Jon Scieszka
Author Study
A Little About Jon
- Rhymes with Fresca
- Born in Flint, Michigan in 1954
- 1 of 6 Brothers
- Studied Pre-Medicine at Albion College in Michigan
- Wanted to become a writer instead of a doctor, moved to New York and received a Master's in Fiction Writing from Columbia University
- Taught elementary school for 10 years, stopped teaching to pursue his writing career
- Lives in New York with his wife, has a son, a daughter, and a cat
- In 2002 Jon Started Guys Read- a web-based literacy program for boys whose mission is to help boys become self-motivated, lifelong readers
- In 2008 Scieszka was named the National Ambassador for Young People's Literature by the Librarian of Congress
Influences to become an Author
- Reading many goofy books
- First knew he wanted to become a writer when his mother read him Dr. Seuss' Green Eggs and Ham
- Enjoyed creating his own ending to common fairytales such as Cinderella as a child
- Being an elementary school teacher for ten year
- "If I read the beginning of the Phantom Tollbooth or The Hoboken Chicken Emergency or just part of George & Martha, they would say, "Oh, we've got to find out what happens next, we want to read some more of these!" That really inspired me. I took off a year from teaching to try to write stuff."
Book Talks!
Where his ideas for books come from
- Being a father
- Being an elementary school teacher
- Staring out the window
- Walking around Brooklyn
- Having five brothers
- Staring out the window some more
- Writing down what he thought about while staring out the window
Jon Scieszka - Exclusive Video Interview