Meet Mac Barnett in this interview with Jon Klassen

Mac Barnett is the National Ambassador for Young People's Literature

When I saw this post today, so many viewpoints by Mac Barnett resonated with me and so I decided to share some quotes here on this blog. In this interview Jon Klassen talks to Mac Barnett just after he was officially appointed to a two-year term as the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature by the Library of Congress.

Mac Barnett: I've been thinking a lot about this term "Ambassador." (In the U.K., this position is called the "Children's Laureate.") And the previous people who've held the post (I am the ninth Ambassador) have all interpreted the word in different ways. Jason Reynolds, for instance, encouraged kids to tell their stories and become their own ambassadors. [In Australian we also have a Laureate ACLF]

Jon Klassen: Does the position strike you as one with any clear goals, or do you kind of set those goals yourself, or is that the wrong way to look at an appointment like this?

Mac Barnett: (See poster above) The title is Behold, the Picture Book! and that logo is by Christian Robinson. ... I get to spend two years celebrating young people's literature in all its many forms, but especially picture books. ... I do think that we rush kids out of picture books, and that they appeal to a much wider swath of readers than we think. You and I always get excited when middle- and high-school teachers come to our signings and talk about using picture books in the classroom. You and I also always get bummed out when a parent tells us their five-year-old has grown out of picture books and now reads real books like Harry Potter, which may seem like a weird thing to say to us at a signing, but people say a lot of weird things to us at signings.

Mac Barnett: ... picture books are underestimated. The first reason is that people don't understand how picture books work. The picture book is a unique and peculiar art form. Understandably, there isn't widespread knowledge of picture book mechanics. ... there's this thing I know to be true but which most people don't (yet!) believe — that picture books are a great literature that deserves to stand alongside the novel, the short story, poetry, plays, etc.

Here is a video where Mac Barnett talks about this new and important role. And here is a three minute interview with NPR All things considered. 

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Barnett says the picture book form doesn't get the same respect as other types of books – which he finds offensive. "Because we're dismissing kids," he said. "And if we think that children's books are anything less than real literature, it's because we think kids are something less than real people. If we believe they're real people, then they deserve good art." NPR February 2025

I would also like to mention this new set of board books by Jon Klassen - I have them on my to read and to buy and to gift list: