Growing up with five brothers, Jon Scieszka was more likely to bop one of his siblings on his head than politely ask him to pass the butter. That type of real-life shenanigan has translated into his children’s books, from a story about an ugly duckling that grows up to still be ugly, to a tale about the Little Red Hen who gets eaten by a giant.
Scieszka’s irreverent humor has earned him not only star status among children, but also a new title: National Ambassador For Young People’s Literature, appointed by the Library of Congress in conjunction with the Children’s Book Council.
“I was honored that everyone had included me on their list, especially since I was the guy who had written ‘The Stinky Cheese Man,’ ” Scieszka said. “The goal is to spread the word about children’s books and let them know what kind of great reading is out there. Great reading is that one book that will motivate a kid to want to read. It might be a book about sharks. It might be a joke book. It might be a wordless book, a comic book, an audio book, an online entry. We’ve got it all out there.”
The task is not much different from what Scieszka, author of “The True Story of the Three Little Pigs” and the “Time Warp Trio” chapter-book series, has done with Guys Read, a Web-based literacy initiative he started in 2001. The program focuses on “reluctant readers,” often boys, who can read but choose not to. The outreach, as well as his books, was influenced by 10 years of teaching at a private elementary school in New York following a master of fine arts degree from Columbia University.
“Now we have so much required reading that boys just see it as school work,” he said. “Kids in general don’t get much of a chance to choose their own reading, as early as first grade. There is a book you have to read and then a test and questions and kids see it as drudgery,” said Scieszka, whose most dog-eared books as a kid growing up in Flint, Mich., were “Go, Dog, Go” and “Caps For Sale.”
While his daughter, a Fulbright scholar now working on a graphic novel, was an avid reader as a child, his son would rather play hockey. “That happened early in school,” he said of his son’s disinterest in books. “He had to read ‘Little House on the Prairie’ with everyone else in third grade and said ‘if that’s reading I’m not interested.’ ” Scieszka scored a goal giving his son, now a hockey player at New York University and communications major, books with fun facts about hockey players.
Now the Brooklyn-based author is trying to reach kids even younger, with “Trucktown,” a 53-book series. For research, Scieszka visited a friend’s preschool classroom. “It was all that stuff you remember,” he said. “It’s a chore to take care of them — they’re crazy and don’t have any attention span, but they’re so smart and just soak everything up and they’re learning about the whole world and excited to be alive. That’s what I wanted to bring. I had seen all the other, proper stuff on TV and books. It’s watered down, you never see the real personality; Some are mean little 4-year-olds. Not everyone is completely wonderful.”
The 14 series characters, illustrated by David Shannon, Loren Long and David Gordon, include Jack the Truck, akin to a classroom’s well-liked, all-around kid; Gabby, who talks a lot; and Melvin the Cement Mixer, a worrier. Plans include books, toys, television show and Web community.
Scieszka envisions the website incorporating a way for parents to set online time-limits, such as having a truck say, “Whoa, we’re running out of gas! That’s enough, go run around outside.”
Next up for the 54-year-old son of an elementary school principal and a nurse is a memoir about his childhood. The title: “Knucklehead,” the pet name his dad called the six boys.
Meanwhile, the irreverent author will do his favorite activities: “eat noodles, ride my bike, listen to music, walk around New York, stare out the window, nap.” And, of course, read.
Mia Geiger is a freelance writer in the Philadelphia area.
