Jon Scieszka shares stories of his childhood and reading just after accepting his new ambassador’s medallion.
- Michaela McNichol
It was quite a weekend for Jon Scieszka, a former teacher from Brooklyn, appointed the first National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature (2008–2009) by the Library of Congress and the Children’s Book Council (www.childrensbookambassador.com).
Sporting the ambassador’s medallion, which was presented to him on Friday, Sept. 26, and having appeared with first lady Laura Bush and the president at the National Book Festival gala that evening, Scieszka came to the festival on Saturday to meet his fans.
“Check it out,” said the children’s author, dubbed “The Stinky Cheese Man” (by virtue of his popular book title). “I get to brag about other people’s books.”
Promoting literacy is an issue close to his heart. Scieszka is the founder of Guys Read (www.guysread.com), a reading-promotion program “to help boys find stuff they like to read.” On Friday, he joined the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress and the Read It Loud! Foundation in announcing a new initiative to encourage parents to read to children. (See story on page 205.)
Scieszka, Wally Amos (in green hat) and friends announce a new initiative to promote reading.
- Michaela McNichol
With five brothers, Scieszka knows more than a little about what boys like. The latest title in his Trucktown series is “Smash, Crash!” His next book is titled “Knucklehead,” an affectionate term used by his father for all of his sons.
“My dad used to take us to construction sites,” recalled Scieszka. “He’d say, ‘all of you knuckleheads get in the car.’”
As a child, Scieszka liked to read about chaotic families like his, rather than the tame world of “Dick and Jane” that was required reading from the 1940s to the 1960s. He mocked the stilted syntax of the “Dick and Jane” series.
“The way they kept repeating everyone’s names—Dick, Jane, Sally, Mother and Father—I thought they were afraid they’d forget them.”
“I preferred reading about cats in hats and green eggs and ham,” said Scieszka.
So now he strives to write stories that boys can relate to. To prove his point, Scieszka read an excerpt from “Knucklehead” about sharing the bathroom with his five brothers.
