Jerry Spinelli's Influences
Jerry Spinelli's childhood had the biggest influence on him. Many of his books were inspired by events that occured in his childhood and the people that were close to him when he was young. In addition to being inspired by his own childhood, his children gave him even more inspiration while they grew up. Spinelli's first published book was inspired by his kid when he took Spinelli's lunch in middle of the night without telling anyone. Another person who had a big influence on Spinelli was his father. One day after a massive win for Spinelli's school football team, he ran home and wrote a poem as soon as the game ended. His father was able to get the poem published in the town newspaper and when Spinelli received tons of praise for the poem, he decided that he no longer wanted to be a professional baseball player but a writer. The poem he wrote can be seen on the right.
Other things that influenced Spinelli include:
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