Stinky Cheese! Ambassador for Children’s Literature

Published New York Times: January 3, 2008

Jon Scieszka, the author of witty and subversive children’s favorites like “The True Story of the Three Little Pigs” and “The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales,” is to be named the country’s first national ambassador for young people’s literature on Thursday, a kind of children’s book version of the Library of Congress’s poet laureate program.

Mr. Scieszka, 53, who has written more than 25 books in the last two decades, is to be named to this new position by James H. Billington, the librarian of Congress. Mr. Billington said that unlike the role of the poet laureate, which does not come with specific responsibilities, this one calls for Mr. Scieszka (pronounced SHEH-ska) to be a spokesman who will travel and speak to groups of children, parents and teachers “to evangelize the need for reading.” He will also speak at Children’s Book Week in New York in May and the National Book Festival in Washington in September.

With the new position Mr. Scieszka said he hoped to reach out to children who are considered reluctant readers. “There’s a huge population of kids who would be or can be readers, but just choose not to,” said Mr. Scieszka, who runs a Web-based literacy program aimed at boys called Guys Read. “Kids see it just as a school activity or something that just can’t compete with a Nintendo Wii or just hanging out and text messaging your friends. Parents and booksellers and teachers are dying for some help.”

The idea for the ambassadorship had been raised a number of times in previous years but finally came to fruition last fall when Robin Adelson, executive director of the Children’s Book Council, a trade association for children’s book publishers, contacted John Cole, director of the Center for the Book, an arm of the Library of Congress that promotes books, libraries and literacy and has established centers in every state and Washington, D.C.
Ms. Adelson, Mr. Cole and the board of the council and its affiliated foundation appointed a committee, which came up with a short list of candidates. Mr. Scieszka topped the list, and Mr. Billington approved his selection. The appointment is for two years, and the Cheerios division of General Mills is providing $50,000 to the program. Mr. Scieszka will receive a $25,000-a-year stipend.

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