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Knots in My Yo-Yo String: The Autobiography of a Kid
"A master of those embarrassing, gloppy, painful, and suddenly wonderful things that happen on the razor's edge between childhood and full-fledged adolescence" (
The Washington Post
),Newbery medalist Jerry Spinelli has penned his early autobiography with all the warmth, humor, and drama of his best-selling fiction.
From first memories through high school, including first ki ...more
From first memories through high school, including first ki ...more
Paperback
,
160 pages
Published
April 28th 1998
by Ember
(first published April 1st 1998)
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An autobiographical piece by Jerry Spinelli covering mostly his formative years in grades K-12. Its mostly separated into chapters which each teach a specific life lesson through a personal anecdote or two and only occasionally spends time describing the how’s and why’s of Spinelli’s family and career. I personally enjoyed that it taught life lessons in parables and thus did not have to didactically confront the lessons head on. He gets the messages across by example and the personal nature of i
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I found this book sitting dustily in my shelf and decided to give it a reread. I wasn't disappointed. Jerry Spinelli's Maniac Magee was one of my favorite books in elementary school. I didn't pick up his autobiography for the first time until much later. Reading of his childhood did everything to put me into his past without literally blasting me there. I saw his neighborhood, ran along his train tracks, waded in his creek, raced with his friends, played baseball on his field, and listened throu
...more
Knots in My Yo-Yo String Biography/Non-Fiction/Childhood/Coming of Age/Sports
I love this book. Jerry Spinelli talks about his life as a kid, but he also weaves his experiences into how being a kid has helped him as a writer. Spinelli has said his best experience as a writer was being a kid and growing up. He beautifully captures what it's like to be a carefree kid. I long to return to those days even though they are far gone, but I find myself somewhat satisfied when Spinelli helps me revisit my ...more
I love this book. Jerry Spinelli talks about his life as a kid, but he also weaves his experiences into how being a kid has helped him as a writer. Spinelli has said his best experience as a writer was being a kid and growing up. He beautifully captures what it's like to be a carefree kid. I long to return to those days even though they are far gone, but I find myself somewhat satisfied when Spinelli helps me revisit my ...more
I identified with much in this book since it describes a small-town Pennsylvania childhood during the same general time frame as my own childhood. I like the way the book's arranged by topics like girls, neatness, Spinelli's relationship to words, rather than being simply a chronological narrative; this approach goes deeper and gives the reader a thorough introduction to the author's likeable boyhood self.
man im so looking foward to this book after what sammi told me about the first chapter ~loads and loads of sarcasm included~
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"(R)adio was a partnership. The radio furnished the sounds, and the listener supplied the pictures. TV and movie screens have shaded us from the evocative power of sound. Our eyes enslave us. 'Seeing is believing.' In contrast to TV, which asks us to merely turn it on and become a passive dartboard, radio asked us to meet it halfway, to co-create the moment. The resulting pictures in our heads had a depth of reality possible only when the camera is the person."
— Knots in My Yo-yo String , P. 43
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— Knots in My Yo-yo String , P. 43
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I have to say I found it a bit odd that this is labeled a "Young Adult" book. Hmm. I just am not sure who (I mean, among young adults) might be interested in this book. I think this would probably suit younger children, say, 4th through 6th grade. It's a very charming book, and it reminds me a lot of my dad's own stories of growing up in West Chester, PA, in the 1940s and 1950s. On the "down" side, I feel that the world Spinelli inhabits in the book would be completely, utterly, mind-bendingly f
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Every year I have a class, or few, wander in with the assignment of reading a biography. We have a pretty nifty selection in the 921s here in my school, if I do say so myself, but a good many of the choices fall in the picture book variety. The teacher in an effort to raise the bar for her students will usually demand the chosen book have a mandatory number of pages, usually 100. It is still no problem to fill the bill when it comes to matching books of this description at least 2 to 1 against t
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This book is an autobiography about Jerry Spenelli. It talks about what lead him in his life tom what he is now. This book is a collection of short stories that were big moments of jerry's life. It gives you insight on what he has done and what he has accomplished to get as far as he is. Some of the things that he writes about Is his love for baseball which I haven't know before about him. I though this was a really good book even though I know it has been around for quite a while.
