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Jerry Spinelli

(1941- )

Background

Jerry Spinelli born on February 1, 1941 in Norristown Pennsylvania to Louis Anthony and Lorna Mae Spenelli.. Jerry has one brother who is younger named Bill. Spinelli was born and raised in Pennsylvania. Like many boys growing up in a small town he dreamed of becoming a pro athlete. He was a popular student who was into sports and school government. He went to Stewart Junior high and Eisenhower High School. Spinelli attended Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English in 1963. He continued on at Temple University, where he was a graduate assistant, and he also attended John Hopkins University, where he received a Master’s Degree in creative writing in 1964. In 1966 he became a U.S. Naval Air Reservist, a posting held until 1972. He attended boot camp and military school in Memphis, Tennessee and Denver, Colorado respectively. Spinelli started working at the Chilton Company, a magazine publisher in Radnor Pennsylvania. While at Chilton he edited the trade journal Product Design and Development, unti1 1989. While an editor at Chilton he met his wife Eileen, who is also a writer of children’s books. She accidentally dumped some poems on his lap waiting for the trolley. They married on May 21, 1977. They instantly had kids! Four sons (Kevin, Jeffrey, Sean, and Ben) and his three daughters (Barbara, Lana, and Molly). He lives with his wife, Sean, and Ben in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania.

About His Books

Jerry Spinelli tends to write about events and feelings that really happened in his own life and childhood. Jerry has seven kids that also spark up some interesting topics for his books. Eileen his wife is also a children’s book author. "Each of us, in our kidhood, was a Huckleberry Finn, drifting on a current that seemed tortuously slow at times, poling for the shore to check out every slightest glimmer in the trees … the taste of Brussels sprouts … your first forward roll … cruising a mall without a parent … overnighting it … making your own grilled cheese sandwich … the thousand landfalls of our adolescence .… And now we know what we did not know then: What an adventure it was"

-Jerry Spinelli

How Jerry Spinelli got started

When Jerry Spinelli was a sixteen-year-old boy, living in Norristown, Pennsylvania, he had dreams of being a pro-athlete, but when his poem about a football game got published in the local newspaper, his dreams changed. After the poem, he decided he wanted to be a writer. He now has more than a dozen books published. His first book was published when he was 41 years old. He now is the winner of the Newberry Medal and Honor. He still resides in Pennsylvania with his wife Eileen. He first published book was Space Station Seventh Grade. Spinelli pulled many ideas from his own childhood to make it so enjoyable for the children who read it.

Jerry Spinelli's Awards