Children's book author Jon Scieszka will become the country's first national ambassador for young people's literature and will "travel and speak to groups of children, parents and teachers 'to evangelize the need for reading,'" according to today's New York Times. He will also speak at Children's Book Week and the National Book Festival. The appointment is for two years and includes an annual $25,000 stipend.

Scieszka told the Times, "There's a huge population of kids who would be or can be readers but just choose not to. Kids see it just as a school activity or something that just can't compete with a Nintendo Wii or just hanging out and text messaging your friends. Parents and booksellers and teachers are dying for some help."

Robin Adelson, executive director of the Children's Book Council, which was involved with the Library of Congress's Center for the Book in creating and filling the position, told the Times that the group wanted "someone with charisma, who is comfortable traveling and speaking and who could reach children, parents, educators and speak to a roomful of librarians and then go one-on-one with Jon Stewart on the Daily Show."

Jewell Stoddard, head of the children's department of Politics and Prose, Washington, D.C., and a member of the committee that selected Scieszka, told the Washington Post that Scieszka, who runs a program aimed at boys called Guys Read, already is "on a mission to promote reading among young boys. . . . Girls love his books, too, and I'm sure he'll speak for everybody."