National Ambassador for Young People's Literature

Born in Flint, Michigan, Jon Scieszka earned a Bachelor's
degree from Albion College and a Master of Fine Arts degree
in fiction from Columbia University. He held a number of
teaching positions in the first through eighth grades before
taking a year off to develop ideas for children's books.

Scieszka is the author of many bestselling children's titles, including The Stinky Cheese Man, which won a Caldecott Honor medal, The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, which has sold over three million copies and been translated into 14 languages, and the Time Warp Trio, a chapter book series.

His most recent projects are the Trucktown series for the preschool/kindergarten set and Knucklehead: Tall Tales and Almost True Stories of Growing Up Scieszka for all ages.

Scieszka is the founder of GUYS READ, a nonprofit literacy organization.

My mission as Ambassador is to get kids excited about reading. Recent surveys and statistics show kids reading less, and getting worse at it. My experiences as an elementary school teacher, a children’s book writer, and the founder of a literacy initiative for boys called GUYS READ, have all taught me that kids will read if they are motivated to want to read.

So here are a few tips to motivate kids:
1. Expand your definition of reading beyond fiction and novels. Lots of kids love to read

non-fiction, humor, comic strips, magazines, illustrated stories, audio recordings, and websites.

It’s all reading. It’s all a good way to become a reader.
2. Let kids choose reading that interests them. It may not be the reading you like, but

making the choice is important to kids.
3. Be a good reading role model. Talk to your kids about how you choose what you read.

Share your reading likes and dislikes. Let kids see you reading.
4. Try not to demonize TV, computer games, and new technologies. These media do compete

for kids’ time, but they are not the “bad guy.” Help kids become media literate. Show them

how different media tell stories in different ways.
5. Think global. Act local. There are all kinds of good people and worthy groups working to

help kids read. Teachers, librarians, and booksellers are a wonderful resource. Ask them

for book recommendations. Join a local literacy group.

There is no one book that is right for all kids. But there are all kinds of crazy, interesting, and amazing books out there. It’s our job to help kids find that book that will inspire them to want to become readers.