With dozens of successful titles, a string of award-winning collaborations, and an appointment as National Ambassador for Young People's Literature, the evidence is overwhelming: Mac Barnett (Triangle; The Three Billy Goats Gruff; Extra Yarn) gets kids. So why would he want to write a book for adults? Because he thinks kids, and the books they love, have something profound to teach grown-ups.
Make Believe: On Telling Stories to Children acknowledges an unruly dynamic: there's the power adults hold over what young people can read and the commonly held belief that children's literature is inferior, unworthy of critical attention. "Children's books," Barnett argues, "are often misunderstood, dismissed, and ignored"--a mistake he aims to remedy here.
Barnett takes children's literature seriously, balancing a scholarly erudition with the same lighthearted banter and wit that make his books for young readers so beloved. He romps through discussions of such icons as writer Margaret Wise Brown and editor Ursula Nordstrom, outlines the structures and predilections specific to the children's publishing industry, and secretes further insights within abundant, humorous footnotes. Above all, Barnett insists that the power of children's books does not come from some possible good in the future but from the fact that "kids are human beings right now, with rich interior lives," worthy of respect and the very best storytelling, in books that, like "the best stories for adults, tell the truth about what it means to be a human in the world." A clarion call to elevate children's literature, Make Believe honors the wisdom, beauty, and imagination of young readers. --Sara Beth West, freelance reviewer and librarian