Oakland's Ricky Henderson falls victim to Nolan Ryan's 5000th strikeout in August 1989 at Arlington Stadium.

favored immune peak glare trotted console memento

Author Jerry Spinelli

• Born February 1, 1941 in Norristown, PA

• He has a white rat, a chinchilla, 6 kids, and 16 grandchildren

• Enjoyed playing baseball and wanted to play for the NY Yankees

• His first writing was a poem about a football game that was published in the local paper

• He used to be an editor for a clothing magazine

• Writes about kids who are different and unique

• Many books are based on his childhood or where he grew up

• Has published over 25 books

Norristown, PA

Norristown is about five hours away from Ford City and near

Philadelphia.Which direction is that

from us?

NorristownFord City

favored

immune

peakglaretrotte

dconso

lememe

nto

remark

wearing

resource

wordsscarc

estartli

nghoars

e

average

absurd

worstfourteencharms

beware

fortune

southern

modern

worryrumormemo

ryemba

rk

Vocabulary Spelling

How do others react

to him?

Knots In My Yo Yo String

Name of Character

What does the

character look like?

How does he act?

http://www.jerryspinelli.com/newbery_001.htm

http://quizlet.com/3092714/spacerace/http://quizlet.com/3092714/scatter/

Kno

ts I

n M

y Yo

Yo

Stri

ng: T

he A

utob

iogr

aphy

of a

Kid

—Fr

om fi

rst m

emor

ies

thro

ugh

high

sch

ool,

incl

udin

g fir

st k

iss,

firs

t pun

ch, f

irst t

rip to

the

prin

cipa

l's o

ffic

e, a

nd fi

rst h

umili

atin

g sp

orts

exp

erie

nce,

th

is is

not

mer

ely

an a

ccou

nt o

f a h

ighl

y un

usua

l chi

ldho

od.

  Whe

n di

d yo

u kn

ow y

ou w

ante

d to

be

a w

rite

r? A

bout

mid

way

thro

ugh

high

sch

ool,

whe

n m

y po

em

abou

t a fo

otba

ll ga

me

was

pub

lishe

d in

the

loca

l pap

er.

Why

did

you

cho

ose

to w

rite

for

mid

dle

grad

ers?

Wha

t do

you

like

abou

t wri

ting

for

this

aud

ienc

e? I

didn

't ch

oose

to w

rite

for t

hem

. My

first

pub

lishe

d bo

ok w

as a

bout

a 1

3-ye

ar-o

ld k

id, s

o ad

ult d

epar

tmen

ts

wou

ldn'

t tak

e it.

So

I bec

ame

a "c

hild

ren'

s w

riter

" by

acc

iden

t. In

my

own

min

d, I

writ

e fo

r eve

ryon

e.

In y

our

book

s, th

e th

eme

of b

eing

diff

eren

t see

ms t

o be

com

mon

. In

WR

ING

ER

, Pal

mer

did

n't w

ant

to b

e a

wri

nger

like

mos

t boy

s in

his t

own.

In C

RA

SH, J

ohn

Coo

gan

pick

s on

a ne

ighb

or w

ho h

e de

ems d

iffer

ent.

And

Man

iac

Mag

ee in

the

book

of t

he sa

me

title

is c

erta

inly

a u

niqu

e in

divi

dual

. W

hy d

o yo

u lik

e to

wri

te o

n th

is th

eme?

A s

impl

e an

swer

to th

at is

that

"di

ffer

ent"

cha

ract

ers

are

mor

e in

tere

stin

g th

an o

rdin

ary

ones

. The

y at

tract

our

atte

ntio

n an

d ke

ep it

and

in th

e lo

ng ru

n ha

ve m

uch

mor

e to

te

ll us

. Yo

ur r

ecen

t nov

el S

TAR

GIR

L is

abo

ut a

gir

l who

is u

nusu

ally

diff

eren

t fro

m a

ll he

r pe

ers i

n hi

gh

scho

ol, o

r fr

om a

nyon

e m

ost o

f us h

ave

ever

kno

wn.

