Ofer aronskind - Biography

Ofer Aronskind was born in Tel Aviv, Israel and came to the United States at the age of six.  He grew up in Little Neck, Queens, on the outskirts of New York City. He attended SUNY Albany then took a year off after college where he spent the year in Los Angeles writing screenplays.  The following year he came back to NY to attend St. John's University School of Law and graduated in 1989.  He went to work at the law firm of Weil Gotshal & Manges as a real estate attorney and worked there until 1997. He now lives in Short Hills, New Jersey with his three sons and is a real estate investor.

Inspiration

New Jersey resident Ofer Aronskind remembers what it was like to be 12 years old: the challenges of middle school, making new friends, attending summer camp for the first time, having your first crush. By drawing on events from his life, as well as those of his three teenage sons, he has been able to vividly recreate some of life's most memorable experiences in his young-adult novels.

Aronskind's primary goal is to write books that young adults will want to read. His writing frequently draws upon his own life experiences, as well as those of his sons. His first two books, Summer Sleep-Away and That Same Summer, are loosely based on adventures and anecdotes from summer camp that his family operated in the Berkshires of Western Massachusetts.

Books

"Summer Sleep-Away" is a tale of a young boy's first summer going off to sleep away camp. Far from home, separated from his family and not knowing a soul, Mattie Kleinfeld is scared, homesick and cries himself to sleep... read more from "Summer Sleep Away"

When Ari reads his best friend Mattie's book called "Summer Sleep-Away", he decides that he needs to tell his version of the events that took place that amazing summer at camp. Ari proceeds to fill in the gaps where Mattie's tale leaves off... read more from "That Same Summer"

When Mattie Kleinfeld tells his friends that his summer camp girlfriend, Nicole, is in New York City for the weekend, they dare him to ditch school, hop a train and go into the big city to find her... read more from "Escape From Sunday School"

Thirteen year-old Will Ryerson has come to terms with the fact that he's not much of an athlete, will never be part of the school's "cool" crowd and is an average student at best... read more from "The Celebrities of Summer School"

Sam Tolpin is a quiet loner whose mother has moved him into a new town one too many times. Eddie Drucker, Sam's new downstairs neighbor, is the undisputed neighborhood leader with the charismatic personality and the criminal mind... read more from "This Side of the Street"