John was born on August 9th, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the oldest of four children. His parents were teachers and John learned to love books and reading. He didn't know right away that he wanted to be an author himself. Instead, he played a lot of sports, worked as a tour guide and a mattress maker, received a master of arts degree in children and creativity from St. Mary's University, and then he decided to write for a living. His first book was Night Driving, in which a boy and his father travel cross-country, listening to baseball games on the radio and talking. He followed soon after with Strong to the Hoop, a book about a skins and shirts basketball game that quickly became a favorite with boys. In fact, the boys in the National Basketball Association liked it so much that they asked John to work with them on their Read to Achieve program. Since then, John has seen more picture books and a YA sports novel, Crackback, published to acclaim. Married to a publisher, John has one daughter. He lives near the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Read more about John ...