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.

Jon Scieszka

I was born full grown in the middle of a hurricane and an earthquake on 10 September 1954, 12.52 P.M. When I found out that I had missed lunch, I gave such a shout that the Earth stopped and spun backwards two days. That's why I celebrate my birthday on 8 September.

lunch earthquakes two

My platform has been to reach reluctant readers. And one of the best ways I found to motivate them is to connect them with reading that interests them, to expand the definition of reading to include humor, science fiction/fantasy, nonfiction, graphic novels, wordless books, audio books and comic books.

reading book fiction

I think every parent knows that, like, boys and girls are different. And we just dont take that into account in schools on those things like required reading lists. Cause that was my experience, say, with my son, who had to read Little House on the Prairie when he was in third grade.

girl reading school

Expand the definition of 'reading' to include non-fiction, humor, graphic novels, magazines, action adventure, and, yes, even websites. It's the pleasure of reading that counts; the focus will naturally broaden. A boy won't read shark books forever.

reading adventure book

There are six Time Warp Trio books that would take a page each to fully praise. And I just thought up twelve more while I was typing this sentence.

twelve pages book

Just looking at pictures used to be considered cheating. No longer. The graphic novel is booming. Comics, heavily illustrated texts, books with no words are now accepted as reading.

reading book cheating

I taught elementary school and painted apartments for ten years. Now I write full-time and never have to change a thing I write. Every book comes to me in a flash of inspiration and takes me about two seconds to finish. The longer books, like the Time Warp Trio novels, take a little longer to write - more like four seconds.

inspiration writing book

For the longest time, you couldnt even say boys and girls were different. It was taboo in the educational world.

educational girl boys

Avoid demonizing television, computer games, and new technologies. Electronic media may compete for kids' attention, but we're not going to get kids reading by badmouthing other entertainment. Admit that TV and games can do things books can't.

reading kids book

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.

I'm not sure what to call 'Lego Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary.' Nonfiction? Movie/toy fiction? But it is any Lego/'Star Wars' kid's dream. Call it spectacular.

lego star kid dream

Read as much as you can, and then sit down and write. by Jon Scieszka

Read as much as you can, and then sit down and write.

sit write down you

I believe that all blogs should have at least one set of rhyming words. Just because. Does. Fuzz. Was.

words just-because i-believe believe

When I was one day old, I learned how to read. When I was two days old, I started to write. By the time I was three, I had finished 212 short stories, 38 novels, 730 poems, and one very funny limerick, all before breakfast.

day time funny breakfast

I remember telling my second-graders the basic 'Metamorphosis' story, saying, like, 'What about - what if a guy woke up one morning and he was a bug? Wouldn't that be weird?' And they loved that. And I think that was the trigger that made me think, like, 'Oh man, here's my audience. They're just a lot shorter than I ever thought they might be.'

me man morning remember

I'm just trying to get kids motivated to be readers by connecting... by Jon Scieszka

I'm just trying to get kids motivated to be readers by connecting them with a book they like.

just like trying book

When I read the 'Dick and Jane' stories, I thought they were afraid they might forget each other's names because they always said each other's names - a lot. So if Jane didn't see the dog, Dick would say, 'Look Jane, look. There is the dog next to Sally, Jane. The dog is also next to mother, Jane. The dog is next to father, Jane.'

look dog mother father

If the day gets really bad, I can always pull out fan mail. Who else gets mail where kids write to you and say, 'Dear Mr. Scieszka, we were supposed to write to our favorite author, but Roald Dahl is dead. So I'm writing to you.'

dead day bad you