; August 1, 2003, review of Milkweed, p. 1024.

New York Times Book Review, April 21, 1991, Alison Teal, review of Maniac Magee, p. 33; November 16, 1997, Benjamin Cheever, "Pigeon English," p. 52; September 17, 2000, Betsy Groban, review of Stargirl, p. 33.

Publishers Weekly, March 25, 1996, review of Crash, p. 84; February 10, 1997, review of The Library Card, p. 84; April 6, 1998, review of Knots in My Yo-yo String, p. 79; July 17, 2000, Jennifer M. Brown, "Homer on George Street," interview, p. 168; June 26, 2000, review of Stargirl, p. 76; February, 11, 2002, review of Loser, p. 188; February 17, 2003, review of My Daddy and Me, p. 73; September 1, 2003, review of Milkweed, p. 90; May 21, 2007, review of Eggs, p. 55; July 16, 2007, review of Love, Stargirl, p. 167; March 3, 2008, Gennifer Choldenko, review of Smiles to Go, p. 48.

School Library Journal, July, 1995, Eldon Younce, review of Tooter Pepperday, p. 82; June, 1996, Connie Tyrrell Burns, review of Crash, pp. 125-126; March, 1997, Steven Engelfried, review of The Library Card, p. 192; September, 1997, Tim Rausch, review of Wringer, p. 226; June, 1998, Kate Kohlbeck, review of Knots in My Yo-yo String, p. 170; August, 2000, Sharon Grover, review of Stargirl, p. 190; May, 2002, Edward Sullivan, review of Loser, p. 160; November, 2003, Ginny Gustin, review of Milkweed, p. 149; July, 2007, D. Maria LaRocco, review of Eggs, p. 111; September, 2007, Terri Clark, review of Love, Stargirl, p. 208; May, 2008, Emma Runyan, review of Smiles to Go, p. 138.

Voice of Youth Advocates, April, 1983, James J. McPeak, review of Space Station Seventh Grade, p. 42; February, 1998, Suzanne Manczuk, review of Wringer, pp. 366-367.

Washington Post Book World, January 13, 1985, Deborah Churchman, "Tales of the Awkward Age," p. 8; August 11, 1991, Claudia Logan, review of Fourth Grade Rats, p. 11.

Writer, July, 2008, Beth Bakkum, "Jerry Spinelli," interview, p. 58.

ONLINE

Jerry Spinelli Home Page,http://www.jerryspinelli.com (December 1, 2008).

Scholastic Web site,http://www2.scholastic.com/ (December 1, 2008), "Jerry Spinelli."

SPINELLI, Jerry 1941-

PERSONAL: Born February 1, 1941, in Norristown, PA; son of Louis A. (a printer) and Lorna Mae (Bigler) Spinelli; married Eileen Mesi (a writer), May 21, 1977; children: Kevin, Barbara, Jeffrey, Molly, Sean, Ben. Education: Gettysburg College, A.B., 1963; Johns Hopkins University, M.A., 1964; attended Temple University, 1964. Hobbies and other interests: Tennis, country music, travel, pet rats.

ADDRESSES: Home—331 Melvin Rd., Phoenixville, PA 19460. Agent—Ms. Ray Lincoln, Ray Lincoln Literary Agency, 7900 Old York Rd., 107-B, Elkins Park, PA 19117.

CAREER: Chilton Company (magazine publisher), Radnor, PA, editor, 1966-89; writer. Military service: U.S. Naval Reserve, 1966-72.

MEMBER: Philadelphia Writers Organization.

AWARDS, HONORS: Boston Globe/Horn Book Award, 1990, Newbery Medal, American Library Association, 1991, D. C. Fisher Award, 1992, and Pacific Northwest Readers' Choice Award, 1993, all for Maniac Magee; Carolyn Field Award, 1991; South Carolina Children's Book Award, 1993, for Fourth Grade Rats; California Young Reader medal, 1993, for There's a Girl in My Hammerlock; Carolyn Field Award, Josette Frank Award, and Newbery honor book, American Library Association, all 1998, all for Wringer; awards for Crash include School Library Journal Best Books citation, Maud Hart Lovelace Award, Virginia Young Readers' Choice Award, and Maryland Children's Middle School Book Award; Drexel University Children's Literature citation, Milner Award, and Anne V. Zarrow award, all for body of work; named Outstanding Pennsylvania Author, 1992; D.H.L., Western Maryland College, 2000.

WRITINGS:

YOUNG ADULT NOVELS

Space Station Seventh Grade, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1982.