How

did

STA

RG

IRL

com

e ab

out?

Bac

k in

196

6 I

bega

n jo

tting

dow

n no

tes a

bout

an

unus

ual p

erso

n. S

TAR

GIR

L is

the

final

inca

rnat

ion

of m

any

sinc

e th

at

time.

Yo

u've

men

tione

d be

fore

that

you

wer

e no

t an

avid

rea

der

as a

chi

ld. W

hat d

o yo

u th

ink

wou

ld h

ave

enco

urag

ed y

ou to

rea

d m

ore

as a

chi

ld?

And

wha

t boo

ks d

o yo

u re

ad n

ow?

If I

hadn

't be

en g

ood

at

spor

ts m

aybe

I w

ould

hav

e sp

ent m

ore

time

in th

e lib

rary

. I re

ad q

uite

a v

arie

ty o

f boo

ks n

ow. A

t the

m

omen

t I'm

read

ing

a m

urde

r mys

tery

and

a h

isto

ry o

f rai

lroad

din

ing

cars

. Yo

ur a

utob

iogr

aphy

, KN

OT

S IN

MY

YO

-YO

ST

RIN

G, w

as a

fasc

inat

ing

read

. Wha

t exp

erie

nces

fr

om y

our

child

hood

com

e in

to p

lay

the

mos

t in

your

stor

ies/

wri

ting?

I've

foun

d m

y gr

ade

scho

ol a

nd

juni

or h

igh

year

s esp

ecia

lly fe

rtile

fiel

ds to

har

vest

. Yo

u w

rote

the

book

TH

E L

IBR

AR

Y C

AR

D, w

hich

tells

the

stor

ies o

f fou

r di

ffer

ent k

ids a

nd h

ow a

lit

tle b

lue

libra

ry c

ard

affe

cted

thei

r liv

es. W

here

did

this

idea

com

e fr

om?

Whe

re y

ou e

ver

affe

cted

by

a li

brar

y lik

e an

y of

thos

e ch

arac

ters

you

wro

te a

bout

? Th

e id

ea c

ame

from

my

edito

r at S

chol

astic

. O

f the

four

stor

ies,

I fe

el p

artic

ular

ly a

ttach

ed to

"So

nser

ay,"

thou

gh h

is k

idho

od d

oes n

ot re

sem

ble

my

own

at a

ll.

Wha

t ins

pire

s you

? W

hat d

oesn

't? A

t one

tim

e or

ano

ther

I've

foun

d m

ysel

f mov

ed b

y ev

eryt

hing

from

the

gran

dest

pag

eant

s to

the

mos

t ord

inar

y ge

stur

es.

Wha

t's th

e be

st th

ing

abou

t bei

ng a

wri

ter?

Hav

ing

read

ers.

Wha

t is y

our

typi

cal w

ork

day

like?

Rou

tinel

y, I

wor

k tw

o ho

urs

each

mor

ning

. I m

ay o

r may

not

writ

e fo

r ano

ther

hou

r or s

o at

nig

ht.

Wha

t do

you

do w

hen

you'

re n

ot w

orki

ng?

With

six

kid

s and

16

gran

dkid

s, th

ere's

ple

nty!

Yo

u st

arte

d ou

t wri

ting

for

adul

ts a

nd r

ecei

ved

reje

ctio

n le

tter

s. Yo

u pe

rsev

ered

, and

now

you

are

a

high

ly su

cces

sful

and

wel

l-res

pect

ed c

hild

ren'

s wri

ter.

How

did

you

find

the

driv

e to

kee

p w

ritin

g an

d su

bmitt

ing

afte

r re

ceiv

ing

reje

ctio

ns?

I dis

cove

red

that

eve

n af

ter a

day

of r

ejec

tion

slip

s, th

e su

n co

mes

up

nex

t mor

ning

. And

the

stor

ies

wer

e st

ill in

me.

How

cou

ld I

not w

rite?

W

hat a

dvic

e do

you

hav

e fo

r as

piri

ng c

hild

ren'

s wri

ters

? W

rite

wha

t you

car

e ab

out.