Make Believe: On Telling Stories to Children by Mac Barnett

The author’s voice comes alive, as if he’s talking to you over coffee. Kirkus

"Children's books are widely read, deeply loved, highly profitable literature that receives almost no serious critical attention - a least not from adults. Children's books are often misunderstood, dismissed, and ignored."

"Kids' books merit grown-up conversation."  Kids "deserve entertaining stories and meaningful art."

"The children's writer must always respect the child. It is our job to approach the reader in a spirit of play and fellow feelings."

"Childhood is a long series of experiments - testing our hypotheses and making adjustments. It seems only right that so much of the best children's literature is experimental too."

There has been SO much controversy over this slim 90-page book/essay but in my reading I feel as though the anger and upset have come from people who just 'didn't get' the tone of this book. Sure this book is discussing a very serious topic or topics, but the commentary comes with a huge dose of the cheeky voice of Mac Barnett. By the end of page ten he had me totally hooked because even that early in the book, I had nodded and smiled and resoundingly agreed with his analysis several times.

Here are lots of quotes from this book that resonated deeply with me!

When will you write a real book (meaning an adult book): "After twenty years of writing children's books I have become so practiced at answering this question that sometimes I'm even able to appear not remotely annoyed when I recite some version of the same thing: Children's books are real books; kids are ideal readers, especially of literary fiction; and finally no, I do not plan on ever writing a book for adults."

My comment - people ask me what adult books I read. Why do I blog and read kids books? It also infuriates me.

"Didactisim, always the enemy of good storytelling, is rampant in children's books, thanks to our long-standing insistence on stories that teach kids lessons."

My comment Hooray - I am SO aware of this, especially in picture books and books like this generally make me cringe and certainly make discard them quickly.

"The children's book author is under no obligation to instruct or encourage or explain. Our only duty is to tell good stories. And the best stories for kids - like the best stories for adults, tell the truth about what it means to be human in the world. But it means some thing very different to be a child in this world than it does to be an adult. The best children's writers tell the truth in a way that is recognisable and authentic to children."

My comment YES YES authentic please. I won't share the title or author here but there is a book from a couple of years ago that featured a melting glacier and a child on a journey. Surely by the end of the book, in the warm sunshine, the little piece of ice would all be gone - but NO. An utterly ridiculous book and such a waste of resources to publish it but of course this is one of those dreadful celebrity titles. If you browse (sorry to name names) Scholastic Australia book club brochures you will discover lots more examples of this - bad stories, bad storytelling, books that in my view should never have been published.

" ... children's books must be as varied as the lives of the children who read them. When children cannot find their experiences and emotions - their fear, jealousy, sadness and anger - reflected in the stories they read, two things can happen ... kids may abandon reading (or) ... children may decide that there is something wrong with themselves, ... this outcome should be unbearable to us all."

"By treating the child's experiences with dignity and compassion, the children's writer can often get to the very essence of human experience."

My comment - thank goodness for book lists such as The Empathy Lab and three cheers for all the people who talk about representation in books for kids. This is a huge topic and one I am sure you are very familiar with.

94.7% is crud

The BIG arguments around this book, though, come on page 19 and that wild statistic of 94.7%! More on that in a minute BUT previously on page 11 Mac Barnett says:

"A healthy children's literature will contain great works of art, but there will also be plenty of trash, because trash is a necessary by product of art making, and also because trash can be fun to read, and children as much a right to enjoy trash as adults do."

"There are so many bad kids' books and kids' books are bad in so many different ways. There are treacly ones, and preachy ones, and ones that don't make any sense; books that are supposed to rhyme but don't; books with amateurish writing, or amateurish illustrations, or both; bland books; boring books. But I would point out lots of adults books are bad too!"

I am tempted at this point to share with you the covers of a couple of books that are really bad especially ones by 'sports stars' and comedians.

"People get the idea that it's easy to write a children's book, when really it's just easy to write a bad one."

