Jon Scieszka

Who is Jon Scieszka?

Jon Scieszka ("rhymes with Fresca"; Polish for "path") was born September 8, 1954, in Flint, MI to Louis (elementary school principal) and Shirly (registered nurse). His paternal grandparents, MIchael and Anna, emigrated to America from Poland. He is the second of six brothers, an arrangement he says prepared him for Culver Military Academy (where he became a lieutenant), and has two children: daughter Casey and son Jake.Scieszka originally went to Albion College, MI, to study medicine but turned down an acceptance to Johns Hopkins Medical School, MD, and wound up with a B.A. in Writing and an M.F.A. in Writing from Columbia University, NY. In 1980 he applied to become an elementary school teacher at Manhattan Day School, NY, and taught a variety of grades. His observations from this time of his life reveal a kindled interest in how children learn; in interviews, second graders seem to have influenced his writing.He met friend and illustrator Lane Smith through mutual contacts: Scieszka was dating Jeri Hanson, who was friends with Molly Leach, who was dating Smith. Each couple ended up married, and Scieszka focused on his career with Smith, first producingThe True Story of the 3 Little Pigs! At the time, publishers dismissed the book as being "too dark," "too weird," and "too sophisticated." Viking Press picked it up in 1989, and now it has sold over a million copies, been translated into ten languages, and has been called "a classic picture book for all ages." Leach, incidentally, has designed all the Scieszka/Smith picture books.

Famous Quotes:

• I always tried to really motivate kids by getting them excited about stuff – and even being a little mysterious about it, just saying, "I don't know. We got this stuff. We have to figure it out. It's up to you guys," and then lay something on them. And I always found that really piqued their interest better than lecturing them.
• I think I had that same sort of mentality of teachers -- nuns, in particular, because I went to Catholic school -- just saying, "You learn to read. I don't care if you hate it, that probably means it's good for you." Oh, man. That gives me the shivers still.
• Lane and I got turned down in a lot of places because people thought the manuscript of The Three Little Pigs was too sophisticated. That became a curse word—the 'S' word… People don't give kids enough credit for knowing the fairy tales and being able to get what parody is.
• When I sit down I don't really think, "Who is my target audience?" I think about, "What's the best way to tell this story?" I try to imagine my audience really being grabbed by it, including the kind of knucklehead guys sitting in the back who often don't think stories are for them.