Adventurous - Actively engaged in seeking and living out exciting experiences.

Jerry Spinelli’s birthday is on February 1st.

“One day in second grade I dressed up in my cowboy outfit, complete with golden cap pistols and spurs on my boots. I went to school that way. It was not Halloween. When the teacher asked if I ‘would like to do something for the class,’ I got up and sang, I Have Spurs that Jingle Jangle Jingle,” declares Jerry Spinelli.

Jerry wanted to become a cowboy, then a baseball player in the major leagues. One night, during high school, while everyone was celebrating a great football win, he went home and wrote a poem about the game’s defining moment, a goal-line stand. His father submitted that poem to the Norristown Times–Herald and it was featured in the middle of the sports page. He then traded in his baseball bat for a pencil.

After graduating from Gettysburg College with an English degree, he worked as a magazine editor. Jerry wrote his own novels on his lunch hour, after dinner, & weekends. None of which were accepted by adult publishers. He submitted a fifth novel about a 13-year-old boy that was finally embraced by a children’s publisher. He feels that he accidentally became an author of children’s books.

Jerry’s hilarious books entertain both children and young adults. He has 30 published books which include Newbery Award Winner – Maniac Magee and Newbery Honor Award – Wringer. Stargirl is now in over 40 languages.

Jerry lives in Pennsylvania with his wife and fellow writer, Eileen. While they write in separate rooms of the house, the couple edits and celebrates one another’s work. Their 6 children & 24 grandkids give him a plethora of clever material for his writing.