My comment - this has the same effect on me as the people who wonder when I am going to read 'grown-ups' books. It is not easy to write a fabulous book for children - the best evidence of this comes from the really top authors such as Kate DiCamillo who often talks about her own writing journey. I recently attended an author talk about a picture book and the creator said it took four years from the original idea through to its publication this year. And Anna Walker (an award winning Australian author/illustrator took seven years to create her latest book. When I worked as a national judge for our Children's Book Council annual awards I was utterly shocked by so many of the picture books that were submitted. I have kept a small collection of the worst ones which most certainly demonstrate 'it's really easy to write a bad one.'

Mac Barnett describes categories or buckets that we could use to sort kids' books - one is propaganda and another is books that are '"soul nourishing, entertaining, and well crafted - stories written for children as they actually are and not as adult would like them to be." I know which ones I want to read.

Paraphrasing he says 'many adults are often surprised by the meaning they find in the pages of kids' books'. I could cite so many fantastic examples.

"A children's writer must have the same talents that all writers, in varying amounts possess - control of language, a sense of rhythm and pace, appreciate of beauty, a knack for character, a strong point of view - an on top of all of that, the ability to connect with kids."

"Even a story with a lesson should always be judged by how effectively that lesson is conveyed, not how worthy its message or how important we think it is for kids to hear."

Mac Barnett suggests we look no further an Aesop for terrific examples of this. 

"when (kids) encounter a story that makes demands of the reader - a story that requires thought and feeling and imagination in order to be fully understood - kids do what they do so well, so many times each day. They bravely work to comprehend the new."

My comment - share this with the parents in your school - the ones who ask for easy books, the ones who ask for 'hard' books and the ones who settle for and even encourage their kids to read every book from a mediocre series.

I love his two examples on page 38 - garbage trucks and the moon - here are the wonderful books I thought of:

Every Monday Mabel

Happy Birthday Moon

A very large section of Make Believe is dedicated to an analysis of Goodnight Moon. This is not a book that really appeals to me, but Mac Barnett has made me revisit it with fresh eyes. One thing that does make sense is the way he explains its popularity with US families. When it was published this book was read to kids - they loved it. When they had kids of their own, they bought this boo to share with their child. When those kids had kids, they bought this book and so on! If you are familiar with this book or you are curious about it take a look at pages 60-69 of Make Believe but try to do this with the actual picture book in your hands. Also read more about Bank Street on pages 44-47. Then take a look at my recent post about their top 100 titles. 

I love that Mac Barnett does not like the term "middle grade" and much prefers the words kids use - chapter books! Maybe I can find a way to change my lexicon. Mac Barnett also rails against the idea that picture books are for young kids and that all kids must move on to harder books and put away those childish ones! In my view (which your surely know from reading this blog if indeed you have ever read any of my posts) picture books are for everyone - even adults! And kids do not grow out of picture books and do revisit your collection of Board Books too.

I laughed out aloud several times reading Mac Barnett's thoughts. And one part that resonated with me, because it happens way too often was when he described in a footnote on page 2 "people saying they always wanted to write a kids' book because it seems so easy." When people say this to ME it drives me crazy too - I am too polite to fire back with a resounding NO but in my head this comment always makes me rage.

One more idea that Mac Barnett discusses - kindness (pages 51-57). You might like to look at my post on a related idea - picture books with no narrative - I call them homily books. We do want kids to be kind and generous, and happy and mindful but many books that fall into this category will not be the ones kids ask to have 're-read and when a child says 'read it again' that is one of the highest forms of praise for the parent but more importantly for the author and illustrator.

"Four pages into this slim new volume of narrative theory, I began pumping my fists in the air like a roomful of elementary-schoolers when someone hits play on 'Golden.' A few pages later, I began texting quotes to friends and reading bits out loud to my family." New York Magazine

"A magnificent piece of writing—funny and sharp and true. Every adult should read it, whether or not they have a child. I loved it.” Katherine Rundell, author of Impossible Creatures (Make sure you read this book about kids and books and read by Katherine Rundell). 

