Jon Scieszka’s Spaceheadz Engages Readers in Print and Online (giveaway)

I am beyond thrilled to introduce today’s Tech Savvy Guest, author Jon Scieszka! Author of favorites such as The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, The Time Warp Trio series, and the Caldecott Honor Book, The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Fairy Tales, Scieszka was named by the Library of Congress as the first National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature and is the author of the brand new book Spaceheadz, a wonderful tale of attempted alien invasion that will engage elementary readers with new content both in print and also online.

Spaceheadz is a new book series and multi-platform bit of storytelling that breaks the story of three aliens who have come to take over the world!

But these aliens are a little weird. They disguise themselves as a fifth grade girl, a fifth grade boy, and a fifth grade class hamster who show up on the first day of school. Spaceheadz have learned everything about Earth from feeding on Earth TV, radio, and Internet broadcasts. Spaceheadz love commercials and technology, and believe all advertising.

Spaceheadz is also a sneaky/fun way for kids to learn tech skills and become media literate. Because kids get to both read the books and explore the digital sites to piece together the complete Spaceheadz story.

So within the narrative, Spaceheadz Bob, Jennifer and Major Fluffy convince their new classmate Michael K. to help them save the world by signing up 3.14 million earthlings to BE SPACEHEADZ.

• Michael K. builds a website at: www.SPHDZ.com
• The fifth grade class website extends the story at: www.MrsHalleysComets.com
• And the Spaceheadz warn Michael K. that they must not get caught by the AAA (no, not the car association, the AntiAlienAgency) at: www.AntiAlienAgency.com
• If the Spaceheadz do not successfully complete their mission, you can see the dire consequences at: www.ImSureGladThatDidntHappen.com (submit the sphdz password: Walk Don’t Walk)

Through the crazily-illustrated and wildly-designed books and websites and blog and tweets and social media sites, the Spaceheadz live in both the print world and the media world. To fully experience Spaceheadz , kids enter into the story, become Spaceheadz, and become active participants in the storytelling.

Studies show that our 21st century kids are being swamped with a deluge of media and advertising every day. But no one knows exactly what this deluge is doing to their developing brains. I think the best thing we can do to help our kids cope with this new world is to help them become media literate critical thinkers. Let them BE SPACEHEADZ . . . and Save the World.

 

Win 1 of 4 Spaceheadz prize packs containing a personalized autographed copy of Spaceheadz and a pack of Spaceheadz branded pencils courtesy of Jon Scieszka!

To enter, share something you do to help your child become a media literate critical thinker. You must include your email address or Twitter handle for your entry to be valid.

For an extra entries do the above and follow Major Fluffy on Twitter and tweet this: “I’m following @MajorFluffy to win 1 of 4 autographed copies of Spaceheadz by Jon Scieszka from @TechSavvyMama: http://bit.ly/9AO7FO” then come back and leave a comment telling me you have done so. You can tweet daily until this contest ends on September 30. Just leave a comment for every tweet!

Jon Scieszka is the first National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, named by the Library of Congress. He is the author of some of the best known and funniest books written for children including The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, The Time Warp Trio series and the Caldecott Honor Book The Stinky Cheese Man and Other Fairly Stupid Fairy Tales. He is the creator of the Trucktown series, of which Smash!Crash! was an NY Times bestseller for many weeks. Jon is a former elementary school teacher, and a avid promoter of literacy—particularly for boys. His website www.guyssread.com focuses on his national campaign. Jon lives with his family in Brooklyn, NY.

I am thrilled to be stop 3 on the Spaceheadz book tour. All content was provided by Jon Scieszka. No compensation was received for this post although it does contain Amazon affiliate links to certain books.