Jack Gantos is an American author of children's books. He was born on July 2, 1951, in Pennsylvania. Gantos is best known for two major fictional characters. Rotten Ralph is a mischievous cat who appeared in twenty picture books illustrated by Nicole Rubel, published between 1976 and 2014. Joey Pigza is a boy with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder featured in five novels published between 1998 and 2014. More information about Gantos and his work can be found on his website.