Going back to the 94.7 comment. First off this is a crazy and therefore in my view rather silly statistic - it is not meant to be taken literally. I loathe the use of statistics in our modern world. To my eye this number is designed to jolt you, yes, but not mean only 5 books in one hundred are 'good'. The real impact/condemnation of this comment by Mac Barnett more appropriately comes from his use of the word 'crud'. That is indeed a strong word. It did jolt me but I actually agree with Mac about this - not the percentage. There are so many fantastic books - and of course too many that could/should be so much better. 

I was intrigued to read the review of Make Believe in our Australian newspaper The Sydney Morning Herald last weekend.  First off children's books or books about children's books very rarely reach this newspaper column. I had already seen all the vitriol and commentary about that 94.7 comment so I expected the reviewer to add her 'five cents worth' to this debate but she didn't. She did focus on part of the book which explores Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown - meaning this book could have less interest to an Australian adult who enjoys reading literary criticism of children's books because Goodnight Moon is not a very high-profile book here. Mac Barnett talks about Goodnight Moon here.

Make Believe has only just been released here in Australia (June 2026) - it arrived in the US a few months ago. I was pleased to see it in a local bookstore this morning but sadly it was hidden on a shelf filled full of other literary criticism titles - I do wish the shop had put this book over near the children's section so it might be found and read.

Now that you have read my rambling thoughts about Make Believe take a look at these posts if you want to better understand both sides of the debate and controversy:

Mac Barnett Is Right. Mac Barnett Is Also a Snob. Afoma Umesi

Mac Barnett Responds Amid Continued Backlash SLJ Kara Yorio

A New Manifesto for Children’s Literature New York Times by Gregory Maguire (DNYUZ)

National Ambassador for Young People's Literature Mac Barnett talks about his new book NPR

A Beloved Children’s Book Author Said Most Children’s Literature Is “Crud.” It Has Not Gone Well. Laura Miller SLATE

The Kid Lit Ambassador Has No Diplomatic Immunity Kirkus

World Refugee Day

What is a Refugee?
A person forced to flee their country because of 
violence or persecution

World Refugee Day is an international observance established by the United Nations in December 2000, evolving from Africa Refugee Day, and first celebrated globally in 2001 to mark the 50th anniversary of the 1951 Refugee Convention. In 2026, the theme is “Solidarity with Refugees” emphasizing meaningful action to support refugees beyond awareness, ensuring they have dignity and opportunities to rebuild their lives. Read more about Refugee Week in Australia.

You might like to begin with this twenty-minute video made for IBBY Australia - The Refugee Experience Through Picture Books.

Now take a look at this post from my friend at Kinderbookswitheverything. Her post has links to two Pinterest collections (here is the other one for younger children) and several posts from previous years. You are sure to find lots of wonderful books to add to your school library or to hunt out in your local public library and share in your family.

Our National Centre for Australian Children's Literature is where you can find a wealth of fantastic materials: Refugee Week 2025; Refugees a select bibliography 2024 and their Cultural diversity Database.

First off, I do need to share this book which is our IBBY Australia 2026 Notable title. There will be a display of all the IBBY Notables at the International IBBY Congress in Ottawa in August this year. 

IBBY Honour Book 2026 - Then and Now

Here are some of the books from the video:

Welcome

Grandma's Treasured Shoes

Lubna and Pebble

Mustafa

The Colour of Home

My name is not refugee

Shelter

The Suitcase

Click the label on this post to find more books including Middle Grade Novels about the refugee experience. And here are a couple of newer books that were not included in the video:

Watercress

The Bicycle

A Map for Falasteen

Why not link the Soccer/Football world cup with this topic:

102 by Mathew Cordell

This is the image under the dust jacket!

The endpapers in 102 are intriguing. They are filled with 102 beans but while you will recognise some as real beans such as borlotti bean, pinto bean, lima bean and fava bean. Others are quirky such as morning bean, owl bean, Frisby bean, Lobel bean, Poppy bean, Cornbread bean, Sendak bean, and Steig bean. There is even a coffee bean!

