Jon Scieszka (/ˈʃɛʃkə/ SHESH-kə:[1] born September 8, 1954[2][3]) is an American children's writer, best known for his picture books created with the illustrator Lane Smith.

"[4] Scieszka was the first U.S. National Ambassador for Young People's Literature, appointed by the Librarian of Congress for calendar years 2008 and 2009.

[5][6][7] His Time Warp Trio series, which teaches kids history, has been adapted into a television show.

[8] After graduating, Scieszka worked in a variety of capacities: teaching at an elementary school (mostly second grade), writing for magazines, and painting apartments.

Among their collaborations are The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Tales, The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs!

He founded the nonprofit in response to his experiences as an elementary school teacher and the United States National Assessment of Educational Progress statistics showing boys consistently scoring worse than girls on federal reading tests every year, at every grade level.

He received the annual University of Southern Mississippi Medallion for lifetime contribution to children's literature in 2013.

Two children's books written by Scieszka and illustrated by Lane Smith were ranked among the 100 best all-time picture books in a 2012 survey published by School Library Journal: The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, number 35, and The Stinky Cheese Man, 91.

[13] Scieszka's books have received many awards and other recognitions, including: In his autobiography, Knucklehead: Tall Tales and Almost True Stories of Growing Up Scieszka, he writes that his inspiration for much of his work comes from the "strange things" that happened to him while growing up with his brothers.

[14] Scieszka creates outlines for the books of his Time Warp Trio series for structural reasons.