John H. Ritter

John H. Ritter grew up in the foothills of eastern San Diego County. He and his brothers built their own baseball diamond in the chaparral countryside while their grandmother entertained them with ballroom boogie-woogie on the piano. A poet, songwriter, blues guitarist, and former shortstop for the University of California, San Diego, John often incorporates the symbolism of baseball and the musicality of nature’s rhythms into his prose. Known for layering sports drama with real-life predicaments, John’s metaphorical first novel, Choosing Up Sides, won the 1999 International Reading Association Children’s Book Award for Older Readers and was designated an American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults. In 2004, he received the Paterson Prize for Children’s Literature for his third novel, The Boy Who Saved Baseball. John and his wife, Cheryl, now divide their time between California and the island of Kauai. You can visit John H. Ritter at JohnHRitter.com.