Who Put That Hair in My Toothbrush?, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1984.

Night of the Whale, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1985.

Jason and Marceline, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1986.

Dump Days, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1988.

Maniac Magee, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1990.

The Bathwater Gang, illustrated by Meredith Johnson, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1990.

There's a Girl in My Hammerlock, Silver Burdett Press, 1990.

Fourth Grade Rats, illustrated by Paul Casale, Scholastic (New York, NY), 1991.

The Bathwater Gang Gets Down to Business, illustrated by Johnson, Little, Brown (Boston, MA), 1992.

Crash, Random House (New York, NY), 1996.

Wringer, HarperCollins (New York, NY), 1997.

Loser, Joanna Cotler Books (New York, NY), 2002.

Stargirl, Knopf (New York, NY), 2000, revised edition with related readings, EMC/Paradigm (St. Paul, MN), 2003.

"SCHOOL DAZE" SERIES

School Daze: Report to the Principal's Office, Scholastic (New York, NY), 1991, published as Report to the Principal's Office!, 1991.

Who Ran My Underwear Up the Flagpole?, Scholastic (New York, NY), 1992.

Do the Funky Pickle, Scholastic (New York, NY), 1992.

Picklemania, Scholastic (New York, NY), 1993.

Tooter Pepperday, Random House (New York, NY), 1995.

The Library Card, Scholastic (New York, NY), 1997.

Blue Ribbon Blues: A Tooter Tale, illustrated by Donna Nelson, Random House (New York, NY), 1997.

OTHER

In My Own Words (autobiography), Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1997.

Knots in My Yo-Yo String: The Autobiography of a Kid, Knopf (New York, NY), 1998.

My Daddy and Me (for children), Knopf (New York, NY), 2002.

Contributor to books, including Our Roots Grow Deeper Than We Know: Pennsylvania Writers—Pennsylvania Life, edited by Lee Gutkind, University of Pittsburgh Press, 1985; and Noble Pursuits, edited by Virginia A. Arnold and Carl B. Smith, Macmillan, 1988. Work also represented in anthologies, including Best Sports Stories of 1982, Dutton; and Connections (short stories), Dell.

SIDELIGHTS: Jerry Spinelli is "a master of those embarrassing, gloppy, painful and suddenly wonderful things that happen on the razor's edge between childhood and full-fledged adolescence," according to Deborah Churchman in the Washington Post Book World. Perhaps best known for his Newbery award-winning book, Maniac Magee, Spinelli is a noted teller of adolescent tales, recreating the teenage years with accuracy and humor. Popular with his young adult audience, Spinelli covers such controversial topics as racism and sex, writing in a youth-oriented style that sometimes brings him into conflict with parents who feel he is perhaps too realistic in his stories. Many critics, however, have noted that Spinelli presents adolescents as they are, suffering from acne and filled with pubescent curiosity. John Keller, writing in Horn Book, remarked: "Jerry has listened and observed, and, in language that is never self-consciously literary, he illuminates that rough magic children carry around with them."

Spinelli began his writing career with the novel Space Station Seventh Grade. Jason Herkimer, the protagonist, is a thirteen-year-old boy, curious about his maturing body, who spends his spare time building a model space station. Falling in love with a cheerleader is only one of Jason's learning experiences. He also struggles with pimples, copes with the death of a friend's brother, and tries to get along with his parents and stepfather. The issue of racism enters the story subtly through Jason's friend, Peter Kim, a Korean-American, and through an episode that takes place in an African-American neighborhood. Spinelli also deals with the role of women in society through Jason's relationship with Marceline McAllister, a classmate and fellow track team member. The story is told in Jason's voice, complete with his adolescent attitudes, humor, and vocabulary. While some critics called the language "crude" and Jason's behavior sometimes inappropriate, Ethel Twichell noted in Horn Book: "For those who view adolescence from a comfortable distance, the author has produced a truly funny book; those presently at the precarious stage may find Jason's hilarious adventures all too painfully recognizable."

"A blending of tall tale and actuality" is how Spinelli described his novel Maniac Magee to CA. Fiction and reality merge "to the point where it makes no difference which is which," but his lesson against racism comes across clearly. This award-winning novel features Jeffrey Lionel Magee, an orphan who earns the name "Maniac" through his extraordinary running speed, abrupt appearances, and talent for hitting baseballs. "Spinelli, in his best book to date, creates a provocative slice of life," proclaimed Deborah Abbott in Booklist. When Maniac Magee loses his parents at an early age, he is sent to live with his unloving aunt and uncle. At age eleven he decides to leave and ends up in the segregated town of Two Mills. Maniac Magee lives with both white and black families between brief periods of homelessness. New York Times Book Review contributor Alison Teal noted that "Spinelli grapples here with a racial tension rarely addressed in fiction for children in the middle grades." Presenting his tale in a manner that his readers will enjoy, Spinelli "brightens the story with exaggeration, humor, and melodrama," claimed Twichell.

