Jack Gantos
Jack Gantos has written books for people of all ages, from picture books and middle-grade fiction to novels for young adults and adults. His works include Hole in My Life, a memoir that won the Michael L. Printz and Robert F. Sibert Honors, Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key, a National Book Award Finalist, and Joey Pigza Loses Control, a Newbery Honor book. Jack was born in Mount Pleasant, Pennsylvania, and when he was seven, his family moved to Barbados. He attended British schools, where there was much emphasis on reading and writing, and teachers made learning a lot of fun. When the family moved to south Florida, he found his new classmates uninterested in their studies, and his teachers spent most of their time disciplining students. Jack retreated to an abandoned bookmobile (three flat tires and empty of books) parked out behind the sandy ball field, and read for most of the day. The seeds for Jack’s writing career were planted in sixth grade, when he read his sister’s diary and decided he could write better than she could. He begged his mother for a diary and began to collect anecdotes he overheard at school, mostly from standing outside the teachers’ lounge and listening to their lunchtime conversations. Later, he incorporated many of these anecdotes into stories. While in college, he and an illustrator friend, Nicole Rubel, began working on picture books. After a series of well-deserved rejections, they published their first book, Rotten Ralph, in 1976. It was a success and the beginning of Jack’s career as a professional writer. Jack continued to write children’s books and began to teach courses in children’s book writing and children’s literature. He developed the master’s degree program in children’s book writing at Emerson College and the Vermont College M.F.A. program for children’s book writers. He now devotes his time to writing books and educational speaking. He lives with his family in Boston, Massachusetts.
Newbery Honor Book
National Book Awards Finalist
Newbery Medal Winner
Watch
The Trouble In Me | Jack Gantos | in studio
This fiery autobiographical novel captures a pivotal week or two in the life of fourteen-year-old Jack Gantos, as the author reveals the moment he began to slide off track as a kid who in just a few years would find himself locked up in a federal penitentiary for the crimes portrayed in the memoir Hole in My Life.
Share ThisMore Media Access more related media on the web
Audio interview with Jack Gantos to feature DEAD END IN NORVELT on TeachingBooks.net Listen to Newbery Medal Winner Jack Gantos Play "Not My Job" on NPR's Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me.
Jack Gantos
Related Links
Writing Radar
Jack Gantos
Square Fish
Square Fish
Acclaimed author Jack Gantos's guide to becoming the best brilliant writer.
Available in:
The Trouble in Me
Jack Gantos
Square Fish
Square Fish
This fiery autobiographical novel captures a pivotal week or two in the life of fourteen-year-old Jack Gantos, when he began to slide off track as a kid who in just a few years would find himself...
Available in:
The Key That Swallowed Joey Pigza
Joey Pigza
Jack Gantos
Square Fish
Square Fish
The fifth and final book in the groundbreaking Joey Pigza series brings the beloved chronicle of this wired, wacky, and wonderful boy to a crescendo of chaos and craziness, as everything goes topsy-turvy...
Available in:
From Norvelt to Nowhere
Norvelt Series
Jack Gantos
Square Fish
Square Fish
Young Jack accompanies Miss Volker on a wild pursuit of the chief suspect in the Norvelt murders, while being pursued themselves.
Available in:
What Would Joey Do?
Joey Pigza
Jack Gantos
Square Fish
Square Fish
Sequel to Joey Pigza Loses Control, a Newbery Honor Book
Are they flirting or fighting? This is Joey Pigza's question when the fireworks suddenly start to explode between his...
Available in:
Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key
Joey Pigza
Jack Gantos
Square Fish
Square Fish
In this National Book Award finalist, Joey Pigza tries hard to be a good kid trapped in a wired body.
Available in:
I Am Not Joey Pigza
Joey Pigza
Jack Gantos
Square Fish
Square Fish
Joey's world is turned upside down when his deadbeat dad wins the lottery.
Available in:
Joey Pigza Loses Control
Joey Pigza
Jack Gantos
Square Fish
Square Fish
The sequel to Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key, a National Book Award Finalist
When Joey Pigza meets his dad for the first time in years, he meets a grown-up version of his old out-of-control...
