Author keeps children laughing with his books
By Carma Wadley
Deseret News
Published: October 26, 2008

OK, let's start with the name: Jon Scieszka.

Sure it has all those extra letters and consonants. But if you try to wrap your tongue around every one of them, you'll tie it in knots. The easy thing to remember is that it rhymes with Fresca. Sheh-ska, Fresca. (He went through elementary school just signing his papers Jon S.)

The next important thing to know about Scieszka is that he grew up as the second oldest (and to hear him tell it, the smartest, the nicest, the most humble, etc. etc.) in a family of six boys.

That pretty much explains why he is like he is, he says. "Growing up with five brothers makes for a bunch of crazy ideas," he says. Plus, "I realized early on that I didn't get in as much trouble if I was the one to tell the story."

A third thing about him is that he is a very funny guy — at the dinner table, he'd try to crack everyone up with a joke, "then I could grab the last piece of chicken while they were laughing" — and he writes very funny books.

Teaming up with illustrator Lane Smith, Scieszka has written books such as "The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales" (a Caldecott Honor Book), "Math Curse," "Science Verse," "Squids Will Be Squids," "Seen Art?" and last year's "Cowboy and Octopus."

He's also the author of the "Time Warp Trio" series for middle-grade readers. He's the founder of Guys Read, a nonprofit literacy organization dedicated to encouraging men and boys to read. And last January he received a two-year appointment as the first national ambassador for young people's literature, for which he travels around the country to promote the joy and fun of reading.

Scieszka's latest book, "Knucklehead: Tall Tales and Mostly True Stories About Growing Up Scieszka," is a funny book about growing up with five brothers in Flint, Mich., in the mid-'50s and early '60s.

The title comes from the appellation used by his father, an elementary school principal, on regular occasion. It was a matter of practicality, Scieszka says. "'Get out of the water now you Knuckleheads!' was just so much easier than saying, 'Jim, Jon, Tom, Gregg, Brian, Jeff, get out of the lake now because it is raining and lightning bolts are crashing in the trees all around you."'

His mother was a nurse, which came in handy when the boys "ran through windows, fell out of trees, stuck a dart in Tom's leg or broke Gregg's collarbone." She also tolerated their creative license, such as when they'd sneak Davy Crockett or a couple of army tanks into the nativity scene at Christmas.

Scieszka "learned to cook because I like to stir oatmeal better than I like to pick up dog poop." He got "lame birthday presents" because his birthday was at the start of the school year. "So I got socks. Lots of socks."

His brother once tried to sell him his own shirt — at least it was clean. He, on the other hand, tried to sell his brother "a hundred-piece army! With four tanks, four battleships, eight machine gunners, eight jet planes, four bazookamen and more! And it's only $1.50." No matter that they all were "thin as a dime, and about that tall" — and he had paid $1.25 for the "stupid army."

That was what it meant to be a Scieszka, he said on a recent visit to Salt Lake City to sign his books and talk about reading. And although he didn't realize it at the time, it played a big part in how he viewed the world and what he grew up to do.

"I always liked writing," he says. After attending Culver Military Academy for high school, he toyed with being a doctor and began studying medicine at Albion College. But he eventually opted for writing and got a master of fine arts through Columbia University's writing program.

What do you do with a master's degree in writing? "I got a job painting apartments, but I wasn't making any money doing that, so I got a teaching job instead."

Scieszka taught elementary school for 10 years, everything from first through eighth grade. "That's where I found my audience. ... All kids love funny stuff. Yet we beat them up with doom and gloom, and they think that's what reading is."

So Scieszka began writing books he thought kids would like to read. "I decided to take a year off and write," he says. "Luckily my wife had a real job. Of course, our daughter had just been born and we had a son on the way, so it probably wasn't the best time, but she encouraged me to see if it would work."

It did — but not right away. "Lane and I got rejected for about a year. People think success comes overnight, but it takes a long time."

Publishers thought his books were weird, he says, "but I knew what kids liked. My guiding principle is 'never underestimate the intelligence of your audience.' People in the business — teachers, librarians — understand how smart kids are. Publishers underestimate them all the time."

Kids like funny, he says. "Humor is where they live. It's a shame that humor is not valued more. The funny movies aren't the ones that win the Oscars."

But kids also like well-written. They can tell; you can't fool them, says Scieszka. "It's no accident that the books kids love the most are some of the best written."

That leads to his best ambassadorial advice: "Let kids read for enjoyment. Let them read whatever interests them. Maybe it is nonfiction. Maybe it is graphic novels. Kids drift away from books so early. The statistics are terrifying. And it's our fault. We test them to death and tie it all to books."

It is so fun to have the title of ambassador, he says. People take him more seriously. "I've even been on Martha Stewart's show. People who don't want to cover children's books will talk to me. My mission is to promote reading, to promote everyone's books. This is a great opportunity."

It's also pure Scieszka.

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