Jon Scieszka

Jon Scieszka

Scieszka in 2008
Born (1954-09-08) September 8, 1954
Flint, Michigan, USA
Occupation Writer
Nationality American
Alma mater Albion College
Columbia University
Genre Children's books
Notable awards National Ambassador for Young People's Literature
2008–2009
Signature
Website
jsworldwide.com

Jon Scieszka (/ˈʃɛʃkə/: which phonetically resembles ścieżka, the Polish word for "path") (born September 8, 1954) is an American children's writer, best known for picture books created with the illustrator Lane Smith. He is also a nationally recognized reading advocate, and the founder of Guys Read – a web-based literacy program for boys whose mission is "to help boys become self-motivated, lifelong readers."[1]

Scieszka was the first U.S. National Ambassador for Young People's Literature, appointed by the Librarian of Congress for calendar years 2008 and 2009.[2][3][4]

His Time Warp Trio series, which teaches kids history, has been adapted into a television show.

Personal life

Scieszka was born in Flint, Michigan, the second oldest among six sons of Shirley Scieszka, and Louis Scieszka, a former elementary school principal. He attended Culver Military Academy in Indiana for high school, Albion College in Michigan where he studied English and pre-med. for his B.A.., and Columbia University for a Master of Fine Arts in fiction writing.

Scieszka currently lives in Park Slope, Brooklyn with his wife Jerilyn Hansen, an interior designer. His children, daughter Casey and son Jake, live in the neighborhood as well.

After graduating, Scieszka worked in a variety of capacities: teaching at an elementary school (mostly second grade), writing for magazines, and painting apartments.

Professional life

While pursuing his MFA at Columbia in New York, Scieszka painted apartments. He went on to teach 1st-8th grade at the Day School (currently the Trevor Day School) for ten years. In 1991 he started writing and touring full-time, which he still does today.

According to Scieszka, he writes books because he "loves to make kids laugh."[5] Most of his best-known works were written in conjunction with illustrator Lane Smith. Among their collaborations are The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales, The True Story of the Three Little Pigs and Math Curse. He is also the author of the Time Warp Trio series, for which Smith illustrated eight of the sixteen books. The series has been made into a television show. The design of many Scieszka and Smith collaborations, including Stinky Cheese Man, is attributed to Molly Leach, Smith's wife.

Scieszka is also the founder of Guys Read, a web-based literacy program for boys whose mission is "to help boys become self-motivated, lifelong readers." He founded the nonprofit in response to his experiences as an elementary school teacher and the United States National Assessment of Educational Progress statistics showing boys consistently scoring worse than girls on federal reading tests every year, at every grade level.[6]

In 2008 Scieszka was named the nation’s first National Ambassador for Young People's Literature by the Librarian of Congress. During his two years as Ambassador, it was his job to raise "national awareness of the importance of young people’s literature as it relates to lifelong literacy, education and the development and betterment of the lives of young people."[4] For Scieszka, this meant traveling to schools, libraries, and book-related conferences to speak about engaging kids in reading through choice, an expanded definition of reading, positive role models, and embracing new technologies. He has joked that being an ambassador gets him out of parking tickets.[7]

Books

Scieszka has written and edited many books for various publishers.

Picture books

The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales. Viking Press, 1992

Series

The Time Warp Trio

Also see The Time Warp Trio

The Time Warp Trio books are illustrated middle grade novels about three boys, Sam, Joe, and Fred, who travel through time and space with a magical book. The early books were illustrated by Lane Smith, and later ones by Adam McCauley. They are published by Viking Press.

Trucktown

Scieszka was inspired to create the Trucktown series because he "really wanted to write something for all of those crazy little guys who didn’t think there was something out there for them to read."[8]

The Trucktown characters and backgrounds were created by the team of David Shannon, Loren Long, and David Gordon. The over fifty-book Trucktown program includes picture books, "Ready-to-Roll" early reader books, board books, and a variety of activity books. They are published by Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing.

Picture Books:

Ready-to-Roll:

Spaceheadz

Spaceheadz Book #2! Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing, 2010

Spaceheadz is a multi-platform story, told through four books, multiple websites, integrated blogs, social media sites, videos, ads, and user-created content. The story reveals how three aliens from the planet Spaceheadz disguise themselves as 5th graders in Brooklyn in order to sign up 3.14 million and 1 Earthlings to be Spaceheadz and save Earth. The extensive online storytelling is managed by Casey Scieszka and Steven Weinberg. The books are illustrated by Dreamworks animator Shane Prigmore, and published by Simon & Schuster Children's Publishing.


Frank Einstein

The Frank Einstein books are illustrated middle grade (3-7) novels about a kid-genius scientist and inventor named Frank Einstein.

Memoir/novel

Contributor

Editor

Awards and recognition

Scieszka was named the first U.S. National Ambassador for Young People's Literature by the Library of Congress for 2008–2009. He received the annual University of Southern Mississippi Medallion for lifetime contribution to children's literature in 2013.

Two children's books written by Scieszka and illustrated by Lane Smith were ranked among the 100 best all-time picture books in a 2012 survey published by School Library Journal: The True Story of the Three Liittle Pigs, number 35, and The Stinky Cheese Man, 91.[9]

Scieszka's books have received many awards and other recognitions, including:

On writing

In his autobiography, Knucklehead: Tall Tales and Almost True Stories of Growing Up Scieszka, he writes that his inspiration for much of his work comes from the "strange things" that happened to him while growing up with his brothers.[10]

Scieszka creates outlines for the books of his Time Warp Trio series for structural reasons. When writing other books, however, he says, "Anything goes. Middle first, sometimes end, sometimes title, sometimes punchline."[11]

References

  1. ↑ "Welcome to Guys Read". GuysRead.com.
  2. ↑ "US Children's Literature Gets National Ambassador". VOA News; Voice of America (voanews.com). Archived September 7, 2008, at the Wayback Machine.
  3. ↑ "National Ambassador for Young People's Literature". Children's Book Council (cbcbooks.org). Archived January 6, 2009, at the Wayback Machine.
  4. 1 2 National Ambassador for Young People's Literature" [About]. Read.gov. Library of Congress. Retrieved 2015-10-30.
  5. ↑ "Author Chat with Jon Scieszka". New York Public Library (nypl.org).
  6. ↑ "Gender Gap" EducationNext
  7. ↑ "Scieszka on Spaceheadz" Kirkus Reviews
  8. ↑ "Children's Author Jon Scieszka Discusses the Inspirations..." Simon & Schuster
  9. ↑ Bird, Elizabeth (July 6, 2012). "Top 100 Picture Books Poll Results". A Fuse #8 Production. Blog. School Library Journal (blog.schoollibraryjournal.com). Retrieved 2015-10-30.
  10. ↑ Scieszka, Jon. Knucklehead. New York: Viking, 2008. 12.
  11. ↑ "Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast" interview. Posted November 6, 2007.

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