Jerry Spinelli (born February 1, 1941) is an American Children's Literature and Middle Grade Literature writer best known for his Coming of Age Story works.
Jerry Spinelli was born in Pennsylvania. As a teenager he had wanted to get into Major League baseball, but he was encouraged to get into writing after he wrote a poem about a football victory. He wrote short stories throughout college and became the editor of his college's literary magazine. After graduation, Spinelli became a writer and editor for a department store magazine, but he spent the majority of the next 20 years not doing anything writing related.
Spinelli's first few novels were all rejected and were written for adults. His fifth novel was originally intended for adults, but it became his first children's book: 1982's Space Station Seventh Grade.
Works
- Space Station Seventh Grade (1982)
- Jason And Marceline (1986)
- Who Put That Hair In My Toothbrush (1984)
- Night Of The Whale (1985)
- Dump Days (1988)
- Maniac Magee (1990)
- The Bathwater Gang (1990)
- The Bathwater Gang Gets Down to Business (1992)
- Hallie Jefferys Life (1991)
- Fourth Grade Rats (1991)
- Report To The Principals Office (1991)
- Theres A Girl In My Hammerlock (1991)
- Do The Funky Pickle (1992)
- Who Ran My Underwear Up The Flagpole (1992)
- Picklemania (1993)
- Tooter Pepperday (1995)
- Crash (1996)
- The Library Card (1997)
- Wringer (1997)
- Blue Ribbon Blues A Tooter Tale (1998)
- Knots In My Yo Yo String The Autobiography Of A Kid (1998)
- Stargirl (2000)
- Love, Stargirl (2007)
- Loser (2002)
- Milkweed (2003)
- My Daddy And Me (2003)
- Eggs (2007)
- Smiles To Go (2008)
- I Can Be Anything (2010)
- Jake And Lily (2012)
- Third Grade Angels (2012)
- Hokey Pokey (2013)
- Mama Seetons Whistle (2015)
- The Wardens Daughter (2017)
- My Fourth Of July (2019)
- Dead Wednesday (2021)
