Life is full of happy accidents part 1

  Sometimes He'd ask if He did research for his stories. The answer is yes and no. No, in the sense that he seldom plow through books at the library to gather material. Yes, in the sense that the first fifteen years of his life turned out to be one big research project. He thought that he was simply growing up in Norristown, Pennsylvania; looking back now,he could see that Jerry was also gathering material that would one day find its way into his books.

  John Ribble's blazing fastball. Dovey Wilmouth, so beautiful a fleet of boys pedaled past her house ten times a day. Mrs. Seeton's whistle calling her kids in to dinner. The day my black snake disappeared. The creek, the tracks, the dump, the red hills.Jerry Spinelli's days did not pass through, but stayed, filling the shelves of his memory. They became the library where today he would do his research.(the blue part is alike the bookManiac Magee).