I really think ...more
I really think ...more
Oct 13, 2009
Thomas
added it
This was a great book about how Jerry Spinelli writes about how he grew up. What I also like about this book is that even though he is explaining about his life of growing up, he also gives you hints that explain what led him to become an author of children’s books. Its amazing how personal experiences influenced so much of his writing. He really shows connections between his life and his books. Overall I feel that this was a very interesting book that if your going to start to read his books, t
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Although it's really simple and very different from what I grew up with, this memoir is wonderful. Perhaps because of its simplicity, the kids that Spinelli talks about are people I could relate to others I knew, and he absolutely captures the magic of the boundless enthusiasm of kids. Also, it's a great window into the 50s and growing up with such exciting things as new televisions, the slowing railroad business, and a neighborhood where kids were perfectly able to run where they liked.
Very fun ...more
Very fun ...more
Jerry Spinelli, the popular and award-winning children's book author, recounts the story of his life through this engaging and charming autobiography.
I pretty much adore Spinelli. His writing style is so simple, so easily accessible to kids and yet there are times when his prose is just dripping with beauty. His turns of phrase sometimes are pure poetry. This is pretty much straightforward autobiography but I love that he presents it as a series of vignettes, snapshots of his life. I think this ...more
I pretty much adore Spinelli. His writing style is so simple, so easily accessible to kids and yet there are times when his prose is just dripping with beauty. His turns of phrase sometimes are pure poetry. This is pretty much straightforward autobiography but I love that he presents it as a series of vignettes, snapshots of his life. I think this ...more
I enjoyed this peek into the childhood of one of my favorite authors. Funny, short chapters help paint the picture of how Maniac Magee, Wringer and his other books came to be. Rather than follow a chronology, he relates the stories that had the greatest impact on him. Hard to pick an audience for this book though--he is a children's author, but adults will enjoy the remembrances.
Particularly poignant is his discussion of not reading as a child. He was a good reader, and when he picked up comic ...more
Particularly poignant is his discussion of not reading as a child. He was a good reader, and when he picked up comic ...more
A nice, casual read that covers the memories of a kid from "I empty my head like a box of cornflakes" (pg 13) to "I blew my prayers like bubbles into the air..." (pg 112) with the craft expected in the autobiography of a Newbery Medalist. The description of one of his acquaintances ("the little man who hands you soap") still lingers with me thanks to this statement: "...I have come to learn what he never knew he taught, that Garfield Shainline was not the teacher but the lesson." The more the co
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This book was a delight to read for many reasons. Although he is from a different generation from me, it was nostalgic and brought back a lot of my fun childhood memories. I also really enjoyed reading this because throughout the books he gives subtle hints that explain what led him to become a writer. As someone who dabbles with the idea of being a writer, I found this interesting. Last, it was fun to see how many of his own childhood memories he has incorporated into his other books and how he
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I love memoirs. This is a short intimate look into the idyllic boyhood of Jerry Spinelli spent in Norristown, PA. It's a perfect window into post-war life of the 50's. I have read probably 85% of Spinelli's books and even met him once. This would be a perfect classroom example of autobiography writing. I know for a fact that I will read the chapter on his first love to my 7th graders next Fall when we do our "annual" intro paper on twitterpation--my favorite essay of the year!
Knots in My YoYo String, by Jerry Spinelli, is an interesting autobiography, and I would definitely recommend it to a classmate. In this book Jerry Spinelli plays baseball, basketball, soccer, and football, his lifelong dream is to be a professional baseball player, he only read about five books from ages zero to sixteen. Who knew he would become a famous author when he grew up? Knots in my Yo Yo String talks about his life and how he became an author. When I read about Jerry Spinelli, I though
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This is a great biography on Jerry Spinelli. He takes you through his childhood and teen years in simple chapters. As an added bonus, he includes great photographs from his past. I really like the charm he brings to the memories that mean so much to him. His honest recollections vary from his faith, to his love of sports, to his trials with girls. A great read for any age.