In There's a Girl in My Hammerlock, Spinelli takes on another social issue—gender bias. Eighth-grader Maisie Potter, one of the school's best athletes, joins the wrestling team in an effort to get closer to Eric Delong, her crush. Once on the team, she faces opposition from both teammates and friends. But her stubborn streak and competitiveness carry her through the season, and her one date with Eric does not turn out as she had expected. A reviewer in Horn Book commented that "the action zips along . . . with plenty of lively, believable dialogue," noting that There's a Girl in My Hammerlock is "likely to spark some serious thinking about gender stereotypes."

While Maisie is able to overcome the peer pressure surrounding her, fourth-grader Suds Morton, the narrator of Fourth Grade Rats, is not as tough. When Suds's best friend, Joey Peterson, decides to live up to the rhyme—"Third grade angels! Fourth grade rats!"—he drags Suds into various mischief, like pulling firstgraders off their swings. Although Suds tries to fit in with his peers, he is more interested in Judy Billings than in causing trouble. A reviewer in Publishers Weekly wrote that "rapid-fire dialogue and a hilarious string of episodes . . . unfold a story with a valuable message." Spinelli makes a statement about the hazards of peer pressure with his tale, and a reviewer in Horn Book noted: "The message is clear, but presented in a low-key and unobtrusive way that does not detract one whit from the fast-paced yarn."

The unlikely protagonist of Crash can best be described as a bully. John (Crash) Coogan is a star athlete whose competitive spirit extends in unsocial ways to picking on smaller students and intimidating the girl he is attracted to. Only his grandfather seems to bring out the more sensitive side of Crash; but even that bond is threatened by the boy's siblings, who also seek the old man's favor. The grandfather's debilitating stroke forces the boy to seek the help of others. "Without being preachy," a Publishers Weekly commentator said, "Spinelli packs a powerful moral wallop, leaving it to the pitch-perfect narration to drive home his point."

In a rural community, thousands of captured pigeons are released in the park to be shot as part of a fundraiser. Boys age ten are given the task of wringing the necks of those birds who have not yet died. "Sound unbelievable?" asked Hazel Rochman of Booklist. "It really happens in many parts of the country." Spinelli examined this practice through the eyes of a doubting boy in the novel Wringer, a Newbery honor book. As he is about to turn ten, Palmer longs to fit in with the rest of the boys but cannot reconcile himself to the violent act of the bird massacre, especially after he befriends a pigeon slated for death. "Moral choices lie at the center of Wringer," said an essayist for St. James Guide to Young Adult Writers. "Although the protagonist is young, he must make a decision many much older people find difficult, one that young adult readers facing peer pressure will readily recognize." "A world of children subject to its own rules and unanswerable to adult authority is starkly captured here," commented Horn Book contributor Roger Sutton.

In the novel Loser Spinelli "enters the consciousness of the social pariah," according to a Publishers Weekly contributor. Grade-schooler Donald Zinkoff is an easily recognizable type: the boy who laughs inappropriately, trips over his own feet, and always raises his hand but never has the right answer. But there is more to Donald than the inevitable epithet "loser." He shrugs off the bullies' malice, shows remarkable sportsman-ship by giving away his first (and probably last) sports trophy to a depressed classmate, and pitches in during a search for a missing younger child. A writer for Kirkus Reviews labeled Loser "a masterful character portrait."

Another outsider—the title character of Stargirl—is a high-school bohemian whose unconventional name, appearance, and behavior bemuse her classmates but attract Leo, who wants to learn more about her. "By describing the girl through the eyes of a teen intermittently repulsed by and in love with her," a reviewer for Publishers Weekly wrote, "Spinelli cunningly exposes her elusive qualities." Booklist's Ilene Cooper remarked that Stargirl is "engagingly written but overreaches." Sharon Grover of School Library Journal felt that Spinelli's prose "lapses into occasionally unfortunate flowery flights," but concluded that the story would still reach its audience of teen girls "who will understand how it feels to not quite fit the mold."

