Order of Jerry Spinelli Books

Jerry Spinelli is a Newbery Award-winning author renowned for his works "Maniac Magee" and "Stargirl." He specializes in children's novels that explore themes of adolescence and early adulthood. Spinelli's writing journey began at the age of 16 when he chose to write a poem about his school's football team's significant victory instead of celebrating. His father appreciated the poem so much that he had it published in the local newspaper, which motivated Spinelli to pursue a writing career. He attended Gettysburg College, where he wrote short stories and served as the editor of the college's literary magazine. Although it took several years after graduation for him to achieve publication due to multiple rejections of his adult novels, he finally succeeded with his fifth novel, "Space Station Seventh Grade," which was published in 1982.