Available in:
Rotten Ralph's Rotten Family
Rotten Ralph Rotten Readers
Jack Gantos; pictures by Nicole Rubel
FSG Books for Young Readers
Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
Rotten Ralph's owner, Sarah, is fed up with her red rascal's behavior. Ralph is tired of Sarah trying to change him. He misses his cat family, which never made him alter a thing about himself. But...
Available in:
Dead End in Norvelt
Norvelt Series
Jack Gantos
Square Fish
Square Fish
Dead End in Norvelt is the winner of the 2012 Newbery Medal for the year's best contribution to children's literature and the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction!
Melding the...
Available in:
Hole in My Life
Jack Gantos
Square Fish
Square Fish
In the summer of 1971, Jack Gantos was an aspiring writer looking for adventure, cash for college tuition, and a way out of a dead-end job. For ten thousand dollars, he recklessly agreed to help sail a sixty-foot yacht loaded with a ton of hashish from the Virgin Islands to New York City, where he and his partners sold the drug until federal agents caught up with them. For his part in the conspiracy, Gantos was sentenced to serve up to six years in prison. But once he was locked up in a small, yellow-walled cell, he found inspiration. He moved from wanting to be a writer to writing, and ultimately overcame the worst experience of his life.
Available in:
Rotten Ralph Helps Out
Rotten Ralph Rotten Readers
Jack Gantos; Illustrated by Nicole Rubel
Square Fish
Square Fish
Rotten Ralph's attempts to help Sarah with her school project on ancient Egypt are now repackaged in a brand-new format for beginning readers.
Available in:
Three Strikes for Rotten Ralph
Rotten Ralph Rotten Readers
Jack Gantos; pictures by Nicole Rubel
FSG Books for Young Readers
Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
On the Flying Squirrels baseball team, Rotten Ralph dreams of becoming a superstar but ignores Sarah's example of working hard to learn the fundamentals.
Available in:
Practice Makes Perfect for Rotten Ralph
Rotten Ralph Rotten Readers
Jack Gantos; Pictures by Nicole Rubel
Square Fish
Square Fish
"Themes of jealousy, boasting, cheating, and getting one's comeuppance are all touched on ij this second book in the easy-reader series." --School Library Journal
Available in:
The Love Curse of the Rumbaughs
Jack Gantos
Square Fish
Square Fish
Love is a terrible and wonderful thing.
Available in:
Desire Lines
Jack Gantos
FSG Books for Young Readers
Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
Sixteen-year-old Walker has discovered something potentially scandalous—two of his female classmates are having an affair. It is a secret he has no problem keeping to himself . . . until it comes to protecting his own reputation.
Available in:
Jack Adrift: Fourth Grade Without a Clue
Jack Henry
Jack Gantos
Square Fish
Square Fish
From the Newbery Medal–winning author of Dead End in Norvelt, eight side-splitting stories about a boy who is doing his best to keep his head above water
Available in:
Rotten Ralph Feels Rotten
Rotten Ralph Rotten Readers
Jack Gantos; Pictures by Nicole Rubel
FSG Books for Young Readers
Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
Rotten to the core!
When Sarah serves up a healthy, home-cooked meal chock-full of fruits and vegetables, Rotten Ralph turns up his nose and refuses to eat. With those overflowing, back-alley...
Available in:
Jack on the Tracks
Jack Henry
Jack Gantos
Square Fish
Square Fish
From the Newbery Medal–winning author of Dead End in Norvelt, nine semi-autobiographical stories that will make you laugh so hard it hurts
Available in:
Jack's Black Book
Jack Henry
Jack Gantos
Square Fish
Square Fish
From the Newbery Medal–winning author of Dead End in Norvelt, the uproarious final volume of Jack Henry stories
Available in:
Jack's New Power
Jack Henry
Jack Gantos
Square Fish
Square Fish
From the Newbery Medal–winning author of Dead End in Norvelt, life for Jack Henry in a brand-new place is filled with the same old craziness
Available in:
Heads or Tails
Jack Henry
Jack Gantos
Square Fish
Square Fish
From the Newbery Medal–winning author of Dead End in Norvelt, eight more hysterical semi-autobiographical Jack Henry stories about a sixth grader's trials and tribulations
Available in: