Jerry Spinelli was born in Norristown, Pennsylvania in 1941. For all his life he wanted to be a cowboy, and then he decided to be a shortstop for the New York Yankees. But one day in high school when the football team won a very close game, everybody was outside celebrating. But instead, he went to his house and wrote a poem about the game. A few days later the poem was published in the newspaper, and then Jerry Spinelli decided that he wanted to be a writer.

Over the next twenty-five years, Jerry Spinelli wrote four novels that never got published. Then his fifth novel called "Space Station Seventh Grade" became published as a children's book. Form then on he wanted to be a children's writer, instead of an adult writer.

The next book he wrote was a book called "Maniac Magee" which won a Newberry Medals...