Fenway Fever

A tribute to Fenway Park's 100th anniversary follows the story of young "Stats" Pagano, who despite a heart defect devotes himself to collecting statistics, working at his family's struggling hot-dog stand located just outside the iconic ballpark and unifying the city in the face of a Red Sox losing streak that the team's ace pitcher attributes to the famed "Curse of the Bambino." By the author of The Boy Who Saved Baseball.

Baseball novelist John H. Ritter grew up in a baseball family. "But we were also a family of musicians and mathematicians, house painters and poets. My dad was a sports writer in Ashtabula, Ohio, who moved the family out west, just before I was born, to become Sports Editor for The San Diego Union." After high school, John attended the University of California at San Diego, where he met his wife, Cheryl, now an elementary school teacher. Like their grown daughter, Jolie, who runs her own espresso cafe, John has always preferred the self-employed life, having been a custom painting contractor for 25 years. "Even so," he says, "I always 'booked' my calendar with time to write."

In 1994, the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators honored him with the Judy Blume Award for a novel in progress. Three years later, upon the sale of his first book, to Penguin Putnam, he retired from house painting and realized his dream of becoming a full-time writer. Now, he is the author of six books for young readers: Over the Wall,Choosing Sides, Under the Baseball Moon, The Boy Who Saved Baseball,The Desperado Who Stole Baseball, and Fenway Fever.

John H. Ritter lives in Koloa, Hawaii. Learn more about him at johnhritter.com.