The number 102 is the title of this book but it is so much more. The boy's temperature rises to 102; at 1.02am he wakes up and follows the cricket into a different world; the ant has 102 babies; and George's destination is 102 Acorn Hollow and there is a surprise on the last page which refers to 102 again. AND you need to look closely at many pages to find more references to 102 in the illustrations on labels, on a rug pattern, on George's wall and so on.

Watch the way Matthew Cordell creates his illustrations for this book using a multicoloured, multiscented ballpoint pen. "He liked it so much, he went on to draw 102 with it, layering many lines of one colour over another. It took sixteen of these pens to draw all forty-eight pages of this book."

In this podcast Matthew talks in detail about 102 and the inspiration and creative process.

It's time again for more process talk about my new picture book, 102. One of the earliest points of origin for the story, that I can remember, happened way back in 2019. While working in my basement studio, I noticed one afternoon that a frog had gotten trapped in one of our window wells. Rather than save it myself (or, frankly, let it die in there). I waited for my then 1st grade son, Dean, to get home from school and we could figure it out together. He suggested we lower a bucket down and we'd pull it up and out. It took a bit of encouragement (I had to broom the frog into the bucket), but ultimately, we were able to save our new wee green friend that day, father and son! That little blip in our lives was all it took to spark the beginning of 102, which is, at its heart, an animal rescue story. In 102, a mouse is captured in the family kitchen, and young George hopes to keep it as a pet. Without spoiling too much, one outrageous thing happens after another where George shrinks down to the size of a mouse and begins a nighttime adventure, where he learns about the life of that mouse he's captured. This convinces him that it's only right that he release the mouse to get back to his own life and family. It took years for that beginning spark to unfold into the story that became 102, but sometimes that is how these things take shape. Matthew Cordell 

Publisher blurb: Sent home from school earlier in the day with a fever, George awakens in the middle of the night to discover a cricket beckoning him on an adventure and soon finds himself shrunken down in size. He follows the insect guide through a crack in his bedroom wall, through the moonlit yard, and into the home of a family of mice at the base of an oak tree. There, in a tiny, cozy kitchen, George discovers the meaning of his quest: he must help the Mama mouse complete her special 102-bean soup for her sick young son.

Here are some review comments:

"Utterly entrancing." —Kirkus, starred review

"Tender and imaginative." —SLJ, starred review

"Graceful, cozy." —Booklist, starred review

"A weird and wonderful story." —Horn Book, starred review

"Pulses with warmth and inventiveness."—PW, starred review

A magical adventure from a master book creator. Waking Brain Cells

The Kirkus Star reviewed likened 102 to The Borrowers. I also thought of A Cricket in Time Square.

I discovered Matthew Cordell from his Cornbread and Poppy series many years ago. I adore these little beginner chapter books. 

Cornbread and Poppy

Sadly, not many of his picture books have made it to Australia. I am keen to read these two picture books below. I have also added images of the case reveal - we don't do many picture books here in Australia with dust jackets. A different image under the dust jacket adds something a little bit magical to a picture book. US illustrator Matthew Cordell often adds this extra surprise:

Matthew Cordell is the author and illustrator of many celebrated picture books for children, including the Caldecott Medal winner Wolf in the Snow, Evergreen, a Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year, Hello Neighbor!: The Kind and Caring World of Mr. Rogers, a Bank Street Best Children’s Book of the Year, and the Cornbread and Poppy series, which Booklist in a starred review has called “a rewarding choice for young readers.” Matthew lives outside of Chicago with his wife, author Julie Halpern, and their two children.

I have also previously talked about these:

Leeva at last

Like Pickle Juice on a Cookie

Elements of the Day by Samantha Lewis Illustrated by Hao Hao

Reading this book is sure to help you when you are watching a quiz show and they ask about elements of the periodic table. No need to memorize all of them - I am sure a few will stick in your mind and in the mind of your curious science-minded child after reading this terrific book. 

