Life

Jerry Spinelli was born in Norristown, Pennsylvania and currently resides in Phoenixville, PA. At the age of sixteen, his love of sports inspired him to compose a poem about a recent football victory, which his father published in the local newspaper with his knowledge. It was at this time he realized that he would not become a major league baseball shortstop, so he decided to become a historian .

At Gettysburg College, Spinelli spent his time writing short stories and was the editor of the college literary magazine, The Mercury. After graduation, he became a writer and editor for a department store magazine. The next two decades, he spent his time working "normal jobs" during the day so that he had the energy to write fiction in his free time. He found himself writing during lunch breaks, on weekends, and after dinner.

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

Spinelli graduated from Gettysburg College in 1963 and acquired his MA from Johns Hopkins University in 1964. In 1977, he married Eileen Mesi, another children's writer. Since about 1980, as Eileen Spinelli, she has collaborated with illustrators to create dozens of picture books. They have six children and 22 grandchildren.

Works

Title	Year	Ref.
Space Station Seventh Grade	1982
Who Put That Hair in My Toothbrush?	1984
Night of the Whale	1985
Jason and Marceline	1986
Dump Days	1988
Maniac Magee	1990 - Newbery Award
The Bathwater Gang	1990
Hallie Jefferys Life	1991
Fourth Grade Rats	1991
Report to the Principal’s Office	1991
There's a Girl in My Hammerlock	1991
Do the Funky Pickle	1992
Who Ran My Underwear Up the Flagpole?	1992
The Bathwater Gang Gets Down to Business	1992
Picklemania	1993
Tooter Pepperday	1995
Crash	1996
The Library Card	1997
Wringer	1997 - Newbery honor book
Blue Ribbon Blues: A Tooter Tale	1998
Knots in My Yo-Yo String: The Autobiography of a Kid	1998
Stargirl	2000
Loser	2002
Milkweed: A Novel	2003
My Daddy and Me	2003
Love, Stargirl	2007
Eggs	2007
Smiles to Go	2008
I Can Be Anything	2010
Jake and Lily	2012
Third Grade Angels	2012
Hokey Pokey	2013
Mama Seeton's Whistle	2015

In culture

George Plimpton related an anecdote about Spinelli's having bought at auction an evening with the Plimptons, in New York City, during which George Plimpton introduced Spinelli to writers and editors dining at Elaine's, and two months after which Spinelli wrote Plimpton to announce the publication of Spinelli's first book (a children's book) by Houghton Mifflin.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]