How to get kids reading? Embrace technology

At least that's the opinion of Jon Scieszka, author of "Stinky Cheese Man" and current US National Ambassador for Young People's Literature. He argues that to get kids reading today, parents and teachers need to use whatever tools they have at hand. And for Scieszka, that includes everything from video games to Twitter.

Of course, not everyone agrees.

"I make trouble by saying that I love to watch TV and telling the kids you can play video games and play on your computer," Scieszka told ShelfAwareness, a daily online newsletter aimed at the independent booksellers community.

But according to Scieszka, it's all about keeping up with the changing times. "We're in a different generation now and all kinds of information come from screens," he says. "And we need to embrace that. The teachers have Twitter accounts; in the libraries they have video games, and the kids come in to play them, and then they see books laying around, books on low riders or wrestlers, and they make the connection that libraries are places where you can get information and entertainment. That's where our world's going and that's not all bad."

Scieszka's full interview with ShelfAwareness can be seen here.