Michael Ross

Michael Ross is an award-winning writer and former editor of BREAKAWAY, a national magazine for teen guys published by Focus on the Family. He is also the author, co-author, and collaborator of more than 40 books for families, including the Gold Medallion winner BOOM: A GUY'S GUIDE TO GROWING UP (Tyndale), a bestselling parenting book WHAT YOUR SON ISN'T TELLING YOU (Bethany), a memory improvement resource ULTIMATE MEMORY MAGIC (St. Martin's), and an unofficial Minecraft guide BUILDING FAITH BLOCK BY BLOCK (Harvest House). Michael and his wife Tiffany live near St. Louis, Missouri, with their son Christopher.

Michael studied journalism and art in California. After college, he began his writing career in Los Angeles--where he spent countless hours working with inner-city youth and their families. These experiences sparked in him a heart for disadvantaged teens. In 1990, he co-founded BREAKAWAY (a national magazine for teenage boys). In 2002, he and a team of wilderness guides began taking readers on summer backpacking excursions near Yosemite National Park. And three years later, Michael launched Focus on the Family's Father-Son Adventures in Colorado. Under the guidance of Noah's Ark Whitewater Rafting Co., these backcountry trips were designed to strengthen relationships between dads and their teenage sons.

When Michael isn't writing or speaking to teens and their parents, he and his family love adventure travel. Their most memorable trip is a safari through Zimbabwe by motorcycle (with a bunch of teens, of course), and then by boat down the Zambezi River. The author and his wife and son are currently dreaming up a fiction series that will take young readers deep into African jungles and zigzagging down churning mountain rivers--adventures they will research together!

During Michael's publishing career, he has written and edited thousands of articles and has interviewed hundreds of athletes, musicians, actors, as well as amazing people from all walks of life. Some of his most memorable interviews include: actors Sylvester Stallone and Stephen Baldwin, director Catherine Hardewicke (Twilight, Lords of Dogtown), pop superstar Nick Jonas, CCM artists Kirk Franklin, TobyMac, and Michael Tait, country music band Sawyer Brown, Indianapolis Colts' Hunter Smith, and UFC fighter Nathan "Rock" Quarry.