Editing John Grisham (section)

==Early life==
Grisham, the second of five children, was born in [[Jonesboro, Arkansas]], to Wanda (née Skidmore) and John Ray Grisham.<ref name="The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture"/> His father was a construction worker and a cotton farmer, and his mother was a homemaker.<ref name="Biography">[http://www.jgrisham.com/bio John Grisham biography], jgrisham.com; retrieved December 9, 2011.</ref> When Grisham was four years old, his family settled in [[Southaven, Mississippi]], near [[Memphis, Tennessee]].<ref name="The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture"/> As a child, he wanted to be a baseball player.<ref name="John Grisham" /> As noted in the foreword to ''[[Calico Joe]]'', Grisham gave up playing baseball at the age of 18, after a game in which a pitcher aimed a [[beanball]] at him and narrowly missed doing the young Grisham grave harm.

Although Grisham's parents lacked formal education, his mother encouraged him to read and prepare for college.<ref name="Academy of Achievement" /> He drew on his childhood experiences for his novel ''[[A Painted House]]''.<ref name="The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture" /> Grisham started working for a plant nursery as a teenager, watering bushes for $1.00 an hour. He was soon promoted to a fence crew for $1.50 an hour. He wrote about the job: "there was no future in it". At 16, Grisham took a job with a plumbing contractor but says he "never drew inspiration from that miserable work".<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/06/opinion/06Grisham.html|title = Opinion &#124; Boxers, Briefs and Books |newspaper=The New York Times |date=September 6, 2010 |last1 = Grisham |first1=John}}</ref>

Initially, Grisham attended Horn Lake High School, a school that was so overcrowded some classes met in a church or a gymnasium.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Mitchell |first=Jerry |title=John Grisham: College, lawmaking & 'A Time to Kill'* |url=https://www.clarionledger.com/story/magnolia/2015/07/03/john-grisham-college-lawmaking-and-a-time-to-kill/29679103/ |access-date=2024-10-27 |website=The Clarion-Ledger |language=en-US}}</ref>  In 1971, he transferred to [[Southaven High School]], where he played football, basketball, and baseball.<ref name=":0" />  He credits his 12th grade English teacher, Frances McGuffey, for inspiring his love for reading and for introducing him to the works of [[John Steinbeck]] in particular.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Randall |first=Mark |date=2022-01-20 |title=John Grisham's literary legacy to be honored with historical marker at county courthouse |url=https://www.desototimes.com/news/john-grishams-literary-legacy-to-be-honored-with-historical-marker-at-county-courthouse/article_9c304cca-7969-11ec-b0d3-13e46d6530b0.html |access-date=2024-10-27 |website=DeSoto Times-Tribune |language=en}}</ref>

Through one of his father's contacts, Grisham managed to find work on a highway [[Asphalt concrete|asphalt]] crew in [[Mississippi]] at age 17. It was during this time that an unfortunate incident got him "serious" about college. A fight with gunfire broke out among the crew, causing Grisham to run to a nearby restroom to find safety. He did not come out until after the police had detained the perpetrators. He hitchhiked home and started thinking about college. His next work was in retail, as a sales clerk in a [[department store]] men's underwear section, which he described as "humiliating". By this time, Grisham was halfway through college. Planning to become a tax lawyer, he was soon overcome by "the complexity and lunacy" of it, deciding instead to return to his hometown as a trial lawyer.<ref name="BoxersBriefsBooks">{{cite news |last=Grisham |first=John |date=September 6, 2010 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/06/opinion/06Grisham.html |title=Boxers, Briefs and Books |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=November 2, 2017}}</ref>

Grisham attended the [[Northwest Mississippi Community College]] in [[Senatobia]], Mississippi, where he hoped to launch his baseball career but was benched instead.<ref name=":0" />  He and two close friends, Bubba Logan and Parker Pickle, transferred to [[Delta State University]] in [[Cleveland, Mississippi|Cleveland]] where Grisham hoped to revive his baseball career as a walk on player, but he was cut from the team and he left school after one semester.<ref name="The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture" /><ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=John Grisham, Mississippi author of court room drama and legal thriller writer |url=https://www.mswritersandmusicians.com/mississippi-writers/john-grisham |access-date=2024-10-27 |website=www.mswritersandmusicians.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2022-11-07 |title=What I’ve Learned: John Grisham |url=https://www.esquire.com/entertainment/books/a41456526/john-grisham-what-ive-learned/ |access-date=2024-10-27 |website=Esquire |language=en-US}}</ref> Ultimately, Grisham changed colleges three times before completing a degree.<ref name="Academy of Achievement" /> Although he started there as an economics major, he eventually graduated from [[Mississippi State University]] in 1977 with a [[Bachelor of Science]] in [[accounting]] after being inspired by a fellow student, a Vietnam veteran, who planned to go to law school.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" /> He later enrolled in the [[University of Mississippi School of Law]] intending to become a tax lawyer, but his interest shifted to general civil litigation. He graduated in 1981 with a [[Juris Doctor|J.D.]] degree.<ref name="The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture" />