Scieszka, Jon

Jon Scieszka’s favorite answers to frequently asked questions:

Shess-ka. It rhymes with Fresca.

Old enough to know better.

I get my ideas from having been an elementary school teacher for ten years, reading books, being a dad, listening to music, staring out the window, thinking, staring out the window some more, and then writing stuff down.

About $.75 for each hardcover book and $.15 for each paperback book. Then half of that goes to the government for taxes. So don’t forget to ask for the hardcover.

I write for kids … and for adults smart enough to remember what it was like to be a kid.

Lane Smith and I were friends before we published our first book – THE TRUE STORY OF THE 3 LITTLE PIGS! When we work together, I usually write the story first. Lane sketches and paints some ideas. Then we get together with his wife, Molly Leach, and juggle things around so she can design the book to include all of our favorite jokes and gags.

“The Boy Who Cried Cow Patty” fell off the Table of Contents and fell right out of the book so that’s why it’s not in there. Ha ha ha.

I live in Brooklyn, New York. Yes, I’m married. My daughter’s name is Casey. My son’s name is Jake. Our cat’s name is Potvin (named after Felix “The Cat” Potvin, goalie for the Toronto Maple Leafs). My wife, Jeri Hansen, designed THE FROG PRINCE, CONTINUED and THE BOOK THAT JACK WROTE.

The three guys in the Time Warp Trio are a lot like the guys I used to teach in 4th and 5th grade. And the Stinky Cheese Man is a lot like some other people I know.

I never know exactly how long it takes me to write a book. I’m always writing ideas down. Then I write a first draft. Then I rewrite and rewrite and rewrite. And I always think that the next book I write is going to be my best book.

Okay – I was born September 8, 1954 in Flint, Michigan. I have five brothers, I’m the second oldest … and the nicest. I went to Culver Military Academy in Indiana for high school; Albion College in Michigan where I studied to be a doctor; and Columbia University in New York where I got an M.F.A.-in-Fiction.

I thought about being a writer ever since my mom first read me Dr. Seuss’ GREEN EGGS AND HAM and Ruth Krauss’ THE CARROT SEED.

That’s for me to know and you to find out.

Read more at Jon Scieszka’s website.

          – Courtesy of Viking Children’s Books/Puffin Books Divisions of Penguin Young Readers Group

 

 

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