Award-winning author of young adult novels whose best known works include Wringer, Stargirl, and Maniac Magee. His first children's book, Space Station Seventh Grade, was published in the early 1980s.
He attended Gettysburg College and Johns Hopkins University. He subsequently worked as an Editor for a department store publication and held a number of other odd jobs that allowed him to pursue a writing career in his spare time.
He received a 1991 Newbery Medal for his most famous work, Maniac Magee.
He married fellow children's book author, Eileen Mesi, in 1977. The couple went on to have six children and more than twenty grandchildren.
He is a fan of author Madeline Lengle.
