1. Authors study project:
Author: Jerry Spinelli
A report by: Evelyn Perkins :)

2. Fun facts about Jerry Spinelli...
He was born Feb. 1st, 1941
He is currently 76
The only book he turned into a movie is maniac magee
He published his first book (space station seventh grade) in 1982
Currently lives in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania
Has won the following awards for books: John Newbery Medal, Anne V Zarrow Award, Dorothy Canfield Fisher Award and the Golden Kite Award .
Attended Johns Hopkins Univ. & Gettysburg college

3. Book #1
Title: Frindle
Publishing date: October 1996
Author: Jerry Spinelli
Frindle is a book about a 5th grade boy nick, who gets in trouble a lot. He has a very strict teacher (Mrs. Granger) and he likes to push her buttons by asking her who decides what words mean. He ends up inventing a word frindle which originally means pen. A journalist hears about the frindle story and picks it up which soon makes nick famous.

4. Book #2
Title: Milkweed
Publishing date: September 2003
Author: Jerry Spinelli
This book takes a setting in the time period of the holocaust. A character (un named) has no identity when it means difference between life and death. He has such innocence he is unaware of everything happening around him. He takes on the identity his friend Uri gives him, he becomes Misha Pilsudki.

5. Book #3
Maniac Magee is about a orphan who hops between house to house in a segregated town called 2 mills. The first family he stays with are the Beales, a black family who receives racist attacks. He was forced to leave them so he gets picked up by Grayson, when he grayson dies he moves to the white part of town and realizes that most families have more things in common then not, no matter the skin.
Title: Maniac Magee
Publishing Date: 1990
Author: Jerry Spinelli

6. Author writing style... What is Spinellis writing style?
Characters he writes about?
He likes to use lots of figurative and descriptive language. He has a way with words and gives you the ability to picture every scene and setting in his books. In Milkweed you can picture what Misha (the main character) looks like, in Maniac Magee you understand what segregation felt and looked like, and in Frindle you understand each of the characters highs and lows and what they go through throughout the book.
The perspective in his books that i read is 3rd person in Maniac Magee and Frindle but in Milkweed is written is 1st person.
Jerry Spinelli enjoys writing about characters going through hardships and overcoming barriers. For example: in Maniac Magee the main character is forced to learn about segregation and overcome the stereotypes. In Milkweed the main character must overcome not knowing his back round or who he is during world war ll. And in Frindle the main character must overcome his “teacher’s wrath” and invent a new word while still passing 5th grade.

7. The main theme in my 3 books was not giving up even when everyone wanted you to. Examples: During maniac magee he was untying a knot and everyone thought he couldn’t do it and he kept at it and untied the biggest knot out there. In milkweed all the other “runaway “ jews thought misha was useless but he knew how quick he was and he powered through and survived the war. And in frindle Nicks teacher just wanted him to stop pushing her buttons and call it a pen but he kept on calling it a frindle and ended up becoming famous.
Main Theme

8. Opinion and recommendation:
I loved the language in my books and the plotline. I also loved the lesson they taught me. They taught me to face my problems (Maniac Magee) live and learn (Milkweed) and that sometimes it’s okay to be a rebel ;) (Frindle)
Recommendation:
I recommend this author to a reader who wants to learn something and a reader who really connects with the characters in their books. I definitely recommend this author!!! <3