In Spinelli's first picture book, My Daddy and Me, a son anticipates his father's return from work by describing the things they like to do together, like taking make-believe car trips, wrestling on the floor, and baking cookies. A reviewer for Publishers Weekly wrote, "The scenarios may not be new, but the warmth emanating from parent and child is comfortingly universal." A Kirkus Reviews critic commented, "The intensity and directness of feeling will strike a chord in young readers."

After telling the story of so many fictional creations, Spinelli turned the mirror to himself with two auto-biographies. The second, 1999's Knots in My Yo-Yo String: The Autobiography of a Kid, focuses on the author's early years in Norristown, Pennsylvania. As a boy he heard World War II air-raid sirens, but the threat of war was overshadowed by such childhood pleasures as "twin Popsicles and Bonomo's Turkish Taffy, hightop Keds, . . . salamanders and snakes and candy cigarettes," as Spinelli remarked in the book.

To Peter Sieruta, "perhaps the autobiography's strongest achievement is its depiction of Jerry's continual growth." Writing for Horn Book, Sieruta continued: "Spinelli's writing is honest and immediate throughout, yet there are still moments when one questions the primary audience for the book." There are scenes "kids will love," the critic elaborated, "but only adults can fully appreciate [the author's] occasional nostalgic forays."

"Don't tell my English teachers," Spinelli wrote in the St. James Guide to Young Adult Writers, "but not much planning goes into my novels. Oh, plenty of experience and imagination and hard work and such go into them, and I do jot down lots of notes, and I do have some idea where to start a story and maybe where to end it. But there's no outline telling me how to get from here to there, because I have found that there is no way to know what is inside the story until I am in there myself. In other words, the product and the process are pretty much the same thing."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

BOOKS

Authors and Artists for Young Adults, Volume 4, Gale (Detroit, MI), 2001.

Children's Books and Their Creators, edited by Anita Silvey, Houghton Mifflin (Boston, MA), 1995.

Children's Literature Review, Volume 26, Gale (Detroit, MI), 1992.

St. James Guide to Young Adult Writers, second edition, St. James Press (Detroit, MI), 1999.

Speaking for Ourselves: Autobiographical Sketches by Notable Authors of Books for Young Adults, edited by Donald R. Gallo, National Council of Teachers of English (Urbana, IL), 1990.

Spinelli, Jerry, In My Own Words (autobiography), Simon & Schuster (New York, NY), 1997.

Spinelli, Jerry, Knots in My Yo-Yo String: The Autobiography of a Kid, Knopf (New York, NY), 1998.

PERIODICALS

Booklist, June 1, 1990, Deborah Abbott, review of Maniac Magee, p. 1902; May 1, 1995, Mary Harris Veeder, review of Tooter Pepperday, p. 1575; June 1, 1996, Ilene Cooper, review of Crash, p. 1724; February 1, 1997, Hazel Rochman, review of The Library Card, p. 942; September 1, 1997, Rochman, review of Wringer, p. 118; May 1, 1998, GraceAnne DeCandido, review of Knots in My Yo-Yo String: The Autobiography of a Kid, p. 1514; June 1, 2002, Cooper, review of Stargirl, p. 1883; March 1, 2003, review of My Daddy and Me, p. 1204.

Books for Keeps, July, 1999, review of Wringer, p. 24.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, July, 1984, p. 213; May, 1996, review of Crash, p. 315; October, 1997, review of Wringer, p. 67; September, 1988, p. 21; September, 1990, p. 16; June, 1995, review of Tooter Pepperday, p. 359; March, 1997, review of The Library Card, p. 257; July, 1998, review of Knots in My Yo-Yo String, p. 414.

Carousel, summer, 1995, p. 22.

Children's Book & Play Review, March, 2001, review of Stargirl, p. 21.

Children's Book Review Service, April, 1997, review of The Library Card, p. 107; December, 1997, review of Wringer, p. 48.

Children's Bookwatch, June, 1997, review of The Library Card, p. 1.

Emergency Librarian, May, 1996, review of Crash, p. 43; November, 1997, review of The Library Card, p. 52; January, 1998, review of Wringer, p. 50.

Horn Book, June, 1984, Ethel Twichell, review of Space Station Seventh Grade, pp. 343-344; March, 1987, p. 217; May, 1988, p. 355; July/August, 1991, pp. 433-436; September, 1991, review of Fourth Grade Rats, pp. 594, 599; September-October, 1995, Elizabeth Watson, review of Tooter Pepperday, p. 595; September-October, 1996, Maeve Visser Knoth, review of Crash, p. 600; March-April, 1997, Joan Hamilton, review of The Library Card, p. 204; September-October, 1997, Roger Sutton, review of Wringer, p. 581; January, 1999, Peter Sieruta, review of Knots in My Yo-Yo String, p. 87; July, 2000, review of Stargirl, p. 465.

