John Grisham, a very famous American author, has spent most of his adult life as a lawyer, author, husband, and father. Although his writing career did not start off as good as expected, he has surpassed all expectations and is now one of the best-selling authors in America today. Grisham is "best known for his works of modern legal drama." (http://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/John_Grisham) However, long before he became a well-known author, he was a high school athlete, college student, and a criminal defense lawyer from a small, southern town in Mississippi. .
John Grisham led a mostly normal childhood. He was born on the 8th of February, 1955 in Jonesboro, Arkansas. The son of a construction worker and a homemaker, Grisham and his family moved around the deep South according to where his father's work was. After living in five different cities, the Grisham family moved to a permanent residence in Southaven, Mississippi in 1967. Although his parents lacked formal education, his mother encouraged him to read and insisted that he prepare himself for college. (John Grisham, Best-Selling Author, Biography) Taking his mother's advice, Grisham became a very avid reader while growing up and visited the town library often. "He was especially influenced by the work of John Steinbeck whose clarity he admired." (http://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/John_Grisham) Along with being a famous writer, Grisham is also a devout Christian. While his father usually had to work seven days a week, Grisham's mother always had Grisham and his four siblings in church every Sunday. In high school, he played sports and dreamed of one day becoming a professional baseball player. Although he is now an American author, in high school "he got a D in English." (Background and Education) In 1973, John Grisham graduated from Southaven High School. .
The fall after graduation, he started school at Northwest Junior College in Senatobia, Mississippi and played baseball there his first year.
