Jerry Spinelli was born in Norristown, Pennsylvania. You can read all about his childhood in this town in his autobiography Knots in My Yo-yo String, from which "Night" is taken. He has written 23 books, including Maniac Magee, which won the Newbery Medal in 1991, and Wringer, which was named a Newbery Honor book in 1998. If he could recommend only one of his books, he would recommend Maniac Magee "for its message, story, and the language." He says that ideas for his books come easy for him, but good ideas are hard. When students ask where he gets his ideas for his books, Spinelli replies, "From you. You're the funny ones."