Keynote: Jon Scieszka

Parents, teachers, and librarians all report that boys lag behind girls in reading. Even boys who are avid readers as small children often lose interest by the time they reach their preteens. Is it a lack of relevant reading material? Competition from other, more immediate, forms of entertainment? Low expectations from adults? Teaching practices? What can we do to keep boys engaged with the written word?

Jon Scieszka explores these questions. Jon is a teacher and author of The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales, a memoir entitled Knucklehead, and his most recent work Spaceheadz. He is the first United States Ambassador of Young People’s Literature.