Scieszka, Jon << SHEH skah >> (1954-…), is an American children’s author known for his satirical adaptations and parodies of classic fairy tales, folk tales, and fables. Although Scieszka directs his books toward beginning readers, their wit and inventiveness have attracted a wide audience of older children and even adults.
Scieszka began his career with The True Story of the Three Little Pigs (1989), a retelling of the familiar fairy tale from the viewpoint of the wolf. His other fairy tale and folklore adaptations include such books as The Frog Prince, Continued (1991), The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales (1992), The Book That Jack Wrote (1994), Squids Will Be Squids: Fresh Morals, Beastly Fables (1998), and The Real Dada Mother Goose: A Treasury of Complete Nonsense (2022).
Scieszka also created the comical “Time Warp Trio” science-fiction series for middle-grade readers, beginning with Knights of the Kitchen Table (1991). The series also includes Tut, Tut (1996), It’s All Greek to Me (1999), and Hey Kid, Want to Buy a Bridge? (2002).
Scieszka wrote humorous and sophisticated picture books about mathematics, Math Curse (1995), and science, Science Verse (2004). In Seen Art? (2005), a boy visits the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Cowboy & Octopus (2007) describes a strange friendship between the two characters.
Scieszka began a series about rowdy truck characters with Jon Scieszka’s Trucktown: Smash! Crash! (2008). In Battle Bunny (2013), a boy revises a picture book he received as a gift. Frank Einstein and the Antimatter Motor (2014), a comic science novel about a boy who tries to give life to a robot he has built in his garage laboratory, introduced the “Frank Einstein” series. Scieszka began the “AstroNuts” series with Mission One: The Plant Planet (2019).
Scieszka was born on Sept. 8, 1954, in Flint, Michigan. He graduated from Albion College in 1976 and earned a master’s degree in fine arts from Columbia University in 1980. He taught elementary school before becoming a full-time writer. In 2008, the librarian of Congress appointed Scieszka the first National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature. During his two-year appointment, he traveled and promoted the joy of reading to children, parents, and teachers. Scieszka has written an autobiography, Knucklehead: Tall Tales and Almost True Stories of Growing Up Scieszka (2008).
