CHILDREN'S LITERATURE AMBASSADOR ANNOUNCED

The U.S. Library of Congress and the Children's Book Council has selected John Scieszka as the National Ambassador for Young People's Literature. The position has been created to "help promote literacy and the joy of reading in young people."

"Scieszka will travel the nation speaking to parents, teachers, and the media, as well as attend events at book fairs, publishing houses, libraries and nonprofit centers. But his main job as ambassador will be to engage the children..."

Scieszka, the author of "The Stinky Cheese Man", and "The True Story of the Three Little Pigs", says, "What I'm going to try and do is bring back that real excitement about reading to counteract all this testing stuff that is going on because I see that everywhere and it's just sucking the life out of reading," he added. "Kids see books as an assignment."

Read more here: http://www.voanews.com/english/2008-01-03-voa73.cfm

Sounds like a great idea to me!