Welcome to the official website of award-winning author John H. Ritter, author of the novels Under the Baseball Moon, The Boy Who Saved Baseball, Over the Wall, and Choosing Up Sides. Here you will find interviews with John, what's newsworthy, classroom lesson plans, and his appearance schedule.
Desperately trying to save their legendary ballpark, Tom, the thinker, Cruz, the mysterious cyber-vato, and the brash all-star, María, spur the rest of the Dillontown Nine plus a crazy ex-pro, Dante Del Gato, to face the challenge of a lifetime. What's at stake? Only the very future of the town, the team, and the holy game of baseball.
A rollicking and high-spirited story about a shy boy's quest to preserve his slice of the American landscape before it's too late, The Boy Who Saved Baseball will make you believe in the power of dreams.
Go to the The Boy Who Saved Baseball page for
the complete reviews, chapter excerpts, and more!
Go to the Over the Wall page for chapter excerpts, reviews and more!
Go to the Choosing Up Sides page for chapter excerpts, reviews and more!
JUST RELEASED: AUDIO VERSION of
Under the Baseball Moon read by actor Dan Woren!
An unabridged audio version of Under the Baseball Moon is now available,
INCLUDING:
Florida Council of Teachers of English honors John H. Ritter with their "2006 President's Award" for "making a significant contribution to the teaching of English in the State of Florida"
FCTE President Dr. Ginny White surprised John with this award at the annual FCTE Conference (October 2006) in Orlando because the literary value of his books had created such a positive impact on the teaching of literature in Florida schools. John was thrilled! Thank you, Florida teachers!
The Boy Who Saved Baseball receives the Louisiana Young Readers' Choice Honor Award for 2006
The Louisiana Center for the Book, a part of the State Library of Louisiana, presented John with his Honor Award at the October 2006 Louisiana Book Festival. Voted upon by the students of Louisiana, the award came with a readers' theatre performance by eighth grade students attending the ceremony. John felt honored and grateful to receive the award. Thank you, Louisiana students, teachers, and librarians!
Denver Post featured John in an in-depth article covering new and old classic juvenile sports novels
The story (September 2003) is entitled "Scoring with Sports: Books involving competition are hooking young readers," by Terry Frei, Denver Post Sports Writer.
It features an interview with John and includes a humorous photo of Denver Rockies manager Clint Hurdle reading over the shoulder of a kid in the Rockies dugout who is holding a copy of The Boy Who Saved Baseball. You can read the article from the link on The Boy Who Saved Baseball page.
BookPage magazine featured
The Boy Who Saved Baseball
BookPage magazine, with a circulation of 500,000 readers,
featured The Boy Who Saved Baseball during the month of July 2003!
See what reviewer James Neal Webb said on the The Boy Who Saved Baseball page.
Audiotape versions of The Boy Who Saved Baseball, Over the Wall, and
Choosing Up Sides now available!
Librarians, Teachers, Parents! School Library
Journal calls the audio version of Over the Wall, "Superb...imbued with passion, absolution, and grace, this beautiful story beautifully told is destined to become one of the year's best young adult audiobooks." As an Added Bonus: The audiotape versions of both Choosing Up Sides and Over the Wall include an interview with John concerning the complexities and issues addressed in the novels.
Click here to read the entire review and get ordering
information for audiotapes of all three books.
Choosing Up Sides makes the Adult Crossover
list!
The Children's Book Council, a national trade association of publishers and packagers headquartered in New York City, named Choosing Up Sides to their Adult Crossover list in June of 2002. Called "Not Just for Children Anymore," these are specially designated books that the Council deems to be of value and interest to adults as well as young readers. Of course, this designation is no surprise to John. He reports that over half of his reading audience is comprised of adults. So kids, give your folks a book to read and see how they like it!
In this Time of War, Patriotism, and Prayer, what could be more fitting than Mark Twain's "The War Prayer" to center our thoughts on what is really important?
Mr. Twain, a noble left-handed writer, gives us the southpaw perspective on so many things.
Let us pray: "It was a time of great and exalting excitement. The country
was up in arms, the war was on...
To read the complete text of Mark Twain's "The War Prayer," click here.
"Baseball's Life Lessons" by Holly Atkins (November 2003)
Books spill from their mountainous stack on my nightstand onto the floor next to my bed. "So many books, so little time" isn't just a T-shirt slogan--it's a statement about my life.
Lately, one author's work can be found on my nightstand, in my school tote bag and in my car CD player: John H. Ritter. So much more than a
baseball writer, Ritter's work resonates with themes that touch us all:
the power of the human spirit, the ugliness of discrimination, the
struggle to come to know and believe in who you are. Recently I corresponded with him by e-mail to chat about books,
baseball and why young adult novels are not for teens only.
To read more, click here.
An insightful and revealing interview about John's philosophy on writing and life with the folks at Baker and Taylor (nationwide wholesale book distributors) (October 2006)
Question: You write with a unique rhythm and style that are quite commendable. What would you attribute this to, i.e. writing classes, reading specific authors, listening to jazz while writing, etc?
John: It's funny, but no jazz, no rock when I work. Probably because I grew up on Kumeyaay land and I'm part Blackfoot, but I listen to Carlos Nakai's Native American flute music exclusively when I write. In The Boy Who Saved Baseball, I even had Cruz de la Cruz ride in "on the lonesome trill of an elderberry flute." Of course, as with any artist, my influences are huge and widespread. My literary heroes have always been Dylan, Twain, Steinbeck, and Kerouac, pretty much in that order. Today I would add Cormac McCarthy and most recently, Leif Enger. To read more, click here.
An interview that shares the story behind Choosing Up Sides and Over the Wall
with questions by Dr. Chris Crowe, Professor of English, Brigham Young University (Spring/Summer 2000)
Chris Crowe: John, tell us a little about your life. You've written a book set in rural Ohio and one set in New York City. Where did you grow up?
John H. Ritter: Neither of those places, actually. My parents were natives of Ashtabula, Ohio, up around Cleveland. But before I was born, my dad landed a job out west as a sports writer, so I grew up in the rural hills of San Diego County. In the 1920s, the time frame of Choosing Up Sides, my family was scattered all through the Ohio and West Virginia region. So that setting was a natural. And Over the Wall is about a modern day California boy going to New York, which was loosely based on personal experience. To read more, click here.To contact John H. Ritter, send a letter by regular mail to:
John H. Ritter, c/o Penguin Group USA, Young Readers Group, 345 Hudson Street, 15th Floor, New York, NY 10014.
To inquire about an author appearance, send a fax, with details, to (212) 414-3393, Attention: Author Appearance Coordinator. Begin your Subject Line with "John Ritter Author Visit," and be sure to include your email address. John's Penguin Author Appearance Coordinator will contact you with all the information you'll need.
John H. Ritter's sample list of famous and creative lefties
Click here to see a sampling of famous and
creative people who were left-handed as well as links to other web sites related
to left-handedness.
Some web sites related to baseball
Click here for a list of baseball-related Web
sites.
Teaching Aids and Classroom Plans
John's public speaking schedule
Published Interviews with John
Go to the Choosing Up Sides page
Order Choosing Up Sides
Go to the Over The Wall page
Order Over the Wall
Go to The Boy Who Saved Baseball page
Order The Boy Who Saved Baseball
Read an excerpt from Under the Baseball Moon
Order Under the Baseball Moon
Baseball-related web sites
Lefty info