The 3 Ambassadors: Evangelists for Reading

Walter Dean Myers knows the importance of reading. He knows it as a reader who has been devouring books since he was 5. He knows it as the Harlem son of a father who was illiterate and a mother with only limited reading skills. He knows it as a writer who has been involved in nearly 100 writing projects, many of them such as Monster, Fallen Angels and Hoops aimed at young black males.

Scieszka, Myers, and Patterson

And now, as the newest national ambassador for young people's literature, the 74-year-old Myers is ready to push that reading effort to families and schools across America. The author was named today as the latest ambassador after being chosen by 2 groups: the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress and Every Child Is a Reader, a nonprofit organization affiliated with the Children's Book Council.

Tonight, Myers was joined by the 2 previous ambassadors Jon Scieszka, the author of such best-sellers for the young as The Stinky Cheese Man, and Katherine Patterson, who wrote the middle-school classics A Bridge to Terabithia and Jacob Have I Loved at the Politics and Prose book store to discuss ways to encourage reading in America.

"We need to educate parents that they don't have to be a great reader to read to their child," Myers said. "Many parents are intimidated and embarrassed because they don't think they read well enough. Some parents have so much anxiety in their own lives that they feel they don't have time to read to their children."

Scieszka said that one of the tricks, especially for male readers, is matching the reader with the right book. "To reach reluctant readers, we need to let them read across a wide spectrum," the author, a former elementary school teacher said. He also said young readers should be encouraged to read both in books and on electronic devices like the iPad and Kindle."I think they (kids) are really agnostic about what they read on," he added.

Patterson said the future of American democracy may rest on the ability to promote reading. "If we don't read we will lose our democracy," she said, adding that it was also important to read widely.  "So many people today don't read anything they don't already agree with," Patterson contended. "Reading helps promote respect for others and their viewpoints."

Tales, Tidbits, and Tips
While all 3 writers at Politics and Prose are giants in the field of youth literature, the younger members of the crowd were most impressed with seeing and hearing their idol Scieszka, who served 2 years as the 1st literary ambassador.  The author said that he began writing his own stories after he read The Gingerbread Man to his daughter "380,000 consecutive times and then had to read it all over again the next day." Scieszka said he was fascinated as a youngster with Fractured Fairy Tales, which were part of the old Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoons and that led him to"really enjoy messing with other people's stories." That remark prompted a question from a young admirer who asked, "How come you don't write your own stories?" After the laughter died down, Scieszka said such frank, unfiltered questions from young people were his favorite part of his 2 years as an ambassador.  Once, he said, during the question portion, a reader asked "we moved and my Dad can't find his underwear." And then there was the reader who wrote Scieszka saying, "we were supposed to write to our favorite writer. But Roald Dohl is dead, so I am writing to you."