On his visit to Harrisonburg, Jon Scieszka brought his new book series, “Trucktown,” to life for the kindergarten and first-grade students of Keister Elementary School. After reading the series to the children, Scieszka wowed them with a school parking lot fully equipped with a helicopter, an ice cream truck, a tow truck, a cement truck, a race car and a fire truck.
Scieszka, the award-winning author of best-selling children’s books like “The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales,” said on Monday during his visit to Memorial Hall that he has a simple solution to engage kids in reading: Give them something they’ll want to read.
Scieszka could be considered one of the most internationally influential persons in children’s literature because his books are published all over the world in a variety of languages. Scieszka has tried to continue to transform ordinary fairy tales and fables into unconventional, ironic and hilarious stories for children to enjoy.
As a child, Scieszka said that the only books he enjoyed were the ones he read outside of school, like “Go, Dog, Go,” and “Green Eggs and Ham.”
“When I read “Go Dog, Go,” there was a pile of different colored dogs, driving around in cars with party hats,” he said, “And to me I said, ‘Yeah, that’s like our house. That’s much more like the real world.’”
As the first National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, Scieszka strives to instill the love of reading in children as early as possible by writing about what they want to read about.
“I wanted to get back and remember what it’s like to be a kid,” Scieszka said. “We’ve tortured kids with testing that they think of [reading] as something that’s just done in school.”
According to Scieszka, children are conditioned to think certain ways and he intends on breaking that by offering a slightly different, somewhat twisted way of thinking.
Scieszka’s “Math Curse” attempts to reverse the traditional curse by presenting math problems in a new way never-before-seen by elementary school students.
A typical problem looks like this: “If I want two slices of pizza, should I ask for a.) 1/8, b.) 2/8, or c.) two slices of pizza?” Scieszka asked.
In “Science Verse,” Scieszka introduces poetry to children. The poem, “Evolution,” teaches children about where they came from while the spoof “Mary Had A Little Worm” details what happens when you suffer from parasitic tapeworms.
Mariam Da’mes, 7, a student at Keister Elementary School, said Scieszka’s books make her want to read more.
“They’re funny,” she said. “They’re not boring. You always have something to laugh about.”
Junior SMAD major Jessica Schultz, who just recently picked up one of Scieszka’s books and found herself reading every one, said it is his style that keeps kids interested.
“They just read things that are as goofy as they are,” Scultz said.
Senior English major Maggie Eckel thinks books like “The Stinky Cheese Man” contribute to the learning process.
“If you enjoy reading one thing, you’re much more likely to read others so he [Scieszka] just wants to increase literacy for everybody, which is great,” she said.
Scieszka’s “twisted” books have made and continue to make a difference, according to the dean of the College of Education, Phillip Wishon.
“They are indispensable because of the way that they connect, the way that they inspire, and the way that they convey narrative that is truth to children,” he said. “He leaves them with a gift of passion for reading and literature.”
“The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales” won the Caldecott Honor Book in the 1993 annual Association for Library Service to Children competition.
His next series, “Knucklehead,” is due out in September 2008.
Scieszka’s books remain timeless to those who grew up reading them.
“I remember “The Stinky Cheese Man” from when I was a little kid and it was one of the books that I begged my mom for,” Eckel said. “If you can teach a kid to be entertained by a book, then you have given them a gift.”
