2 Jerry Spinelli first editions are documented on this shelf, from Maniac Magee (1990) to Stargirl (2000) across 2 different publishers. Each linked guide gives the points of issue that separate a true first printing of that Jerry Spinelli title from later printings and book-club copies — the publisher and year to expect, the number-line or edition-statement conventions, and the tells that show up in online listings.
Identification only, per the house rule: no prices and no appraisals here. Checking a Jerry Spinelli copy in hand? Type the title into the First-Edition Checker or photograph the copyright page with Snap & Sort.
- Maniac Magee — 1990 · Little, Brown & CompanyFirst edition 1990, Little, Brown (Boston). The first printing states 'First Edition' on the copyright page with a number line ending in 1; copyright 1990. Pictorial cloth; first-state jacket without the Newbery Medal seal. US true first. Newbery Medal 1991. Absence of the 'First Edition' statement or a number line not ending in 1 indicates a later printing; book-club editions typically lack a jacket price; post-award jacket states add the seal.
- Stargirl — 2000 · Alfred A. Knopf / Knopf Books for Young ReadersFirst published August 2000 by Alfred A. Knopf / Knopf Books for Young Readers, New York; ISBN 0679886370 (9780679886372), 8vo, 186 pp., in a pictorial dust jacket. The first printing is identified by the Random House children's-division number line on the copyright page reading "1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2" — the presence of the 1 is the operative point. Knopf has stated "First Edition" on the copyright page…. The US Knopf edition (New York, 2000) is the true first. Correcting the census note slightly: this is not "US-only" — a UK first was published by Orchard Books (London) in 2001, a year later. The Orchard edition is collected as the first British appearance but does not compete for precedence. Later Knopf/Ember trade paperbacks and the film tie-in issue are reprints. Scholastic issued school-book-club printings (ISBNs 0439316750 and 0439444438) that are club/school editions, not trade firsts — the Scholastic imprint on the spine or copyright page is the tell. The Alfred A. Knopf Readers Circle (ISBN 037582233X, 2002) and Ember paperbacks are later trade paperback reprints, and the 2020 film tie-in is a reprint.
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