Jon Scieszka author page

Jon Scieszka Biography

Early Life and Education

• Jon Scieszka, pronounced SHESH-kə, born on September 8, 1954, in Flint, Michigan.
• Second oldest among six sons of Shirley and Louis Scieszka, a former elementary school principal.
• Attended Culver Military Academy for high school, Albion College in Michigan for his B.A., and Columbia University for a Master of Fine Arts in fiction writing.

Personal Life

• Currently resides in Park Slope, Brooklyn, with his wife, an interior designer.
• Scieszka’s children also live in the same neighborhood.

Professional Life

• Worked in various roles, including teaching at an elementary school, writing for magazines, and painting apartments.
• Painted apartments while pursuing his MFA at Columbia University.
• Taught 1st-8th grade at the Day School for ten years before becoming a full-time writer and tour speaker.

Reading Advocacy and Guys Read

• Founded Guys Read, a web-based literacy program aiming to help boys become self-motivated, lifelong readers.
• Recognized nationally as a reading advocate.
• Appointed as the first U.S. National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature in 2008 and 2009.

Notable Works

• Collaborated with illustrator Lane Smith on renowned picture books, including The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs! and The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales.
• Creator of the Time Warp Trio series, teaching history through middle-grade novels.
• Spaceheadz series, a multi-platform story involving books, websites, blogs, and user-created content.
• The Frank Einstein series, illustrated middle-grade novels featuring a kid-genius scientist.

Awards and Recognition

• Named the first U.S. National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature by the Library of Congress (2008-2009).
• Received the University of Southern Mississippi Medallion for a lifetime contribution to children’s literature in 2013.
• Multiple awards for books like The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs!, The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales, and Math Curse.

On Writing

• Draws inspiration from the “strange things” that happened during his upbringing with his six brothers.
• Creates outlines for the Time Warp Trio series for structural reasons but adopts a flexible approach for other works.
• Expresses the motivation to write books comes from the joy of making kids laugh.