This book was so interesting. Jerry Spinelli is such an amazing writer as it is, and to hear how he remembers his life is just so cool. He wrote it in a book form, but not from age to age, but series in his life; from obsessions to family. I loved hearing his point of view and this makes me want to read more autobiographys and Jerry Spinelli books. (:
Knots in My Yo-Yo String
is an autobiography of Jerry Spinelli, one of my favourite authors. I really liked how the story is not told in order of what happened (it jumps around), but it all seems to fit together. The story seems very real, and I would highly recommend it.
What kind of childhood produces a great writer of kids' books?
Jerry Spinelli didn't read books very much as a child, but he played outside with friends, and also spent time alone thinking about life. I enjoyed reading about Mr. Spinelli's family, friends and experiences.
Jerry Spinelli didn't read books very much as a child, but he played outside with friends, and also spent time alone thinking about life. I enjoyed reading about Mr. Spinelli's family, friends and experiences.
This book was about the life growing up of Jerry Spinelli. It was a long and simple book to read. I learned that writing books can be about anything you want to put in it. I would write a biography of my life but it doesn't seem so exciting.
This was a cute autobiography.....Jerry and I were born the same month in the same year, so his childhood memories were much like mine!!!! Will suggest this book for teen book club.
This was great...kind of like reading one of his books. The only thing I don't like about it is the cover. It doesn't look anything like a yoyo to me. It looks like a cherry bomb.
The book Knots In My Yo-Yo String is an autobiography of the award-winning children’s author Jerry Spinelli. It tells of Spinelli’s life in a way that is almost identical to the author’s model of storytelling in his fiction books. The story of his childhood and youth are so interesting that they have no trouble captivating the reader’s attention. From various broken bones to successful (and occasionally terrible) baseball games, this author’s tale is sometimes so wild that the reader begins to w
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I love Jerry S. and this is a better than most "writer looks back on his childhood" book. He was very very into sports though, so my eyes glazed over in many parts.
Apr 27, 2015
Sam S
added it
This book was about a kids life in the 1950s. The kids dream was to be about a professional baseball player.
He had many people he looked up to that were baseball players. Jerry really wanted to pursuit his baseball dream and he tried everything he could as a kid to do that. Then there were other problems during his child hood that he had to deal with that weren't about baseball. Jerry was the small kind of outsider kid in his school grade. He would always worry that he wouldn't make it professi ...more
He had many people he looked up to that were baseball players. Jerry really wanted to pursuit his baseball dream and he tried everything he could as a kid to do that. Then there were other problems during his child hood that he had to deal with that weren't about baseball. Jerry was the small kind of outsider kid in his school grade. He would always worry that he wouldn't make it professi ...more
Very funny book I loved how it was all based on Jerry Spinelli! Great Book!!
One of my 5th grade students donated this book to our classroom library and told me I would like it "because it is about one of our favorite writers". She was not wrong!
Spinelli captures small town life and a happy childhood perfectly. The games, the sights, the smells, and the activities of a kid growing up on the 50s are all there. At the end, he reveals how his growing up helped define him as a writer. Kids today can learn a lot from this glimpse of "olden times" when kids' lives weren't so s ...more
Spinelli captures small town life and a happy childhood perfectly. The games, the sights, the smells, and the activities of a kid growing up on the 50s are all there. At the end, he reveals how his growing up helped define him as a writer. Kids today can learn a lot from this glimpse of "olden times" when kids' lives weren't so s ...more
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When Jerry Spinelli was a kid, he wanted to grow up to be either a cowboy or a baseball player. Lucky for us he became a writer instead.
He grew up in rural Pennsylvania and went to college at Gettysburg College and Johns Hopkins University. He has published more than 25 books and has six children and 16 grandchildren.
Jerry Spinelli began writing when he was 16 — not much older than the hero of his ...more
More about Jerry Spinelli...
He grew up in rural Pennsylvania and went to college at Gettysburg College and Johns Hopkins University. He has published more than 25 books and has six children and 16 grandchildren.
Jerry Spinelli began writing when he was 16 — not much older than the hero of his ...more
