Knucklehead
Published by Viking Juvenile (2008)
ISBN 9780670011063 (hardcover)
Grades 3 – 6
Tale
This is an autobiography full of humor in which Scieszka revitalizes many of his memoirs. The entire journey, from being one of six boys to becoming a children’s author, is recounted. He has fun telling the reader what and how everything happened; while the reader has fun learning about it. Many aspects of the daily routine of a young boy are humorously discussed.
Thought
Scieszka is one of my favorite authors. I use many of his books for storytime and it was wonderful to learn more about him and his trek to becoming an author. The chapters are short and include many of his real-life pictures while growing up. Although the book has over one hundred pages, it is a swift and pleasurable read. The fun starts on the cover with a picture of the young Sciezka’s head popping up from a cartoon military tank while airplanes fly overhead bombing him. The fun goes from the front cover to the very end because of his special way of telling his story, the events he relates, and some of the words he uses to do so. I really recommend this one!
About the author
With Polish background, Jon Scieszka was born in Flint, Michigan on September 8, 1954, to become the second-oldest of six boys.
Although he started on a career path towards the medical field, he soon recognized his passion for writing and graduated in 1980 from Columbia University with a Master in Fine Arts in Fiction.
He started working as a 1st grade Assistant Teacher and soon worked as a 2nd grade teacher. Then he worked as a teacher for 3rd to 8th grades until his passion for writing revived and he took a year off from teaching to work on his writing. Rejected by all the publishers he sent his stories to, he went back to painting apartments (work he had done right after graduating). Meanwhile, he met Lane Smith who was working on his first children’s book. Lane drew some illustrations for Jon’s A. Wolf’s Tale and they send copies of the story to many publishers. Although all were rejected, they kept trying until the Viking Books’ editor Regina Hayes thought the book was funny and decided to publish it. With a new name, The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs was published in 1989.
Jon has become a renowned author and illustrator with millions of books sold in many languages around the world. Based on his experience as a teacher and having grown up as one of six brothers, he became concerned with the reluctance of boys to read. In 2002 he created Guys Read; a program and website dedicated to inspiring boys to read. In 2008 he was appointed the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature.
Review
From School Library Journal
“Gr 3-6. Jon Scieszka is well-known for his quirky sense of humor and ability to connect with adolescent readers, especially boys, and was named the first National Ambassador for Young People's Literature. His autobiography (Viking, 2008) is clearly aimed at his target audience and it hits an easy bulls-eye. Scieszka reads his book, explaining about growing up in a family of six boys in Flint, Michigan. Growing boys and common sense don't usually go together, and the author's tales from his boyhood offer plenty of evidence. Peppering the nativity scene with army soldiers, peeing on the space heater, dealing with vomiting cats on car trips, being required to write a list of bad words for his teacher (a nun), and explosions both small and large clearly explain how Scieszka turned out the way he did. There's plenty of bathroom humor here as well as wanton destruction. More than one of the many short chapters quickly overwhelms listeners with a feeling of impending doom as the boys come up with yet another "good idea." Yet through it all, there's the unmistakable feeling of togetherness, unity, and a sense of the security felt as part of a large and very forgiving family. There's even a short addendum where Scieszka talks about his writing. Listeners will laugh out loud and feel an uncontrollable urge to repeat bits of these stories to anyone who happens in range. Isn't that the best recommendation? Teresa Bateman, Brigadoon Elementary School, Federal Way, WA (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.”
Activity
Ask students to identify, while they are reading the book, the passage that most relates to their own experience, and how similar or different the outcome is from Jon’s experience.
No comments:
Post a Comment