105 Ways to Give a Book

Shout-Out for Scieszka

One thing I can say about Jon Scieszka is that he is such a blast. The fun we had with the book cart drill team at ALA… No, hold it. That wasn’t me, that was Mo Willems. Well, there was that fantastic tour of four guys where he was targeting reluctant readers — i.e., boys... Hmmm, now that I think about it, I saw the video at Adam Rex’s blog. But there was that launch of GuysRead that I was involved in… No, I guess I read about that. Huh. I guess I’ve never actually met the guy.

The thing is, I feel like I must know him, which is to me evidence of his successful run as National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. Because the man was everywhere. There were appearances, articles, and interviews. There were books and a website. I think at one point there was skywriting. All in the interest of promoting children’s literature, literacy, and reading. It’s no wonder that the kidlitosphere is turning out today to thank this man that we all know and love. (With thanks to A Year of Reading for organizing and rounding up the posts.)

It was an amazing inaugural run for a job that seems impossible: Promote a love of reading for no money and without really knowing the results of what you’ve done. OMG, he’s a book blogger! I AM SCIESZKA!

(Thanks Herr Ambassador Scieszka, for your tireless yet endlessly humorous work in children’s literature.)

6 comments:

EM said...

See, now this is when we need a "like" button on Blogger. You said everything I feel about the Unspellable Ambassador. He'll be missed!

P.S. My money's on Linda Sue Park.

Candace Ryan said...

One of my favorite Scieszka sightings has been seeing him in book dedications by Mo, Mac Barnett, and Adam Rex. Talk about making an impact on contemporary kidlit!

Wish I could have seen the skywriting!

Stella said...

Well said. Beautiful!

Franki said...

A blast--I LOVE all of the words people are using to describe Jon Scieszka and his work:-)

Jon Scieszka said...

It's been so nice knowing you Mother Reader. Almost effortless on my part.

Where do we meet next?

Moira Donohue said...

I heard him speak last spring at the Children's Book Guild and he was hysterical. He was the perfect person to be the first ambassador, because he has so much personality. I think he did a lot for pormoting children's literature.