You can see lots of pages inside this book here

Since I left my school library I haven't spent much time browsing the nonfiction section of bookshops - specifically the nonfiction children's section but a couple of weeks ago I spent some time at Gleebooks and I found some real treasures. I have already talked about Soup's On, The Anthology of Shells and How to Survive an Apocalypse. Elements of the Day is another of these discoveries. I would love to put this into a school library - it is an absolutely perfect book that makes sense of a complex topic in a unique way. I did have a few books in my former school library about the periodic table, and I did have some curious science kids who borrowed them - this title would have been a great addition to that shelf [546.8]. BONUS this book is only AUS$19.99!

Here is the web page for the author Samantha Lewis. And here is the Instagram page for the Chinese illustrator Hao Hao. 

Publisher blurb: The amazing stories and fascinating facts behind the elements that make every moment of the day possible. Why is breakfast cereal magnetic? Could you turn wee into gold? How does sand help us see? The answers have one thing in common – ELEMENTS! Elements are the building blocks that make up EVERYTHING we see, touch and taste. You’ll be amazed at how many there are to explore from the moment you wake up to the second you drift off to sleep (no matter how long past your bedtime it is!). Inside everything from cereal, cars and cakes to toilet paper, pencils and torches – come and meet the extraordinary elements that make YOUR day!

It’s a unique approach to teaching even our younger students about chemistry because, rather than being a lot of easily-forgotten facts, it connects the information to their world, both engaging them as they read and showing them the relevance of what they are learning. The Bottom Shelf

Here are a couple of other books you might find on the periodic table for kids:

The companion volume to Elements of the Day - Forces of the Day will be published later in 2026.

Sparkle and Spin: A book about words by Ann and Paul Rand

Through harmony and rhythm, resonance and pitch, Ann Rand inspires readers to listen to the tuneful play of her text as it sings off each page. Illustrated with graphic designer Paul Rand’s colorful, witty artwork, Sparkle and Spin is a children’s classic (now happily available again through Chronicle Books) that reveals to young readers the power and music in the words they use every day. Sparkle and Spin takes readers on a delightful journey through the fascinating world of words. Readers will explore homophones, interjections, adjectives, verbs, and more. Written in rhythmic verse, this book is an enjoyable read-aloud.

 "What are words?  Words are how what you think inside comes out and 

how to remember what you might forget about."

In the US lots of schools are posting videos on social media about the end of year library inventory. This process often includes 'gardening' (I like that term way better than the word 'weeding'). What are some criteria for this: age of the book, condition of the book, frequency of loans, currency of content, overall child appeal.

If age of the book is a criteria, then this book is one I might not have found in a library. Prepare to be shocked! Sparkle and Spin was first published in 1957. Okay do not panic - I am reading the 2006 reprint but wow this sure is an old book. Has it been borrowed from the library - yes nine times between 2007 when it was purchased and now. How did I discover this book? Kids find books in libraries when they can see covers. The library where I volunteer changes their book displays - weekly, fortnightly and twice each term Sparkle and Spin is a picture book but it is one of thousands. The display of 'word play' books gave Sparkle and Spin a couple of weeks 'in the sun'. If you do by chance have the 1957 edition of Sparkle and Spin I have seen copies for sale for over $1000!

Paul Rand (1914-1996) was an American commercial artist who, together with his wife Ann, produced four picture books combining rhythmic verse with illustrations exhibiting Paul's interest in Swiss Style graphic design. Rand is best known for his corporate logo designs. Here is another book by Ann and Paul Rand - Listen Listen!

If you are thinking about words and word play I found this terrific chart on my friend's Pinterest page:

When I saw the date on Sparkle and Spin, I also thought of this treasured book from 1961 which I had in my previous library - sadly I am sure that by now someone will have tossed it away - what a pity - this book contains fabulous retro illustrations and it is such a funny book to share. I now also discover there was a companion volume called Writing!

See inside this book here

Here are some other books about words:

What a wonderful word

Weird and Wonderful world of Words