Jon Scieszka interview: On my latest tour a woman asked me to sign her baby

The Stinky Cheeseman author dares to take our quickfire interview and tells us about Frank Einstein, his new crazy science series
  
  

Jon Scieszka
Stinky Cheese Man author Jon Scieszka would love to go back to the Late Cretaceous period – and hang out with the big fellas. Photograph: Amulet Books Photograph: PR

Who was your childhood hero?
Bugs Bunny. He was such a wonderfully happy transgressive anarchist.

What was your favourite book when you were younger?
PD Eastman's Go, Dog. Go!. Because it was a lot like my family of six boys. Different shape and size and color dogs driving around in cars… and then having a party up in a tree.

Did you read a lot as a child and do you still read children's books now?
I read everything and anything as a kid (Dr Seuss, my nurse mom's medical encyclopedias, the Hardy Boys, a woodcut illustrated edition of the Decameron left in the summer cottage…). And I still read everything and anything. Just started Jacqueline Woodson's Brown Girl Dreaming and David Mitchell's Bone Clocks.
 
Why do you think it's a good idea for kids to read books?
I don't think it's always a good idea to read books. There are plenty of other wonderful, not so weirdly solitary activities. But reading offers an absolutely unique way to experience and understand the world in a deep way.
 
What was the last book you had recommended to you and what children's book would you recommend to us?
A lady in the bookstore yesterday reminded me of the wonderful Jolly Postman by the Ahlbergs. An old favorite of mine.

I would recommend to you Oliver Jeffers' Once Upon an Alphabet. Amazing art, and beautifully interwoven short storytelling.

 What advice would you give to your 10-year-old self?
Nothing. He wouldn't listen.
 
What would you be if you hadn't been a writer?
An unpublished writer. It's in the blood and bones.
 
Where do you write your books?
Really anywhere – home in Brooklyn, on the road, in the park, daydreaming in the subway, spacing out swimming, tramping in the woods…
 
Which of your books are you most proud of and why?
I kind of love Stinky Cheese Man most for including nods to so many of my favorite writers – Cervantes, Kafka, Borges, Pynchon, Sterne, Barth, Heller. But I think love Battle Bunny most for its transgressive anarchy (see Answer #1). And I am crazy about my latest Frank Einstein.
 
Can you tell us something about your new Frank Einstein series?
Frank is a 10-year-old genius who invents the coolest things. With the help of Frank's robots Klink and Klank, I am attempting to explain all of Science in six books. With illustrations and real science diagrams. There is also an evil kid genius T Edison. And T Edison's Chief Financial Officer, Mr Chimp. Who is an actual chimpanzee, escaped from a product-testing laboratory, and taught himself sign language. And QuickBooks accounting software.

What's the funniest joke you've ever made up or told?
Q: What is brown and sticky?
A: A brown stick.

If you could travel in time, where would you go first?
The Late Cretaceous epoch where I would hope to see some really huge dinosaurs. Like the newly discovered Dreadnoughtus. 65 tons of titanosaurian sauropod!

What is the weirdest thing a fan has ever said and/or given to you?

There is always a new weirdest. On my latest tour a woman asked me to sign her baby. A nine-year-old asked me to marry her. And a seven-year-old asked me if my Lamborghini was in the parking lot. I asked if the baby was hers, declined saying I was already happily married, and maybe on the Lambo.

• Jon Scieszka's latest book Frank Einstein and the Antimatter Motor (illustrated by Brian Biggs) is available at the Guardian bookshop.

• In case you are wondering you pronounce Jon Scieszka's surname like this: shessh-kuh.

You can see Jon live in discussion with authors Jim Smith and Louise Rennison discussing comedy on both sides of the pond – and other interesting things – in a panel event chaired by Guardian children's books editor Emily Drabble, run with IBBY at Waterstones Piccadilly, London, on 7 October 2014.

 

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