Thursday, January 3, 2008

92 Jon Scieszka: the "Stinky" Kids' Ambassador

Jon Scieszka has been name the first Ambassador for Young People's Literature, a new position created jointly by the Library of Congress and the Children's Book Council. A panel of five made the selection.
A major portion of his responsibilities will be to visit with children AND parents about the value of reading and books in this time of emphasis on technology. Scieszka does take advantage of the 2.0 world to help promote reading and encourage kids through his Guys Read website and includes girls in the encouragement as well!
I really hope you are at least familiar with his books, if not a fan, as I am. There are currently 25 and many are in Spanish as well! His often illustrator Lane Smith is a kick too...I have never had the opportunity to be around Scieszka, but did get to facilitate Lane Smith's presentation at TLA a few years ago..and it was a hoot. no wonder their books are so much fun!
x
The next two years surely should be interesting!
Other articles:
NY Times announcement - check out his "newer" photo!
DayLife a group of reports
From the Newsweek article...something I hope I can overcome as well!
Newsweek: Especially now that you're the children's laureate, we need
to make sure everyone gets your last name right. You tell people that it's the
Polish word for "path" and that it rhymes with Fresca. Does that usually do the
trick?

Jon Scieszka: That's a good start, but people still butcher it.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

this is my first blog posting.....where better to begin my journey into "blogging" than with you, Vaughn? Thanks for the "heads up"...will pass on Scieszka's honor to MDE students and parents...I tounge still can't speak Polish....
Nanette