Horn Book Guide, fall, 1995, review of Tooter Pepperday, p. 292; fall, 1996, review of Crash, p. 297; fall, 1997, review of The Library Card, p. 309; spring, 1998, review of Wringer, p. 81; fall, 1998, review of Knots in My Yo-Yo String, p. 416; spring, 2001, review of Stargirl, p. 87.

Hungry Mind Review, winter, 1997, review of The Library Card, p. 39.

Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, February, 1997, review of Crash, p. 407; September, 1997, review of The Library Card, p. 81; December, 1997, review of Wringer, p. 323; November, 1998, review of Wringer, p. 239; October, 2001, review of Stargirl, p. 170.

Kirkus Reviews, May 1, 1984, pp. 51-52; April 15, 1997, review of The Library Card, p. 650; June 15, 1997, review of Wringer, p. 957; April 1, 2002, review of Loser, p. 499; March 15, 2003, review of My Daddy and Me, p. 479.

Kliatt Young Adult Paperback Book Guide, July, 1997, review of Crash, p. 11; September, 1998, review of Knots in My Yo-Yo String, p. 38; November, 1998, review of The Library Card, p. 22; July, 1999, review of Crash, p. 5.

Learning, November, 1996, review of Crash, p. 31.

Magpies, March, 2001 review of Stargirl, p. 40.

New York Times Book Review, April 21, 1991, Alison Teal, review of Maniac Magee, p. 33; June 16, 1996, review of Crash, p. 33; August 17, 1997, review of The Library Card, p. 19; November 16, 1997, review of Wringer, p. 52.

Observer (London, England), April 22, 1999, review of Wringer, p. 14; December 16, 2001, review of Stargirl, p. 17.

Parents' Choice, March, 1997, review of The Library Card, p. 8.

Publishers Weekly, November 28, 1986, p. 78; April 29, 1988, p. 77; September 27, 1991, review of Fourth Grade Rats, p. 58; March 25, 1996, review of Crash, p. 84; February 10, 1997, review of The Library Card, p. 84; June 2, 1997, review of Wringer, p. 72; April 6, 1998, review of Knots in My Yo-Yo String, p. 79; June 26, 2000, review of Stargirl, p. 76; July 17, 2000, Jennifer Brown, "Homer on George Street" (author interview), p. 168; February 11, 2002, review of Loser, p. 188; February 17, 2003, review of My Daddy and Me, p. 73.

Reading Teacher, November, 1998, review of Wringer, p. 285; September, 2001, review of Stargirl, p. 214; November, 2001, review of Crash, p. 256.

School Librarian, November, 1997, review of Crash, p. 214; winter, 2001, review of Stargirl, p. 214.

School Library Journal, July, 1995, review of Tooter Pepperday, p. 82; June, 1996, review of Crash, p. 124; December, 1997, review of Wringer, p. 27; May, 1998, review of Blue Ribbon Blues, p. 126; June, 1998, review of Knots in My Yo-Yo String, p. 170; August, 1998, review of Crash, p. 25; August, 2000, Sharon Grover, review of Stargirl, p. 190; May, 2002, Edward Sullivan, review of Loser, p. 160.

Social Education, May, 1999, review of Knots in My Yo-Yo String, p. 7.

Times Educational Supplement, June 20, 1997, review of Crash, p. 7.

Tribune Books (Chicago, IL), May 12, 1996, review of Crash, p. 7.

Voice of Youth Advocates, June, 1997, review of Crash, p. 87; October, 1997, review of The Library Card, p. 248; February, 1998, review of Wringer, p. 366; December, 1998, review of Knots in My Yo-Yo String, p. 386; February, 1999, review of Knots in My Yo-Yo String, p. 413; June, 2001, review of The Library Card, p. 99.

Washington Post Book World, January 13, 1985, p. 8; May 5, 1996, review of Crash, p. 14; January 12, 1997, review of Crash, p. 9.

ONLINE

Good Conversation! A Talk with Jerry Spinelli (video), Rainbow Educational Video, 1992.

Jerry and Eileen Spinelli (video), J. S. Weiss, 1992.

Meet the Author: Jerry Spinelli (video), Fairfax Network, 1996.*