Congratulations to Jon Scieszka, our first National Ambassador for Young People's Literature! I know, you did not read it here first, but more details about the National Ambassador program and Scieszka's appointment have been trickling in from various sources all day. I got to share the news with the kids at breakfast: this article was in the Washington Post (1/3/08). Then I got an email from PW Children's Bookshelf that included this article. Press releases have been popping up all over the place, too. It's exciting.

Scieszka's platform will be "Reaching Reluctant Readers." It dovetails with Guys Read, Scieszcka's web-based literacy program (est. 2001) designed to help guys (young, middle, and older) find stuff they like to read (and I quote). Will Scieszka's focus on reluctant guy readers leave ravenous girl readers out? I don't think so (I hope not). I was a ravenous girl reader once; now I'm the mom of a little guy reader, and I could use the help.

[See this post at Jen Robinson's Book Page for some of Scieszka's suggestions on how to encourage reluctant readers. I need to work on number 4.]

[And the Horn Book's January 2008 monthly special features recently published books for reluctant readers (none of which I've read). Reluctant readers are hot!]